The time has come for the Chicago Blackhawks to part ways with general manager Stan Bowman.
To quote the 1990s rock group Semisonic, “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”. No team in the NHL needs that new beginning more than the Chicago Blackhawks. Their dynasty from 2010 to 2015 was the first of the salary cap era. But those days are gone. Thus, it is time for them to part ways with the man who helped build the dynasty and who is also responsible for the Blackhawks being in the state they are in – Stan Bowman.
Yes, Bowman led the Hawks to three Stanley Cup titles. His time in Chicago deserves to be celebrated. From 2010 to 2015, Bowman and head coach Joel Quenneville worked together like peanut butter and jelly. Whenever Q needed an upgrade, Bowman was there to get it. If Q loved a player, Bowman was quick to make sure he stuck around.
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However, it has become painfully obvious he is no longer the right man for the job. Bowman still might be a good general manager for a team that’s looking to win right now. He’s proven he can do that and you simply don’t forget how to do that. But the Blackhawks are not the team they were in 2015. They aren’t a Stanley Cup contender anymore. The Hawks are rebuilding. Bowman is not the right man to lead a rebuild.
Contracts
One of the biggest criticisms Bowman has faced over the years has been the contracts he has handed out. Patrick Kane is worth every penny of his deal, but Jonathan Toews has a $10 million annual cap hit and he’s starting to decline with three years left on his deal after this one. That’s not ideal.
Toews isn’t his worst contract, though. That distinction belongs to Brent Seabrook, who signed his deal in September of 2015. Even though his deal technically didn’t start until the 2016-17 season, it looked horrible even before it started. It looks even worse now. Seabrook has four years left on his contract after this season with a $6.875 million cap hit.
To make matters worse, he has a no-movement clause for the next two seasons. The only redeeming factor is the last two years of his deal. Seabrook is only due $3.5 million in salary for those two seasons and he has a modified no-trade clause in those two seasons.
Then there’s the Brandon Saad fiasco. Saad was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets after the Stanley Cup win in 2015 for salary cap reasons. Now, Saad was a pretty darn solid player for the Blackhawks and was well-liked by his teammates.
But what came next is inexcusable. In June of 2017, the Blackhawks traded Artemi Panarin to the Blue Jackets for Saad. It’s not a coincidence the Hawks haven’t been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs since then. Again, don’t blame Saad for this. It’s not his fault Bowman traded an extremely productive scoring wing for him.
Can’t Fix Mistakes
Despite his mistakes, Bowman earned the chance to fix them. He has yet to do so. Bowman has known his team was terrible defensively in each of the past two seasons. He elected to do virtually nothing during the 2018 offseason and the Blackhawks suffered for it.
Bowman tried the opposite approach during the 2019 offseason, adding players like Olli Maatta and Calvin de Haan. The Blackhawks were historically bad defensively during the 2018-19 season, allowing the eighth-most shots on goal against per game of any team in the salary cap era. So they couldn’t possibly be any worse this season, right?
To quote Lee Corso – “Not so fast, my friend!” The Blackhawks have been the worst defensive team of the salary cap era thus far, as they’ve allowed the most shots on goal against per game through their first 30 games.
If you’re an analytics guy like me, you want to see other stats. Let’s break it down. These stats are at 5v5 and are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
- Corsi Against per hour: 59.71 (29th)
- CorsiFor percentage: 47.73% (26th)
- Scoring Chances Against per hour: 29.92 (30th)
- Scoring Chances For percentage: 46.67% (28th)
- Expected Goals Against per hour: 2.58 (30th)
- Expected Goals For percentage: 46.76% (27th)
It’s hard to define precisely what a general manager’s job is, but here’s my definition. A general manager is the guy who manages the team, sees problems, and assists in fixing them. Bowman came into this summer knowing what he had to do. Thus far, his already terrible defense has been even more terrible.
Frankly, Bowman should have been fired after the 2017-18 season, along with Quenneville. The Blackhawks need to usher in a new era. Bowman did a wonderful job helping them win three Stanley Cups and hopefully, fans will remember those celebrations more than what has happened since 2015.
That new era cannot be ushered in with Bowman at the helm. He has had his opportunity to fix what he has wronged and he has proven he can’t do that. It’s time for Bowman and the Blackhawks to part ways. What he has done since the 2014-15 season hasn’t worked. The Blackhawks need to get someone else a chance to clean up Bowman’s mess.