It's Teuvo Teravainen Time in Chicago Again: Fixing A Bowman Blunder

The Blackhawks first-round draft pick in 2012, Teravainen helped Chicago win a Stanley Cup before being sent to Carolina in one of former GM Stan Bowman's worst deals. Now the Finnish forward has returned as a UFA.

Teuvo Teravainen is back with the Blackhawks.

After eight seasons in Carolina, the 29-year-old, left-handed shooting winger from Finland signed a three-year, $16.2 million contract with Chicago on July 1 in the team's free-agent flurry. He returned to the team that drafted him 18th overall in 2012 and where he won a Stanley Cup in 2015, posting 10 points in 18 postseason games.

Tervainen, who scored a career-high 25 goals and added 28 assists last season, will be a top-6 forward in Chicago. He figures to skate on a line with right-handed shooting Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard, at least at some point.

Bad Bowman Deal

Thing is: Teravainen never should have been traded to the Hurricanes at age 21 in a June 2016 deal that was one of former general manager Stan Bowman's biggest blunders.

Teravainen started his career encouragingly enough, debuting with three games in March 2014 at age 19, then sticking for good in the NHL on Jan. 4, 2015 at age 20. After 34 regular-season games to close the 2014-15 season, he appeared in 18 of the Blackhawks' postseason contests, posting four goals and six assists as Chicago went on to defeat Tampa Bay for its third Cup in six seasons.

Teravainen followed up with 13 goals and 35 points in 78 games in 2015-16 on a deep Chicago team. The Blackhawks then were knocked out of the first playoff round by Vancouver after falling behind in the series 3-0.

Then Bowman tried to fix one mistake with another.

He had signed pending free agent and burly power forward Bryan Bickell to a four-year, $16 million contract after Bickell had a big performance in Chicago's 2013 run to the Cup. The likeable 6-foot-4 Bickell had put up nine goals and 17 points in 23 games as the Blackhawks eventually topped Boston for the Championship.

Still, it was an eyebrow-raising deal.  Bickell's previous contract had just a $542,000 AAV. The winger had never scored more than 37 points in a full season.

Then Bickell's numbers and effectiveness dropped starting in 2013-14 when he played just 59 games. Later, Bickell learned he had multiple sclerosis, a progressive neurological disease that starts with profound fatigue and can lead to loss of strength and coordination.

Bowman sent Bickell and Teravainen to the Hurricanes for a second-round draft pick in 2016 and third-round selection in 2017. Nothing became of the draftees. Teravainen was a throw-in on the trade to take the final year of Bickell's contract, at $4 million AAV, off Chicago's books.

Bickell tried, but could play only 11 games with the Hurricanes in 2016-17. He retired at age 30 and has become a spokesman for MS awareness. https://www.bickellfoundation.org/bryan-story 

Teuvo Took Off

Teravainen prospered with the Hurricanes, posting 138 goals and 415 points in 555 regular-season games He topped out with 76 points in 82 contests in 2018-19. He's been consistently effective on the power play, most recently skating with fellow Finn Sebastian Aho.

Current Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson was a young administrator on Bowman's staff when Chicago drafted Teravainen. Davidson was sent to O'Hare International Airport to pick up Teravainen when he first arrived from Finland, sometime in 2013, and help acclimate the then teen forward.

"I don't even know if he even remembers me or knows if that person that picked him up is the same person that signed him now," Davidson said. "Whether he knows it or not, we've got a little more history there than he may understand.

Davidson, the NHL's youngsest GM at 36, says time has flown by.

"He's 29. He's 29. Holy geez," Davidson joked about Teravainen's return. "For me, it feels like I've been around for a little while too." See the following video.