CHICAGO -- Dale Tallon helped restore the Chicago Blackhawks from a struggling hockey franchise to a young and talented team that went all the way to the Western Conference finals in May.

On Tuesday, less than two months after that run in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Tallon lost his job as general manager.

His ouster came a week after a missed deadline for sending qualifying offers to restricted free agents prompted the NHL Players Association to file a grievance against the team. Tallon was placed by Stan Bowman, the son of NHL coaching legend Scotty Bowman.

"I believe we could have done a better job," team president John McDonough said Tuesday at a news conference that Tallon did not attend.

McDonough said he took ultimate responsibility for the foul-up. But asked if Tallon would have been removed at this time if not for the incident, he replied: "Probably not."

Tallon accepted a two-year contract extension to stay on as an adviser.

"Ultimately when a mistake like that is made that is on me," McDonough said. "But it is also on me to make sure that mistake does not happen again or that we have the proper channels in place to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Tallon earlier denied that the problem and grievance had caused the Blackhawks to overpay the players, including Kris Versteeg, the team's top rookie last season.

"It costs us some money on the front end, but we'd be paying this money eventually," team owner Rocky Wirtz said Tuesday.

Asked what Bowman, who's in his ninth year with the Blackhawks, brings to the job that Tallon didn't, Wirtz said:

"He's 36, Dale is 58. We always want younger people. What he brings is a system in place to get better," Wirtz said.

Tallon has been a member of the organization for more 30 years, including five as a player, and 10 in the front office. He was made general manager in June 2005 and under his guidance, the team drafted young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, traded for scorers Martin Havlat and Patrick Sharp, and signed free agents Nikolai Khabibulin, Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet.