It’s been a tumultuous day and a half for Edmonton Oilers following the hiring of Stan Bowman as the team’s new GM.
Fan reaction to the hiring has been overwhelmingly negative, with many baffled at why the Oilers decided to pursue such a controversial figure for their GM job. Much of the angst is directed at Bowman’s role in a 2010 sexual assault scandal that happened under his watch during his tenure as the GM of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Yet, there is also a fair bit of criticism of Bowman’s ability to do a good job in the GM chair. He won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks in 13 years while acting as their GM, but he did so after inheriting a team that already had many of its core pieces in place.
When you look at the actual moves that he made, including trades, it paints a much different picture than you would expect from a person who oversaw one of hockey’s most recent dynasties.
Bowman’s trade record in particular is a bit of a mess and shows a long history of him losing trades with big-name players involved. Almost every major blockbuster trade that he made as Blackhawks GM didn’t work out the way he may have wanted.
What are Bowman’s biggest trades?
It didn’t take long into Bowman’s tenure with the Blackhawks to make his first blockbuster deal that involved trading Dustin Byfuglien, Akim Aliu, Ben Eager, and Brent Sopel to the Atlanta Thrashers in the summer of 2010 in exchange for a package of Joey Crabb, Jeremy Morin, Marty Reasoner, a first-round pick, and a second-round pick.
This trade was the result of cap problems that the Blackhawks faced after winning the first of three Stanley Cups in that decade, but the return for Byfuglien, who remained a top-pairing defenceman for years after this deal, was woefully inadequate. The first-round pick wound up being Kevin Hayes, who became a solid NHL player but never played a single game with Chicago.
From there, his next big blockbuster involved reacquiring Brandon Saad from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the summer of 2017 in a disastrous trade that saw Bowman cut ties with Artemi Panarin instead of extending him. Saad’s career hit a stagnant period after this, while Pananrin rose to superstardom in Columbus. This has the potential to be one of the worst NHL trades of the last decade by any GM.
The final major trade that should be mentioned is Bowman acquiring Seth Jones from the Blue Jackets. At the time of the trade, in the summer of 2021, it was very clear that the Blackhawks were rapidly declining and needed to consider tearing things down.
Instead, Bowman burned two first-round picks, a top prospect, and a second-round pick to acquire an aging Jones, who he then subsequently signed to a long-term anchor deal. It put the Blackhawks into a precarious position that they are still feeling the effects of to this day.
Those three deals are the major ones, but there are also plenty of mid-level deals that didn’t turn out, including deals that shipped off players like Gustav Forsling, Teuvo Teravainen, and Philip Danault for middling returns.
There are also small deals that he has won in his tenure, but when it comes to impact player trades, it appears Bowman struggles to come out on top more often than not.