from Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times,
So how does Bowman feel now, 63 games into a lost season — the playoffs out of reach, his most expensive players underperforming, his star goaltender’s future cloudy at best, his promised offseason makeover a failure, the team a seller at the trade deadline for the first time in a decade?
Oddly enough, quite optimistic.
“Where we are today is equally frustrating, but it’s sort of in a different way,” he said. “We haven’t had the season that we wanted. [But] I think the one bright spot has been the progression and emergence of some of our younger players.”
It’s spin, of course. Bowman can’t do the same fire-and-brimstone routine a year later. With his job on the line, he has no choice but to put on some rose-colored glasses.
But he’s not wrong, either. Five years from now, when the Hawks look back on the 2017-18 season, they’ll see it as the year Nick Schmaltz grew into a future No. 1 center. The year Alex DeBrincat became an instant star. The year Vinnie Hinostroza proved himself an NHL player.
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