Having covered the Blackhawks for 9 years at HockeyBuzz and for 2 years here, I can safely say I’ve been one of Stan Bowman’s more vocal and persistent critics. But I also try to be fair and weigh the good with the bad.
It doesn’t matter whether you or I think Bowman should never have matriculated to the GM’s job in 2009—that he was probably over his head at the time—or that many of his moves since have been ill-conceived headscrachers. And no, sorry, he didn’t “win 3 Cups” either; the first Cup was all on his predecessor(s), and the latter two were largely (though not completely) a result of the foundational work of the prior GMs (Kane, Toews, Keith, Hossa, etc).
But the fact is, Bowman has now been the GM of the Hawks for nearly a decade. Nearly a decade of on-the-job training that seems to be showing some meaningful results.
It’s doubtful more than 2 players in this year’s Blackhawk draft class ever makes it to the NHL, most likely only Kirby Dach and Alex Vlasic. So in that regard, it’s likely not a “draft for the ages.” At the same time, while many interwebz experts were beating the Alex Turcotte drum, proclaiming that “the game has changed” and “small and skilled” is the way of the future, Bowman went the other way—the way, here at the The Rink, we’ve been saying he needs to for several months.
He went, literally and figuratively, big. More importantly, he did it for the right reasons:
(On Kirby Dach) “The thing we liked about him, it’s obvious to see . . . his skill set, he has incredible hands. He scores the beautiful goals. He can do everything. But he can do the other things. He was great at stripping pucks, he was great at backchecking, he was great at physical plays in the playoffs when they were really targeting him. He not only took it, but he gave it back. It was impressive to see him raise his game at the time of the year when it matters most, which is playoff hockey. When you watch the NHL playoffs and you see how intense it can be. And, then you look at the way he plays and you can see that that game translates.”
And after taking Dach—after already trading for stay at home defenseman Olli Maatta—Bowman took a 6’6″ defenseman in Alex Vlasic who is also more of the stay at home, take care of the basics variety.
The thinking is clear; Bowman is acknowledging, without really saying it, his roster and especially his talent pipeline desperately needed size and physicality (without sacrificing skill). Needs driven by the harsh (and actual) reality of NHL hockey in 2019—while you can rack up points in the doldrums of February with the side show of 3-on-3 OT and the shootout, the playoffs, the games that really matter, remain real hockey. Real, hard hockey, where winning 16 games between April and June is tough, painful, and debilitating. Not for the slight of heart nor the slight of frame.
Bowman is on a bit of a winning streak of late, having offloaded “slight” Nick Schmaltz for Dylan Strome and appearing to cash in on Strome’s early career resurrection in Chicago. Picking up Drake Caggiula for Brandon Manning, and now a draft that is a big (pardon the pun) move toward revamping and re-sizing the Hawk roster to be more realistically playoff-ready.
All for now. Comment below.