Confirmed with Link: Oilers hire Stan Bowman as GM & Executive VP- press conference at 10:30

[Duder54]

They said so in the presser.

I'm still listening to the replay right now. Odd. Really odd that they weren't consulted.

 

[Pavel10]

The thing I don't get is what does Bowman bring you that for example botterill doesn't? I mean does Bowman move the needle so much further because of his direct gm skill?

Why get all of this baggage when it was somewhat avoidable?

 

[PaPaDee]

Disappointed with this decision.

 

[Oildrum]

I suspect the bandwagon will be pretty full again come playoff time when the ankles have healed.

You can cheer for the players while also being pissed at management.

 

[Broberg Speed]

Panarin trade kind of cancel itself out. Bowman did sign him and got back an useful player in Saad.

Jones is like Nurse deal.
Bowman traded Teravainen for 2 x 2nd
Holland traded 2 x 2nd for AA

Bowman did similar things to Holland. Holland had a chance to redeem himself tho. He got us Ekholm, Hyman, Barrie, Kane, Henrique

Panarin trade is the worst, absolutely undoubtedly the worst. Worse than the Huberdeau trade by a long shot.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Yeah idk - once your boss and HR get involved and say they're handling it, I'm pretty sure everyone's staying the f*** out of it unless otherwise asked.

As for reporting it - he wasn't a mandatory reporter. Modern SA advocacy training would be to support the victim on their own requests and reports not to initiate your own unless you believe there is further danger to them, which there wasn't.

Aside from that - why would it be his job to follow up and confirm Aldrich's next places of employment and volunteer habits? How would he even go about doing that? Is that not more HR scope and on Q for writing the letter of recommendation in the first place?

This is just being a good person. I would hope anyone in my life, once understanding what happened, would think first and foremost of protecting minors.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Well, the response is about what I expected it would be. Oilers love being the villains of the NHL these days apparently. I thought every discussion off Hfboards turning into "evander kane is an evil wife beater" was obnoxious, I suspect things are going to be a whole lot worse going forward

Hopefully Bowman at least learned something from how badly he flamed out as Chicago's GM, otherwise we've got another Chiarelli on our hands

I do wonder if JJ's comments about not talking to the players about this decision is him just protecting the players from the backlash like he did when Knoblauch was hired. I'd be concerned that a move that is so highly divisive among the fanbase would also have a similar effect among the players, this potentially has some pretty big ramifications if it trickles down to the room.

I doubt it. See my latest reply.

 

[K1984]

Yeah idk - once your boss and HR get involved and say they're handling it, I'm pretty sure everyone's staying the f*** out of it unless otherwise asked.

As for reporting it - he wasn't a mandatory reporter. Modern SA advocacy training would be to support the victim on their own requests and reports not to initiate your own unless you believe there is further danger to them, which there wasn't.

Aside from that - why would it be his job to follow up and confirm Aldrich's next places of employment and volunteer habits? How would he even go about doing that? Is that not more HR scope and on Q for writing the letter of recommendation in the first place?

To add another layer to this - if he calls Aldrich's employer and gets him fired, Aldrich could have cause to take action against Bowman. This is incredibly complicated, incredibly messy, and so much more is involved in it than the armchair QBs are willing to acknowledge or admit.

 

[ChasinWaterfalls]

I feel like if you have ever known anyone who has been raped or sexually assaulted you wouldnt be so quick to "forgive" Stan bowman and move on like im seeing from some people.

The victims face life sentences because of his negligence, I think forgiving bowman is fine, putting him again in a position of power is... disgusting.

 

[Stoneman89]

Considering that the players weren't even consulted that just makes this hiring even dumber.

I'll bet you the core were spoken to about it, especially the captain.

 

[Spawn]

How tf do you say the Panarin trade cancels out?!?

Panarin, a top 10 winger in the league right now, was traded for a 3rd liner.

COME ON DUDE. It’s basically Hall for Larsson.

