Another trade that makes Stan Bowman look bad?
It's not only the Habs who are having a very disappointing start to the season. It's a similar story in Chicago, where the Blackhawks have just one point in six games. Worse yet, the Hawks have not even tasted victory this year...
However, hopes were high in the Windy City! The team's general manager, Stan Bowman, had two big acquisitions during the off-season with Quebec goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, as well as the highly coveted solid defenseman, Seth Jones.
While the cost of acquiring Fleury from Vegas was very low, the opposite was true for Jones. The Hawks had to give away promising defenseman, Adam Boqvist, who they selected 8th overall in 2018.
On top of that, Bowman gave up a first-round pick in 2022 and the two teams switched their first-round picks in the last draft. As a result, the Blue Jackets selected at No. 11 instead of No. 31, a pick that originally belonged to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But that's not all! The Hawks' general manager then awarded Jones a $9.5 million contract for eight years. That deal will begin next year and end in 2030. That means Jones will be 35 years old in his final year of contract.
Will these decisions come to haunt Hawks fans in the future, much like the Artemi Panarin and Brandon Saad trade in the summer of 2017? One thing is for sure, Jones' arrival is not having the impact hoped for so far while he has a -9 differential.
The wind will have to change in Chicago if they don't want to miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five years! The only time the Hawks made the playoffs was during the special tournament in the bubble cities when the NHL resumed its activities following the pandemic. Chicago finished 23rd overall at that time.
