Breaking Down Stan Bowman’s Busy Deadline
It was a busy Monday for Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman, who took part in his first NHL Trade Deadline without John McDonough. He made three trades before the team takes the ice for an important game in Columbus.
First, the deal he didn’t make.
Nikita Zadorov stayed put in Chicago. Blackhawks were listening but nothing made them blink. They’re happy to keep him.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 12, 2021
Zadorov is staying through the rest of the 2021 season. He’s an RFA this offseason and would need to be re-signed if the Blackhawks are going to expose him in the Seattle expansion draft.
Per multiple reports, including the one cited above, the Hawks listened on Zadorov but didn’t hear something they liked in return.
Now, the deals Bowman did make.
- Traded forward Matthew Highmore to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Adam Gaudette.
- Traded forward Mattias Janmark and a 5th round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2nd round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and a 3rd round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
- Traded forward center Carl Söderberg to the Colorado Avalanche for forwards Ryder Rolston & Josh Dickinson.
- Traded defenseman Madison Bowey and a fifth round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft to the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
So what do we make of these four trades?
The draft capital the Blackhawks acquired is terrific. An additional second round pick this year and moving a fifth up to a third in the deal with Vegas will pay dividends down the road. Getting those two picks for Janmark, a rental, is a win for Bowman. Moving up from the fifth round to the fourth for Bowey is also a huge win for Chicago.
Gaudette is the only piece the Hawks acquired that could impact the roster this season. He’s a skilled forward who won the Hobey Baker in college and could be a welcome addition to the Hawks’ bottom six when he’s ready to join the lineup. He’s an offensive upgrade from Highmore. That deal is a win.
The key to the Söderberg deal is Rolston, a rising sophomore at Notre Dame where he played with Blackhawks prospect Landon Slaggert this season. He was selected two picks before Chicago picked defenseman Isaak Phillips, who the Hawks signed to an ELC recently. He’ll get more ice time with the Fighting Irish in the coming year(s), so his value to the organization is wait-and-see. But Söderberg was another rental who was brought in to help the team deal with the losses of Kirby Dach and Jonathan Toews at center this season.
Overall, Bowman did a nice job at the deadline. He got the value we had hoped for in the Janmark deal and brought back intriguing assets in the other three trades.
I would give StanBo a win for the picks with Vegas, a slight edge in the Highmore trade and a incomplete for Soderholm but he will help the Avs right now. He really didn’t give up much so its not like the end of the world but pretty much everybody knew these guys were the guys that probably were gone. If StanBo resigns Zadorov for a reasonable price and lets him play his game, I’m in for that.
Agree Tab Stanbo did well especially getting a 2nd for Janmark with 50% retained salary – good job
I wonder how long before we see Gaudette- who knows if there are any quarantine requirements of Gaudette going from Canada to the US?
A good few days for the future. Additional draft capital likely allows us to trade for a second first rounder. We gave up very little for what we received. Borgstrom and Gaudette are the big wild cards outside of the draft picks. Interesting that we acquired the sons of two long time players in Stillman and Rolston. Good size among all the players acquired. Pretty amazing that we turned a 5th round pick into a 4th for Bowey.
Agree thought he had a good day, Janmark the biggie today. Soderberg going to walk and Highmore not in picture with Blackhawks so nothing lost there any gains are gravy. Bowey too just a spare cog so moving up in the deaft with him a no loss move.
We won’t see it but with 23 player limits on Nhl roster lifted after today and carrying as many as you want with being under caphit only thing required. With the close 20m ltir space everybody or almost everybody at least in Rfd and on taxi squad could be added to Nhl roster.
good day for stan. love picking up the draft capital and the flyer on gaudette. if they love janmark that much they can sign him in the off season. subtracting janmark and soderberg frees up playing time for others and if they don’t make the playoffs another win for the draft capital.
wish they would have moved zadorov and hope stan has the guts not to resign him unless it is an extremely hawks friendly contract. as i have said before, i don’t trust a player in his contract year who can’t find a way to play hard every night. what will his effort be when he has a three year contract in his back pocket?
