Chicago Blackhawks: 5 Stan Bowman Moves I Wish Were April Fools Jokes

2 – The Brent Seabrook Extension

I imagine this one haunts Chicago Blackhawks fans as much as it haunts Stan Bowman.

In September of 2015, the Chicago Blackhawks signed Brent Seabrook to an eight-year contract extension worth worth $55 million. Seabrook’s play throughout the playoffs and seasons prior along with how long he had been in the organization made him deserving of a hefty contract extension, but I don’t think anyone imagined it looking quite like this.

Here’s what Stan Bowman had to say about the signing according to Tracey Myers, who then wrote for NBC Sports Chicago:

“You can’t just go pick up a Brent Seabrook. If you don’t have someone like that, to be the performer that he is on the ice as well as the leader he is off the ice, if you don’t have Brent, you’re looking for the exact same player. We know what he’s all about,” Bowman said. “The salary cap is a puzzle that we all have to figure out. Every team faces those challenges. But I look at it as a great situation to be in.

Bowman’s quote here rings unfortunately true. Yes, guys like Brent Seabrook don’t grow on trees. Seabrook is a world class leader and competitor. But unfortunately, Bowman was also on the money about the salary cap situation. It certainly is a “puzzle” to say the least and he didn’t do himself any favors by locking Seabrook up until 2023-24.

Seabrook is a third-pairing defensemen at best right now and $6.8 million dollars is an awful lot to dish out to someone at that level. Most hockey players don’t get better the closer they get to 40 years old (Seabs is currently 33) the outlook doesn’t look fantastic.

Still, it’s impossible to overstate just how much he has meant to this organization. It’s hard to imagine the Chicago Blackhawks winning three Stanley Cups without him. Then again, it’s also hard to imagine them winning a fourth so long as he is taking up nearly $7 mil. in cap space a year.

3 – The Nick Leddy Trade

In this move the Chicago Blackhawks traded Nick Leddy and goalie Kent Simpson to the New York Islanders in exchange for T.J. Brennan, Ville Pokka and goalie Anders Nilsson.

In Leddy’s five seasons with the Islanders, he has 191 points in 399 games, with an average time on ice of 21:57.

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His +/- numbers have been horrendous the past two seasons and he’s struggled as a top pairing guy. Still, this year he’s shown he has the ability to be a decent no. 3, 4 or 5 guy on a team looking for a defensemen to put them over the edge.

Fortunately for the Islanders, that’s what they need. Leddy’s defensive struggles the past two years lead us to believe that this trade isn’t as bad as we think, however once you explore what the ‘Hawks got in return that stance begins to change.

T.J. Brennan, one of three players acquired by Chicago in this deal, never played an NHL game for the Blackhawks and was later dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Spencer Abbott. Abbott played in a single game for the ‘Hawks during the 2016-17 season.

Villle Pokka was supposed to be one of the Blackhawks next up and coming defensive prospects, but I’m sure you know how that one played out. Pokka never saw a minute of NHL ice time and was later traded to the Ottawa Senators for a bag of rocks named Christopher Didomenico (perhaps that’s a bit harsh?).

Finally, the last piece the Blackhawks got in return for Leddy was Anders Nilsson. At least he panned out, right?

Well, he hasn’t been a complete bust… for the Ottawa Senators. This season he is 10-11-0 with a .903 SV% and 3.02 GAA. Nevertheless, the ‘Hawks traded him to the Edmonton Oilers back in 2015 for Liam Coughlin who is an unsigned Blackhawks prospect currently playing out his fourth season at the University of Vermont.

I’m as big a Vermont fan as the next guy, but it’s hard to say that Leddy wouldn’t help the current Chicago Blackhawks more than what they received in return. Hindsight remains 20/20.

4 – Teravainen, Bickell to the Hurricanes

NHL.com provides us with the official details of this less-than-great Chicago Blackhawks trade:

“Forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell were traded to the Carolina Hurricanes by the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday for a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2017 draft.”

For me, it’s hard to fathom what exactly the Chicago Blackhawks were thinking when they traded Teuvo Teravainen to the Carolina Hurricanes. First, in 2013-14 the Blackhawks signed Bryan Bickell to a four-year deal worth $16 million.

