October 24, 2020: Bowman’s Turn

It started off innocently enough. Stan Bowman’s first move after replacing Dale Tallon as GM of the Blackhawks back on July 14, 2009 was Kyle Greentree for Aaron Johnson. The next moves would have been done by anybody. On December 1, Toews, Kane, and Keith were all given contract extensions. Sure, the 13 year extension Keith was given seemed like a lot, but shoring up the core that was already here in what would become a dynasty was a no brainer. The biggest thing about Bowman’s beginning with the Hawks was his timing; he couldn’t have planned it better, taking over before the magical 2009-2010 season. Besides extending the big 3 that were already here, he did nothing… absolutely nothing to contribute to that first Stanley Cup team. That was truly Dale Tallon’s team…

As the season went on, Stan Bowman began leaving his imprint on the Blackhawks. One of his first meaningful moves was acquiring Nick Leddy for Cam Barker; this was a good move. Signing Brandon Bollig was OK. However, it was after the season where he began to break up the championship team; to his defense, something HAD to be done, but were the right moves made? Trading Byfuglien, Sopel, Eager, Versteeg, and Ladd. Letting Niemi walk. Signing Kruger was a good move; resigning Hammer was another no brainer. Some guys added were Stalberg and Pirri. The draft that year was a swing and a miss besides Kevin Hayes. Let the Bowman era begin…

The 2010-2011 began. The Frolik addition was a nice one. Resigning Seabrook was another no brainer and a very good move this time. Signing some goalie named Corey Crawford turned out to be pretty good. But the follow up year to the Stanley Cup winner didn’t turn out so well. Back to the work in the offseason. Trading Campbell, Brouwer, and Kopecky… more of that 2010 Cup winner. However, the draft was a good one. Welcome Shaw, Saad, and Danault. We also signed Mayers, Carcillo, and Emery; another no brainer extension was given to Sharp. Those extensions really are Stan’s specialty. The 2011-2012 season didn’t end well either. Although adding Oduya and Ben Smith turned out to be good moves in preparation for the 2012-2013 season. Drafting Teuvo and Hinostroza, adding defensemen Rozsival and Brookbank, and another late season acquisition in Handzus turned out to be important. Winning one Cup thus far was disappointing; thankfully, that would finally change in the 2013 playoffs.

After the 2nd Cup win, more pieces were moved. Bolland, Frolik, and Carcillo were dealt. The draft wasn’t great; Hartman, Hayden, and Motte all ended up playing a bit with the Hawks. More extensions were given out… Bickell, Leddy, Rozsival, Teuvo, Crow, Hammer, and Shaw. Versteeg was brought back for Hayes. The 2014 loss to the Kings is the one that got away from us; that would have been a repeat, and with another Cup win in 2015… a three peat would have been sweet. Drafting Schmaltz and Sikura didn’t pan out either. Signing Richards and Darling did. Two more extensions, this time the 8 year variety, to the dynamic duo of Toews and Kane, displayed more of Bowman’s expertise. Trading Leddy away didn’t feel good. More late season acquisitions worked out with that 3rd and final Cup; Timmonen, Vermette, and Desjardins all contributed… some more than others. A late season signing of some kid Panarin turned out to be smart. He didn’t contribute that year, but the Hawks had become 3 time champs in the 2010s. Looking at it all, how much credit can we give Bowman?

Moving Saad after the season felt bad. Trading Sharp hurt. Signing Seabrook to an 8 year extension at that point in his career wasn’t smart. Reacquiring Ladd didn’t work out. Trading Danault didn’t either. Trading Teuvo was another bad misstep. Trading Shaw… Stan did draft DeBrincat in 2016; that was a very nice pick. Bringing back Campbell… I didn’t even remember that one… didn’t work out. It doesn’t get better… Trading Oduya was whatever, but trading Bread Man for Saad, although at the time I didn’t think was horrible, didn’t turn out well. Trading Hammer would be one of the worst. Drafting Jokiharju was good. Signing Kahun in 2018 was good. Drafting Boqvist. The best move in recent history was the drafting of Kirby Dach; I think he’s going to be a stud. Trading Jokiharju, not signing Lehner, trading Saad again, and letting Crow walk were some recent duds.

It’s been educational going through the transactions since Bowman arrived; I’m not impressed. Sure, extending studs is easy, but even then with his 8 year deal with Seabs… I guess another thing I noticed is that with the trades, we never seem to get good value back. Did the Hawks win 3 Cups because of Bowman? He gets zero credit for the first. Could any GM have stumbled through their duties to get another Cup with this team that was already built? I know his dad is royalty; it’s pretty cool he’s named after the Stanley Cup. He has done some good things… but not enough in my opinion to still be employed. It’ll be 6 years this upcoming year since the Hawks have won the Cup, and NOW we’re “rebuilding”??? It would be the perfect time in my opinion to replace him. When will it finally be Bowman’s turn to go?