Blackhawks: How Stan Bowman created a successful retool

Absolutely no one saw the Blackhawks moving on from top prospect Henri Jokiharju this summer, but Stan Bowman decided to try for an upside play by moving him.

In one of his most controversial moves as the general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, Bowman shipped defensive standout Henri Jokiharju to Buffalo in exchange for the former 8th overall pick in Alex Nylander, a player with loads of potential who never seemed to figure things out as a Sabre.

There were rumors in Buffalo that Nylander had serious attitude issues and that he was very prone to “taking games and practices off”. On the other hand, Jokiharju was selected much later in the first round and found loads of success in the minors with not too many blemishes on his hockey record. Many fans, including myself, were outraged by this move, doubting that Stan Bowman could get lucky twice on a trade such as this (Strome-Schmaltz deal). In fact, this move was far riskier than moving Schmaltz, as Jokiharju was not on an expiring deal and was barely able to show his talents on the NHL stage.

Looking back a few months later, however, this deal has not been too horrific for Chicago. Nylander has been quite solid through 28 games in Chicago, recording 10 points so far this season.  Jokiharju has played pretty much as expected in Buffalo, however, recording 8 points in 29 games with great consistency. This deal is not the brightest spot for Bowman and his retool, however, only time will tell how this deal worked out.