Chicago Blackhawks: Three reasons to fire Stan Bowman right now

Chicago Blackhawks have made bad trades

The Chicago Blackhawks have shot themselves in the foot when it comes to making their roster weaker in hopes of it making it better. They have made some very bad trades over the past five seasons and it is time that the general manager starts to be held accountable. You can’t always let cheap good players go just because you need to get rid of some bad contracts (that you are responsible for). It makes it very hard to win if you let a lot of your young players with loads of talent go.

One huge example is the Teuvo Teravainen trade. The Hawks sent him to the Carolina Hurricanes along with Bryan Bickell (to unload his contract) in exchange for a measly second and third-round pick. Now, Teravainen is one of the best forwards in the game who would look awesome as the second-line center behind Toews. This is an example of giving up on a kid way too soon so that you can shed salary elsewhere in your lineup. The Hawks probably could have figured out a way to let Bickell go without losing Teravainen who is a borderline superstar.

Of course, when it comes to Stan Bowman trades, the first one that is always going to pop up is Artemy Panarin. This guy is one of the best players in the world and Bowman traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets to re-acquire Brandon Saad. That is about as bad as it gets and it really sunk the Blackhawks chances of competing from that point on.

Panarin and Teravainen are the two best players that Bowman traded away but the list of above-average players doesn’t stop there. Phillip Danault, Nicklas Hjalmarson, and Henri Jokiharju are also gone just to name a few. If you add all of those guys back to this roster instead of the dead weight that came back for them, that is a group that can compete for a playoff spot year in and year out. Bowman shouldn’t be trusted to make any more trades.