Stan Bowman's full trade and signing history makes hiring more bizarre
The Edmonton Oilers introduced Stan Bowman as their General Manager today, an extremely controversial hire due to the scandal on his Blackhawks team.
Bowman won three Stanley Cups as General Manager of the Blackhawks, but some fans are pointing out that few of his trades and signings actually bettered the team - and many of them were very poor.
Not only did Bowman lose some significant talent in very poor trades, like Artemi Panarin and Philip Danault, some of the contracts he signed ended the Blackhawks window of cup contention earlier than it should've. Paying Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith exorbitant contracts as they aged specifically hurt them. Many trades of key players came as necessities with the salary cap, but didn't net great returns.
Of course, Bowman did have some valuable additions to the roster's supporting cast. The signing of Brad Richards, trading for Johnny Oduya and Nikita Zadorov, and the initial signings of Saad and Panarin showed he can recognize high end talent.
Additionally, when Bowman joined on as General Manager in 2009, he inherited nearly all of his core players. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Martin Havlat, Andrew Ladd, Corey Crawford and more great Blackhawks were already on the roster when Bowman joined. In that sense, he may be well-prepared to join an Oilers roster full of star players ready to win a cup - but it's not a testament to his ability to build a roster, or even keep it competitive long-term.
This is a hire that has significantly divided fans, and for that reason alone the Oilers should be heavily criticized. There was plenty of other candidates available that didn't have the history Bowman does, have been in the league more recently, and have made better moves. For now, Oilers fans will just have to see how Bowman plays out - but many may not ever trust him for his actions.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 24 | 623 ANSWERS Stan Bowman's full trade and signing history makes hiring more bizarre Do you think Stan Bowman is a good GM? | ||
| Yes, won 3 Cups | 190 | 30.5 % |
| No, moves weren't that great | 312 | 50.1 % |
| Not sure yet | 121 | 19.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
