Stan Bowman has a multi-year contract to continue being the Blackhawks senior vice president and general manager, team interim president Danny Wirtz told The Athletic.
In June 2019, a rumor surfaced Bowman signed a contract extension but it wasn’t confirmed. The Blackhawks announced Jan. 26, 2016, that Bowman signed a three-year extension, which ran through the 2020-21 season. Wirtz did not comment on the length of Bowman’s new contract.
Wirtz — who was promoted to interim president April 27 when the Blackhawks fired John McDonough after 13 seasons — also said he and team chairman Rocky Wirtz, his father, are “extremely confident” in Bowman.
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Bowman is in his 20th year as a member of the franchise and 11th as the team’s GM. He started his tenure with the Blackhawks as the special assistant to the general manager (2000-04) before being promoted to director of hockey operations (2005-07) and vice president of hockey operations/assistant general manager (2007-09) then was named the ninth GM in franchise history July 14, 2009.
Bowman, 47, has won three Stanley Cup championships during his tenure as GM, but the team hasn’t won a playoff series since winning the Cup in 2015 and haven’t made the playoffs since 2017. The Blackhawks, the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference, will play the No. 5 seed Oilers in a best-of-five qualifier series starting Saturday in Edmonton.
If the Blackhawks win the series, they’ll advance to the 16-team playoffs but if they lose they’ll be guaranteed a top-10 pick for the third straight year. All eight teams eliminated from the qualifiers will have an equal chance (12.5 percent) at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery on Aug. 10. If Chicago is one of those eight teams but doesn’t get the No. 1 pick they could have the No. 9 selection provided the Canadiens receive the top overall pick. If neither of those situations play out, the Blackhawks will stay with the No. 10 pick. The 2020 NHL Draft is set for Oct. 9-10.