The Blackhawks Haven't Won A Playoff Series Since 2015 And Somehow Bowman Still Has A Job

That lower case “e” next to the Blackhawks stands for “eliminated” and that is a big fat L. After the Colorado Avalanche won last night the Hawks were officially eliminated from playoff contention. No more wild scenarios, no more ressurections, no more 0.1% chances, no more “maaaaayyyyybbbbeeeee” with extreme Tony Romo voice inflection. It’s over and it’s a failure. And it’s a Presidential Term’s worth of failure at this point. And by the hands and on the shoulders of one man

The guy who looked at a last place team with a HORRENDOUS defense corps and said “you know what…I am going to bring the exact same group back PLUS…Brandon Manning” and expected different results. The guy who took a team in 2017 that finished with 109 points and blew up his roster. The guy who since he traded Panarin and Hjalmarsson has seemingly had 4-5 different plans to retool. It was getting Saad to play the right way and replace Hossa and all it cost him was one of the most dynamic players in the league. Then it was about getting younger and faster with Hinostroza, Hartman, Duclair, and Schmaltz. Then it was getting more experience with Kunitz and Manning. So excuse me if I am not entirely sold on waiting for Boqvist, Mitchell, Beaudin, Krys, and Jokiharju as Toews and Kane’s best years are wasted. And excuse me if I want to throw up when John McDonough begs the fans to #BelieveInOneGoal

If John McDonough spent a little more time paying attention to the ice and a little less time licking icy off of cupcakes and putting them back on the communal tray maybe we wouldn’t be in this spot. Maybe if he listened to people who weren’t self-interested sycophants pouring poison in his ear then he’d wake up to the fact that Stan Bowman’s inability to negotiate contract value, trades, or draft a defenseman or a goalie who can play at the NHL level after a DECADE on the job is a problem. Maybe he’d realize that the only reason #OneGoal had to be repackaged is because OneMan made that goal unattainable by his ineptitude. I give credit where credit is due. Trading Schmaltz…good. Getting a top 6 center for Schmaltz…also very good. Trading Brandon Manning for an NHL player…also good. Trading Rutta…good, I guess. Here is the problem though…ALL of Stan’s problems and this roster’s problems are self-inflicted. How much credit does he deserve for addressing a percentage of his fuck ups that led to the premature end of a dynasty? This all goes back to getting swept by Nashville. Stan Bowman is typically known as being somewhat meak and cerebrial. Analytical and not really emotional. He reacted emotionally after that series. The stories are that exit interviews that year got personal, angry, and he pointed fingers at everyone except himself. Then he went on to trade Hjalmarsson and Panarin and the team hasn’t recovered. While I think Mitchell and Jokiharju will be very good NHL players at some point, and Strome and Debrincat look to be nice building blocks, that doesn’t excuse how he crashed the Ferrari he was given. The mistakes are his, he should own them, he should wear them, and he should pay the price. It’s time for change. And as Stan Bowman said when he made the moves prior to the 2017 draft “Change doesn’t always have to be a bad thing”. No it doesn’t. It’s time for the change the organization needs. Fire Stan, Fire John. Restart.