2/27/18 | Jimmy Lynch

Stan Bowman has made some questionable trades to say the least since winning the Stanley Cup in 2015. He started it off with trading Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Artem Anisimov and Marko Daño, as well as some other players and draft picks, back in 2015. He traded away Andrew Shaw for a few draft picks, one that turned into Alex Debrincat, in 2016. In 2017 he traded away Niklas Hjalmarson for Connor Murphy, a decision that made Coach Joel Quenneville walk out of the draft. He followed that up by trading Artemi Panarin to the Columbus Blue Jackets for none other than Brandon Saad, that trade also contained some minor pieces. The trade deadline came around and Bowman traded away Ryan Hartman for a first round draft pick and a 22 Ejdsell, a prospect the Blackhawks have high hopes for. Edjsell currently has 17 goals and 13 assists in 44 games in the Swedish Hockey League. The Blackhawks are having an off year no doubt, but does it come because of a lack of confusion between the upper brass of the coaching staff?

Coach Q did not want Hjalmarson traded, he believed that he was an essential part of the defense, a part that Q is still trying to fill in Murphy and Forsling and a slew of other defensemen. Bowman, wanting to save his job and gain back some trust in his coach, traded Hartman. Knowing that Hartman was out of Quenneville’s favor, it was a good decision to make in the short term. In the long term, Hartman was the Blackhawks guy for the future, and was in the midst of a bad year, not a bad career. Now Hartman is gone, with the Blackhawks gaining nothing but a long term rebuild draft pick.

The Blackhawks will have a bounce back season next year, or else it won’t be a name like Ryan Hartman that will be saying goodbye. It will be a name from behind the bench or one that makes the decisions for this franchise. Quenneville and Bowman need to start praying that his group of guys can fix the mistakes they made.