Stan Bowman Reloads The Blackhawks

from Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun,

Stan Bowman might not be as famous as his dad. Or as ornery as Brian Burke. Or as chatty as Ken Holland.
But what he managed to pull off on Thursday by acquiring Andrew Ladd, generally considered the top available forward heading into the trade deadline, once again underscores why he is the best in the biz.
In the weeks following the Hawks’ Cup triumph last June, Bowman was forced to cast adrift key cogs Brandon Saad, Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya due to salary-cap considerations. In came former Blue Jacket Artem Anisimov and ex-KHLer Artemi Panarin, who have helped linemate Patrick Kane become the front-runner to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP.
It doesn’t stop there. After swinging the deal to bring in Ladd from the Winnipeg Jets, on Friday, Bowman added to the blue line by acquiring defenceman Christian Ehrhoff from the rival Kings for veteran Rob Scuderi.
And then, Friday night, he added forwards Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann from the Montreal Canadiens.
Meanwhile, the rest of the league was waiting for, well, what? To see the Hawks win a fourth Cup in seven seasons? It might very well happen.
The lesson here: Stan Bowman’s Blackhawks don’t rebuild; they reload. And the architect is Stan Bowman, whose ability to annually keep the Hawks among the Cup favourites is impressive even to his own players.

from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

If and when Stan Bowman joins his illustrious father in the Hockey Hall of Fame — and it’s beginning look a lot more like when than if — instead of a bust they should recognize his achievements with a portrait of an executive balanced on a high wire.
Nobody has tiptoed through the tulips quite like Bowman the Younger, at least not in the NHL’s salary cap era.
The cap, you’ll remember, was put in place to make dynasties all but impossible and to essentially force championship teams to divest themselves of talent almost as soon as they won. This was officially described as “levelling the playing field.”
For the most part, however, the wealthy teams have been doing all the winning since the cap was established in 2005. Now, it appears Bowman’s Chicago Blackhawks are well-positioned to be the first team in the cap era to win two Cups in a row, which would give them four in seven years.

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Stan Bowman Reloads The Blackhawks

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