Blackhawks: Stan Bowman is on the hot seat in 2020-21

After little to no success since 2017, Chicago Blackhawks’ general manager is on the hot seat. The firing of John McDonough makes his seat even hotter.

The Chicago Blackhawks firing Stan Bowman is a dream that fans might finally see this upcoming season. The only way I see Bowman staying with the team past 2020-21 is if the new team president is an inside hire or if the team makes the playoffs.

The only issue that’s kept Bowman on top is his father Scotty Bowman, who was a driving force of Stan getting this job to begin with. As mentioned in previous articles, both men are hard to deal with and even harder to get along with. That’s why Jeremy Colliton is the perfect head coach for them. Colliton is a young coach who isn’t going to clash with management until he’s found some success in the NHL.

For this team to get better, they need to move on from Bowman as their general manager. He needs to totally be gone, not a fake promotion where he’s still involved with day-to-day operations.

Some fans are still fully behind Bowman, which I think has to do with the three Stanley Cups he did bring the city. We are all thankful for that, but he’s let this team go to waste since 2017.

The second Bowman hung up the phone on the Artemi Panarin – Brandon Saad trade, the team fell apart. In that same offseason, there was no backup plan for Corey Crawford, so when he was injured in 2018, the season was over.

Still, not much was learned during the past three years. The Blackhawks have technically missed the playoffs three straight seasons now, as I’m not counting a 24-team playoff as making the real playoffs. They’d have to win a series or two for me to count it, even then, it’s questionable.

If the NHL comes back without a 24-team playoff and they finish the season, Bowman will be on the hottest seat going into 2020-21 out of all the general managers in the NHL. If he takes a team stacked with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane and ruins it, where they missed the playoffs four straight years, he’s out.

Three straight years missing the playoffs should have been enough, but I guess not. Bowman shouldn’t make it past the 2020-21 NHL season without making the playoffs and at least making it to the second round.