REPORT: Analytics Say To Fire Stan Bowman

(source–The Athletic)This season my target for a similar look was going to be Chicago, a team that’s been very active since winning its last Cup in 2015 (though those moves need a bit more benefit of hindsight than Edmonton’s). 

Thanks to the un-subtraction of Artemi Panarin, Teuvo Teravainen, Phillip Danault, Nick Schmaltz, Ryan Hartman, Vinnie Hinostroza, Anthony Duclair and Michal Kempny, the hindsight Blackhawks would be 7.7 wins better than the current iteration. That would likely have been enough to bring Chicago’s current point total from 36 to 44 and back into the playoff hunt, rather than Jack Hughes territory.

Math has never been my strong suit so shoutout to the Athletic for taking all of my thoughts and putting them to numbers. Trades of guys the Blackhawks could ABSOLUTELY have and afford if Stan Bowman had just dropped his phone in the toilet in 2016. I’d like to keep the Schmaltz trade because I like that one, and Kempny is likely gone no matter what, but the others…woof.

Panarin-Strome-Kane

Debrincat-Toews-Teravainen

Anisimov-Danault-Hinostroza

Hayden-Hartman-Duclair

That’s a squad right there. I also reject that the notion that those guys together are only worth 7.7 wins more than the current Blackhawks. You’d get that “hockey stick curve” because they’d all impact each other positively. Kane would make Panarin more valuable and vice versa. Teravainen makes Toews and Debrincat better, and on and on we go.

Instead the Blackhawks have more math spitting in their face. The Hawks currently have about a 6% chance of making the playoffs after losing in OT to the Islanders last night. On the flip side they have an 11.5% chance of landing the first overall pick in the draft. Believe it or not, I am actually very tired of banging the drum about Stan Bowman, but when you get hit in the face with cold hard science like this then it’s impossible to ignore. Especially after a night when the Blackhawks were completely outmatched against a very average Islanders team. Stan Bowman has been so bad, it almost feels like he is pulling a Constanza and trying to get fired so he can throw his hat in the ring for the Red Wings job next year.

Earlier in the year I was told by someone that Stan would absolutely NOT be fired before the Winter Classic, but that it was possible after that. So we are officially on Stan-Watch right now. He’s clearly had the green light to make moves. Big John hasn’t treated him like a lame duck at all, but the numbers don’t lie. My gut tells me he isn’t going anywhere this year, but I wouldn’t be totally surprised if he’s not the guy walking up to the podium to select Jack Hughes.