Stan Bowman praised for recent moves while others label them as mistakes
Photo credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
The praise for Stan Bowman's Chicago raid keeps growing, but the loudest number in these deals is the one nobody is reading.
Edmonton pried Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach out of Chicago at the March deadline, sending back a 2028 second, Andrew Mangiapane and a conditional 2027 first.
The columns celebrating Bowman's summer fixate on the cap hits. Dickinson signed five years at $4 million, Murphy five years at $4.1 million.
“Stan Bowman turned two connected trades with Chicago into what is increasingly looking like his best move of the year. Edmonton acquired Jason Dickinson, Connor Murphy, and Colton Dach, and all three immediately showed they could contribute. With each player now signed to team-friendly contracts, the value of the deal continues to grow.”
- David Staples
- David Staples
Those are fine rates in a rising-cap league. They are also not the number that matters.
Critics like The Athletic's Thomas Drance flagged the spending after Connor McDavid took a discount.
Even that critique argued dollars, not structure.
The clause hiding under the cap hit
Both contracts carry a full no-movement clause through their first three seasons, then a 16-team trade list in years four and five.
That means a 33-year-old third-pair defenseman and a 31-year-old checking center are locked in place until 2028, untradeable without their say-so.
The AAV is friendly. The term and the protection are a bet that two role players age slowly while the cap keeps climbing to cover them.
Bowman already lived this movie
This is the exact structure that strangled his last contender. In Chicago, Bowman handed Brent Seabrook eight years and a full no-movement clause, and it curdled into what local writers called the worst decision of his tenure.
Seabrook's deal became untradeable dead weight that choked the Blackhawks' cap as their window closed.
Murphy was on those same Chicago teams, protected around that same albatross. Now Bowman is handing out the movement clauses again, in Edmonton, on players a step past their peak.
He did, however, sign Colton Dach, who could turn into a real gem if he outperforms his contract.
"Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson were viewed as the centerpiece acquisitions, while Colton Dach was initially seen as more of a secondary piece. However, Dach quickly showcased his combination of size, physicality, and offensive upside. His new two-year contract gives the Oilers a chance to benefit significantly if he takes another step forward.”
Maybe the rising cap makes it painless this time. But the man signing these deals is the one person in hockey who knows exactly how the other version ends.
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