Chicago Blackhawks: Three reasons they fired John McDonough

Trades

The Chicago Blackhawks were so successful from 2009-2017. It was a decade of great dominance that they put together. Since then, they have made some terrible decisions and the bad trades lead the pack of terrible decisions. It all started when the traded Artemi Panarin to the Columbus Blue Jackets to get Brandon Saad back. It was a move that began the fall of the franchise and they haven’t made the playoffs since.

It is well known that Stan Bowman was the general manager that made that move but many sources have said that McDonough is a big part of that trade. Anybody who thinks that McDonough doesn’t have anything to do with the roster has no clue what they are talking about. He sits in all of those meetings that revolve around hockey operations. His thoughts and opinions are heard loud and clear when it comes to that side of things.

The Panarin trade, Teuvo Teravainen trade, and others fall on the lap of Stan Bowman and rightfully so but McDonough also deserves blame for them, especially the Panarin one. If you give away elite players for minimal return, you will eventually lose your job. That has happened and the Blackhawks have fallen off sooner than needed because of it.