Bowman had a good day.
Hawks29 – Agree with you on Zadorov. I was hopeful earlier in the year but his play has dropped off noticeably in the past few weeks and his effort is underwhelming. I hope we didn’t pass on a decent offer today as I think we will be in a tough position of having to qualify him at $3.2m and then protect him or else lose him for nothing.
MS that coulda been the biggest blocker for Zadorov, teams would have to protect him or risk losing him, make what they want to give for him considerably less.
Ian – that’s a very fair point plus I’m sure Stan had some ego involved and was not likely to accept a minimum offer which would confirm that the Saad trade was a bad deal. My feeling is don’t make a second mistake trying to cover the original. I still am very positive about all the moves, maybe the trade talk will light a fire for Zadorov.
Stan blew it. He could have had Gustafson back for a seventh rounder like Montreal did. Just kidding. No surprises today – good or bad.
Remember when a lot of fans were freaking out when we traded Gus? I was impressed Stan even got a 3rd rounder for him. Might have gotten a 2nd if he sold high on him a year earlier. Philly gave him up for next to nothing AND had to retain salary.
Strategically sound trades. But I’m not a fan of collecting drafts picks in the NHL. I get it that one kid could make a difference but in the NHL but the odds are against any franchise to draft the right kid at the right time and find a franchise type player. Case in point Adam Gaudette.the Hobey Baker Award . . . a la Heisman trophy and you can see what I mean. But that is the game, sad to see it all be about salary caps. Bowman has made some smart moves in Europe and Russia etc. Maybe a gem will show up over seas . . .
Looks like the season has ended early again . . . that is a bigger concern that collecting draft picks that more likely than not will not work out. Bowman should be able to build a team that can at least make the playoffs. This is a drought to end all drought. You can just about be a 500 team and make the playoffs in 2021.
Seems the highlight for most Hawks fans here is how many more years it will take Adam Boqvist to become a second line defense men? Pretty sad state of affairs.
Bowman a good smoke and mirrors kind of guy.
go hawks
Gaudette was drafted 3 years before he won the Hobey Baker, Hockey drafts at 18 before attending university, unlike NFL which draft players after university is completed. Does show why it is alot tougher to draft in Nhl, being right on a 22 or 23 year old is more obvious than at 18.
I would have loved seeing the floaters Strome and Nylander get traded ,but hey, were stuck with them .
Perhaps we can ditch them both in the Expansion .
You never hear Jeremy expressing how impressed he is with either of their work ethics or hard work as he did with Highmores press briefing .
Go Hawks go .
This No McDonough TDL StanBo Show was fun to watch unfold. Thank GOD he didn’t pay for Panik again.
@Pucklogic: You had me thinking “wtf, this guy usually is spot on”…..hahaha got me. ;)
Will be interesting to see what bodies dress tonight.
Cheers fellas.
Thought Stan did a nice job today given that he didn’t have that many tradeable assets.
I wonder if the Bowey trade kills two birds with one stone..allows the Hawks to move up a round in the draft and also removes an expansion draft dman option for Seattle. Stan maybe trying to steer Seattle towards DeHaan. I like the strategy.
I also thought Stan did a good job of trying to find players who can help this roster instead of just focusing on draft picks, and in the end he was able to do a bit of both..here’s a list of the new players the Hawks have now:
Hinostroza
Borgstrom
Connolly
Stillman
Gaudette
Rolston
Dickenson
Not a bad influx of new players given that Morrison, Wallmark, Carlsson, Highmore, and Soderberg are all that went out. Not one high draft pick or cornerstone piece was moved. Training camp next year should be very interesting. There should be a lot of competition, which is what Stan and Colliton have repeatedly said is important to them.