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His play in the playoffs made Bowman think he was worth that much and, though it was an overpay, it wouldn’t have been that terrible had Bickell not regressed the way he did. It wasn’t until  November of  2016 that Bickell was diagnosed with MS, explaining a lot about the way the end of his career panned out.

Bickell would only play 11 games for Carolina before retiring from the NHL. He went out on top, scoring a shootout goal on his final shot in the final game of his career.

Bowman clearly wanted to get Bickell’s contract off the books, this much is true, yet when he was traded there was only two years left on his contract. Additionally, Teravainen wasn’t set to become a free agent until the same summer Bickell’s deal expired. Couldn’t Bowman have theoretical kept them both, then let Bickell walk once his contract was up and sign Teuvo with the same money?

I digress.

Trading Teravainen to rid of Bickell’s deal is an example of Bowman’s ability to recognize his mistakes, however he overcorrected on this one. Teravainen has come into his own since being traded to Carolina and has emerged as a solid top-six player.

He’s done nothing but improve year after year. His point totals, ATOI and plus/minus have increased every single season, while his Corsi for % has also been +50% since he was shipped to Carolina.

He’s currently enjoying a 72 point season (20 G, 52 A). He would rank 4th on the Chicago Blackhawks this season in points and fifth in goals, and he’s doing so while playing for the Hurricanes.

Now imagine the kind of season he’d be having if he were playing with guys like Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome or Patrick Kane.

That hurts.

In return, the Chicago Blackhawks received a draft pick which became Artur Kayumov and required their own pick which turned into Evan Barratt. Fortunately, Barratt is tearing it up for Penn State this season with 43 points (16 G, 27 A) in 32 games. He look like he could have a legitimate NHL career, so not all hope is lost.

5 – The June 23rd Catastrophe

On June 23rd, 2017 the Chicago Blackhawks made two trades which drastically changed the state of the franchise.

I’ll let NHL.com give us the details again:

“The Chicago Blackhawks on Friday traded left wing Artemi Panarin, forward Tyler Motte and a sixth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for former Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad, goalie Anton Forsberg and a fifth-round pick in 2018.”

Additionally, this is the same day Niklas Hjalmarsson was sent to the Arizona Coyotes. NHL.com has our back:

“They also traded defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson to the Arizona Coyotes for defenseman Connor Murphyand forward Laurent Dauphin.”

The Hjalmarsson deal has proven to be a good one two years removed. Connor Murphy is younger, makes less money and has more potential left in his career. This trade absolutely had the future in mind and it will help the Chicago Blackhawks in the long run, despite however much the ‘Hawks “D” misses Hjalmarsson.

Still, what bothers me about this trade and the one previous is that it comes off as a knee jerk reaction from Bowman. The 2016-17 Chicago Blackhawks were a 50-win team who happened to play their worst hockey of the season during the biggest moment. It wasn’t what they wanted, but these guys are human.

That ‘Hawks team had their problems and needed to get both quicker and younger, but it’s not as if the Artemi Panarin / Tyler Motte trade helped to accomplish that. I feel that Bowman gave up too early on this group and shouldn’t have abandoned Panarin, Motte or Hjalmarsson at the time that he did.

Had these trades happened after the following season in which they missed the playoffs I’d understand, but they didn’t.

Panarin put up an 82-point season last year for the Columbus Blue Jackets and currently has 83 through 76 games this season. His offensive numbers are always impressive, but he has a solid plus/minus and CF% the past two seasons (+37 and 55.75%, respectively) as well.

Motte has struggled a bit through the first four seasons of his career, but he’s become a regular in the Vancouver Canucks lineup this year. In 74 games he has just 9 goals and 7 assists. That said, at only 23 he still has room to grow.

On the Chicago Blackhawks end, Anton Forsberg has played his way out of the team’s future plans. Fortunately, after struggling in his return to the ‘Hawks last season Brandon Saad is finally starting to find his footing. His two-way ability is showing through regularly again and he’s doing more than just hitting the post on every shot.

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Saad’s presence greatly helps to replace the hole left by Marian Hossa, so the move itself doesn’t bother me. Still, the timing of these moves is still too early for me. The transactions on July 23rd, 2017 left me in disbelief, truly wishing it was all a “July Fools” joke.