And sure Holland got us those guys but also:

- signed Kassian to a contract extension that he then traded away with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd as a cap dump.
- Cody Ceci
- Jack Campbell
- Connor Brown

It’s somehow much worse than the Hall for Larsson deal.

 

[McBooya42]

Duncan Keith already works for the Oilers in Player Development

Facts!

 

[Duder54]

Gazzola says there were a lot of eye rolls and sighs at the press conference today from Oilers management.

Teams texted in to Oilers reporters saying "idiots"


LOL great

I really think that's what the Oilers may come to regret.

If outside management, namely other GMs, don't like Stan Bowman, making deals with other teams could prove to be a real challenge.

And then there's the question of trying to recruit UFAs or players with NTC/NMC to come to Edmonton too.

Just one more obstacle to trying to build a Stanley Cup winning team.

 

[North Cole]

I'll be honest, I don't get the 'second chance' mentality.

Rehabilitation and reintegration into society is fine. You can atone for your issues and go work at Subway. Why does your second chance need to be a mulit-million dollar per year job of which there are only 32 in existence.

I'm sorry but if you horrendously bungle situations, financially, abuse, HR, fraud, etc. You blew your chance to have a high profile public facing job. I know he's not convicted of any crime, but no one is asking for jail time. Just kick rocks and go work in a back office somewhere. Being a GM and dealing with media, fans, etc is a privilege.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I'll bet you the core were spoken to about it, especially the captain.

Well then they were just lying at the press conference then which also isn't a great look.

 

[Canovin]

How tf do you say the Panarin trade cancels out?!?

Panarin, a top 10 winger in the league right now, was traded for a 3rd liner.

COME ON DUDE. It’s basically Hall for Larsson.

And sure Holland got us those guys but also:

- signed Kassian to a contract extension that he then traded away with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd as a cap dump.
- Cody Ceci
- Jack Campbell
- Connor Brown

Chicago got Panarin for free. If anything Saad was a free asset and he was not a 3rd liner haha

 

[Stoneman89]

Well then they were just lying at the press conference then which also isn't a great look.

What did they say at the press conference?

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

What did they say at the press conference?

They were asked if they consulted the players about the hiring. They said no.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Chicago got Panarin for free. If anything Saad was a free asset and he was not a 3rd liner haha

We got McDavid for free. Does that mean we should trade him for Josh Anderson?

 

[iCanada]

This is just being a good person. I would hope anyone in my life, once understanding what happened, would think first and foremost of protecting minors.

Ok, but how would he do this exactly?

Also, apparently there was no reference letter at all, not even from Quenneville.

Per the investigation report, page 63-64:

“After leaving his employment with the Blackhawks, Aldrich went on to work and volunteer at USA Hockey, the University of Notre Dame, Miami University of Ohio, and Houghton High School.621 None of the witnesses we interviewed recalled anyone at the Blackhawks providing a written or verbal reference for Aldrich to his future employers.

When interviewed, Aldrich stated that he did not list any Blackhawks employees as references on job applications, nor did he ask anyone from the Blackhawks to vouch for him or make any calls on his behalf.622 USA Hockey reported to us that they identified no records reflecting a reference provided for Aldrich by the Blackhawks.623 We gathered records from Miami University regarding Aldrich’s employment and found no evidence of references, whether written or oral, provided by the Blackhawks.

Miami University published an investigative report on September 24, 2021, which stated that Aldrich did not provide references on his resume when he applied to Miami, that the then-head coach of Miami University’s hockey team received Aldrich’s name from the coach’s collegiate hockey connections, and that the head coach and others spoke to the University of Notre Dame about Aldrich and received favorable information.624 The Miami investigative report does not describe any references provided by the Blackhawks.625 The University of Notre Dame declined to share information or records with us, other than to confirm Aldrich’s dates of employment at the university.

