Chicago Blackhawks: Stan Bowman’s days are numbered
The Chicago Blackhawks are in a weird spot. They fired John McDonough before the season is even over so are Stan Bowman’s days numbered?
The Chicago Blackhawks have had better days over the past decade. They won the Stanley Cup multiple times during that time and had a perennial contender with marketable players leading the way. Well, over the past few seasons, things have gone way south. John McDonough and Stan Bowman collectively deserve blame for that. Well, McDonough has been fired since the NHL season paused so is Stan Bowman next?
Bowman hasn’t done himself any favors in terms of his decisions as general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks lately. He made some terrible decisions like trading away Artemi Panarin, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Teuvo Teravainen over the years. He also fired Joel Quenneville in favor of Jeremy Colliton.
He capped it all off by drafting Kirby Dach over Bowen Byram. It hasn’t been a terrible pick yet because Dach is a pretty good player and he might become a really good player. With that said, Byram projects to be a top-flight defenseman that can be a number one on a lot of teams and that is what Chicago really needs right now. Bowman and the Hawks might regret passing on him later on.
It just seems that his time is up. He was an okay GM early on but has been pretty brutal since 2015. He also gets a lot of credit for the way this team won under him but he largely got lucky along the way. Dale Tallon, his successor, drafted Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, scouted and helped develop Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, and signed Marian Hossa. All of them were pillars to this team having the success that it did under Bowman.
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He might have a job as another GM one day but his time with the Hawks certainly might be up. It might be a while before the team makes any more moves but it is clear that it is imminent. They are searching from the outside and from within for a new team president and that guy might want his own GM running the show. That could lead to Stan getting fired sometime soon or within the next few months. At the end of the day, his days are numbered.