Nice work by the author to create a narrative that doesn't exist. I really don't see anyone calling Stan Bowman a "genius."
I think he's been a good, solid GM. Yeah, he inherited one hell of a team from Dale Tallon. But Tallon threw so much money around that the Hawks had to rebuild half the roster to win the Cups in 2013 and 2015 following the post-Cup purge in 2010.
I also loved this line:
Chicago’s ability to remain competitive is the product of top tier scouting and development — perhaps the best in the NHL
Like the GM has nothing to do with that.
The biggest mistake Bowman's made was incorrectly judging how much the salary cap was going to increase in the years that he elected to give Toews/Kane $10.5 million each. At the time of those deals, I didn't think it was an overpayment, because we probably expected the cap to be in the $80 million range by now. But the devaluing of the Canadian dollar really affected the revenue generated by the league, which is tied to the salary cap. How much you can blame Bowman for that is questionable.
And being an NHL GM is pretty damn difficult because they have no mulligans with contracts. The only thing you can do is trade them and, as we've seen, sometimes you have to throw in prospects to get other teams to take your bad contracts. You can't just release players from bad contracts and get them off the books. Every mistake made with a contract affects your team's financial health significantly more than it does in any of the other pro sports.