Houghton High School reported to us that they identified no records reflecting a reference provided for Aldrich by the Blackhawks.626 The head hockey coach at Houghton High School told us that Aldrich did not formally apply for volunteer hockey coaching positions in 2010 and 2012.627 The head coach explained that Aldrich’s uncle, who was the assistant coach in 2010, had told the head coach that Aldrich was not working and asked if the team could help Aldrich.628 In 2012, the team re-hired Aldrich as a volunteer based on his work as a volunteer in 2010.629 The head coach said that he did not contact the Blackhawks about Aldrich at any time.630”

https://www.jenner.com/a/web/8kmbgFUEYWcNnvzFTa5h8H/4k1Z6N/report-to-the-chicago-blackhawks-hockey-team-october-2021.pdf

In order to actually know he was working with minors you'd basically have to be stalking him? How else would you know?

 

[Canovin]

We got McDavid for free. Does that mean we should trade him for Josh Anderson?

McDavid was a draft pick. It's not free haha

 

[SupremeTeam16]

You're right, the Oilers have been excellent judges about this sort of thing. If someone in a similar situation was hired above you in your job I'm sure you'd be perfectly okay with it.


They said so in the presser.

I can’t say for sure how I would feel about it, based on the information at hand, what I’ve heard from relevant parties, Jackson and Bowman himself, I’d probably be fine with it.

One thing I do know is that I value winning absolutely above all and my belief is that Jackson has put the pieces in place for this team to finish the job.

The other thing that I know is lots of negative outside noise tends to give a team that us vs them mentality and there isn’t many greater motivators then people hating. Its unbelievably motivating to want to come together and win because nothing is going to anger the haters more then the Oilers having success.

 

[Leonardlizard]

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I can’t say for sure how I would feel about it, based on the information at hand, what I’ve heard from relevant parties, Jackson and Bowman himself, I’d probably be fine with it.

One thing I do know is that I value winning absolutely above all and my belief is that Jackson has put the pieces in place for this team to finish the job.

The other thing that I know is lots of negative outside noise tends to give a team that us vs them mentality and there isn’t many greater motivators then people hating. Its unbelievably motivating to want to come together and win because nothing is going to anger the haters more then the Oilers having success.

Well if winning is the top priority then they were better off not hiring Bowman. There wasn't a single reason to hire this man.

 

[3IR]

Playing devils advocate here and it’s something that I’ve thought about recently.

I’m a situation like this, with Bowman at least in the outside putting in work to atone for what he did (which is more than the others in this situation who were far worse have even tried to do) the message that could get sent for having him permanently black balled sends is. Do a bad thing and you are done, so simply get better at hiding it.

That happens most of the time in scandals. These things don’t really stop happening, they just get better and better at covering them up.

The one potential benefit of bringing in Bowman to the league again is he is obvious a guy who has admitted and sought how to learn about how he failed and he can bring that to the league and hopefully help promote change.

Remove peoples chances to change and atone and bad actions don’t stop happening, they just work harder to make sure you never find out.

another good point, and one I believe is where a lot of peoples division on the topic are going to be focused on.

My thoughts though are that in this situation, there are plenty of qualified candidates for this incredibly high paying, and prestigious role as GM of the Oilers, and while I believe Bowman shouldn’t be blacklisted from ever having a job or anything again, he absolutely should not ever be allowed to hold the position he had again. This isn’t like he’s some guy who’s only got this going for him and taking it away would ruin his life. He’s someone who earned the privilege of being an NHL GM, and then lost that privilege when he let this all get swept under the rug.

I personally don’t think he should ever be allowed to work in the NHL again, as I think that too is a privilege that’s exclusive enough, and has enough people available to be hired that something like this should absolutely disqualify you from holding a position of any type. Maybe I could come around eventually on him being in the NHL if he were to have been put in a lesser position and continued to show growth, but Throwing him the reigns as GM as his first official NHL gig since he stepped away is insane imo. It sends such an awful message to everyone involved with the team, as well as the fans.