Hawks GM Bowman happy to give Panarin his bonus
New year. Same answer.
That's the nuts and bolts of it when it came to Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman talking about how happy he was that Artemi Panarin earned a $1.725 million bonus for the second straight season.
"He did something pretty special here to come in two years in a row and get 70 points, 30 goals a year," Bowman said before the Hawks kicked off the Stanley Cup playoffs against Nashville on Thursday. "That just doesn't happen. It's really hard to find player who are able to do that.
"Couldn't be more happy for Artemi."
Panarin (31G, 43A) earned the bonus by finishing in the top 10 in points among forwards. Most of the bonus will affect the Hawks' salary cap in 2017-18.
Bowman went on to hit on a variety of topics during his 20-minute Q&A with reporters. Here is an edited transcript:
Q: Did you sense something special might happen or have a different feel going into the season?
A: "No, I don't have a difference that way. I think we're always optimistic. ... We've shown we can play really good hockey when we play together as a team. And you have to get out there and do it. We don't take anything for granted. We had a very good regular season.
"I'm proud of what we accomplished. But now we start over. And everyone starts with a clean slate. I'm eager this year like I am every year entering the playoffs."
Q: How much can you enjoy the playoffs and do you get bogged down planning for the future?
A: "We don't get bogged down. That's probably not the way I would characterize it. It's more, that's our job is to prepare for the future. We've done it before.
"We've been able to navigate a lot of changes to our roster. Not anticipating huge changes. There will be some leading into next year. But that's not our focus right now.
"I think you can still enjoy it, knowing that I sort of had a dual purpose, which is to watch the team now and also plan for where we're going to be next year and in the coming years.
Q: Could you tell us if you know who you will protect for June's expansion draft?
A: "I could tell you, but I'm not going to. Yeah, we have that figured out. We've spent a lot of time working on that over the course of the year, but there's really no benefit to sort of broadcasting that now."
Q: Are the young players better prepared for the next step?
A: "I think so. I've mentioned this a few times throughout the year. They are technically still rookies. … But they're just regular players now. They're just part of our team. No, they have not been through a playoff run here in Chicago. But they've all been through big runs.
"Nick Schmaltz won the national championship last year. He was part of a team that did something special in pressure moments. It's not like these guys have never played in pressure situations, so you have to give them a chance to do that.
"You have to be an NHL playoff rookie at some point and I think they'll get through it fine."
Q: Do you think this team has a different personality because of the youth?
A: "Yeah, I do. … When you have younger players, there's a little bit more of a bounce and a little bit more of an excitement because they haven't experienced this. They have never won a Stanley Cup. They're hungry to do something that the other guys in the room have done two, three times. But I think that's great."