As for Zadorov, the Hawks will qualify him-however, I can’t see the Hawks offering him more than Murphy is getting currently, so my guess would be a two year deal at $3.4 or so..if Zadorov goes to arbitration, he may get slightly more or less, but the Hawks can then decide if they want to just let him walk as a ufa..I don’t think Stan is too concerned with keeping Zadorov unless it’s for the price the Hawks want and I don’t think he’s overly concerned about getting an equal return for him just because Saad was the player he was traded for. The front office won’t admit it, but the Saad trade was as much a salary dump as it was bringing a physical defenseman in. Anyone notice that Suter has 19 points in 39 games for $925,000 while Saad has 21 points in 40 games for $6,000,000. Well, if you haven’t noticed, I guarantee you the Hawks have noticed. They were confident that they could find his production cheaper, and they were right. The same goes for Zadorov. If the Hawks feel the price is reasonable, he’ll be back. If he asks for too much, and the Hawks think they can get comparable production on the left side from Kalynuk, Beaudin, Stillman, Phillips, etc. then they’ll let him walk. Which is why it’s always beneficial to have lots of depth on the blueline.
I wonder if Connolly is in for Soderberg tonight
Neither Highmore or Janmark played on Saturday so no other changes are needed
According to Ben pope – Stillman in for Zadorov tonight as well as Connolly drawing in
Slayer,Its only good if it is a true competition at camp next season and not the usual predetermined roster. Just 1 example is what a few scouts who commented on todays trades said about Highmore. 3 of them stated that it was a great trade and that they had no idea how Highmore was on the NHL Roster ahead of Hagel right from the start. Of course the knock on Gaudtette from Vancouver is that his skating stride is weak and he is slow. He is also allegedly Patient Zero for the Canuck COVID outbreak. He still has not recovered. I know he is for the future and I have to admit that when I saw him play he seemed fast and slick with the puck. I never understood why he didn’t get more ice time for Vancouver.
As noted by one of the analysts on NHL Network, you could make the argument that Stan Bowman got as much for Janmark as Buffalo did for Taylor Hall.
Excellent deal by Stan.
Soderberg had fallen off the map, surprised he was not on waivers over the weekend. Hopefully Rolston develops. He supposedly can absolutely fly.
Analysts also can’t believe the Canucks gave up Gaudette for Highmore. They insist the Hawks got the better player.
The Bowey deal was found money.
All in all a good day for the Hawks future.
Nice job Stan. I started worrying earlier today that Stan and the Hawks were get shutout of the TDL frenzy … but I’m very pleased to admit I was a whining wus cuz Stan game through with flying colors given what he had to work with. Got some picks, prospects and potential for basically giving up nothing that would have been part of the rebuild.
Hell, if just one of Borgstrom, Gaudette, or one of the players selected with the draft picks turns into a key piece of the rebuild I will consider this TDL a win for Stan and the Hawks,
Craig, yea could not have done any better. A+ for the tradeline as well as the young wavers devopement this 55 season.
Now lets do it again this summer/ufa add and same thing next tradeline.
Nice moves thus far. Good to see the movement of none rebuild players in order to open spots to get the youth some NHL ice time.
Disappointed that Stanley did nothing to address the log jam on the blue line. I would have thought that DeHaan or Murphy would have had some trade value and received some interest from contending teams.
Beaudin, Mitchell, Kalynuk, and Boqvist all need NHL ice time in order to accelerate their develop. Hawk will not contend until the rebuilt blueline matures.
Nice work by Stan, I think the Hawks definitely got quality returns for their assets. I think the roster is better now than it was before AND they have more/better draft picks. Nothing to dislike about these moves.
Hate to see a guy like Highmore go but it is a numbers game at his position, he’s not as offensively gifted as some others, and Gaudette definitely has some upside. Hope he takes that great effort and attitude, continues to develop, and has a decent career. Played hard for the Blackhawks both last year and this year but in the end could be moved.