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Blackhawks GM backs Quenneville, vows to ‘never let this happen again’

greg wyshynski

After the Chicago Blackhawks were swept away by the Nashville Predators, the players used the word “unacceptable” with frequency.

Their general manager, Stan Bowman, used it three times in his locker room clean-out day preamble to the media before answering questions about this disastrous turn for the Western Conference’s top seed. He used it three more times during that availability.

Here’s the opening statement from Bowman, via Mark Lazarus of the Sun-Times:

Some news from Bowman right off the bat:

“Joel is our head coach. He will continue to be our head coach. And Joel and I are going to work together to make sure that this never happens again.”

Hopefully that quiets down the lunatic fringe of Chicago fans that are questioning whether Joel Must Go.

The other news is that “changes are coming,” but that’s obvious.

According to CapFriendly.com, the Blackhawks have 20 players under contract for 2017-18 and are already $820,000 over a $73-million cap. That’s with Richard Panik and Michal Kempny as restricted free agents, and with Artemi Panarin’s contract jumping to a $6 million cap hit.

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So if Bowman is going to make some dramatic changes to this roster, that means moving considerable salary. If Marian Hossa retires, that opens up a little money but not much, as it’s through cap recapture. Brent Seabrook, 32, is signed through 2024 at a $6.875 million annually against the cap but has a no-move clause. What about goalie Corey Crawford, 32, who makes $6 million against the cap through 2020 and has a modified no-trade clause and a no-move clause?

“I’m not going to speculate on anything — who’s going to be here, who’s not going to be here,” said Bowman, when asked about Crawford, via Chris Hine.

(Keep in mind the Blackhawks can’t use the expansion draft for salary dumping. Hossa, Seabrook and Crawford all have to be protected due to their no-move status.)

We broke down why the Blackhawks were swept. A couple of those reasons speak to player personnel issues for Bowman: a defense corps that was old and overmatched, and a collection of young players that didn’t match their regular-season efforts in the playoffs. The former problem is on Bowman, whose acquisitions on the blueline haven’t worked in the last two seasons. The latter, hopefully, is remedied with experience.

It’s one thing for Bowman to sneer that these results are “unacceptable” for the Blackhawks. It’s another to actually make the necessary changes to prove you don’t accept them.

Bowman has shown a calculated rectitude in evaluating his roster and making painful choices due to financial considerations – ask Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Dustin Byfuglien and the rest. But those moves were made to keep the band together under the ceiling of the cap.

The question facing Bowman and Quenneville, after back-to-back first-round losses: Do you keep playing the same hits, or break up the band?

And if you want to break up the band … how?

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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