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

[TheNumber4]

So JJ talked to Beach too, and Beach was “very supportive” of “Bowman’s reinstatement.”

 

[ChaoticOrange]

and who are you to judge the amount of "toll" should be paid...shouldn't that be up to the people involved?

so your opinion doesn't matter either then?

I'm actually in favour of letting victims have a hand in sentencing for crimes, good idea.

 

[bobbythebrain]

But he ran away to his mansion to do part time volunteer work for a couple years before he could be fired. A face-saving move offered to him, no doubt in part because of his last name.

MacT drove drunk and killed a woman. Bad. He went to jail for it. Deservedly.

Meh. He went to basically a detention center for most of it and signed a career contract while inside. Hardly punishment.

Pretty sure both MacT and Bowman suffer more from regret as punishment

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

You realize having this market "in the palm of his hands" means absolutely nothing to this hockey team, right? This forum is not reality.

Well it's a good that Bowman's credentials aren't awful then.

....Ohhhh.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

So he did what would satisfy people enough for someone to give him his multi million dollar job back.
I guess if the home fans are willing to swallow that, congrats to him.

If you are a cynic then I guess that would be your point of view.

If you believe people can learn, grow and change from their mistakes then maybe you might believe that he is well positioned to help educate many more to improve the game and society.

 

[TheNumber4]

stop replying and get on with the Bowman fanboy posts

I should just coach up Bouchard on an Internet forum and take credit for his success.

 

[dem]

Well it's a good that Bowman's credentials aren't awful then.

....Ohhhh.

You want to have a go at his GM credentials.. go to town.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

If you are a cynic then I guess that would be your point of view.

If you believe people can learn, grow and change from their mistakes then maybe you might believe that he is well positioned to help educate many more improve the game and society.

Sure, let some other team be the "hero" and hire him then.

 

[Stoneman89]

How old are you? Just asking, because it doesn't seem like you know what the 80s were like.

First, the only places to get the news was the newspaper, the evening news, ITV's Sports Night, and 630 CHED. So if nobody in those outlets was talking about MacTavish's transgressions when we brought him in, most fans wouldn't have known. Now, if they did mention it, it was probably just a line at the end of the article, to try to hide it. Nobody was trying to throw the Oilers under the bus at that time.

Also, DUI's weren't seen as nearly as big of a deal as they are now. Drinking and driving was a lot more common, and a DUI was just as likely to be considered bad luck as a stupid decision, like it is now. This was before a lot of the MADD anti-drinking and driving campaigns, and the police weren't as big on the education side of why its bad to drink and drive until the 80s. Does that make what MacTavish did okay? No. But it explains in part why Oiler fans weren't as upset over that as they are over this.

You are applying today's standard of morality to something that happened 40 years ago, and that is a complete failure in logic.

I was around then, and it WAS a big deal. Everyone knew. Killing someone is ALWAYS a big deal. People were throwing the Oilers under the bus, if you yourself were actually around then. Only it wasn't on social media like we have today. It was around water cooler, talking about it at the lake, etc, etc.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

so your opinion doesn't matter either then?

I'm actually in favour of letting victims have a hand in sentencing for crimes, good idea.

no, it really doesn't

 

[TheNumber4]

Nobody's perfect, and this hiring just proves it. Either he's a bonehead or Katz gave orders.

Nothing has been proven. Stan hasn’t done anything as Oilers GM yet.

 

[Broberg Speed]

I should just coach up Bouchard on an Internet forum and take credit for his success.

already been done, you can back the Bowman is the man crusade... nice start so far

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

You want to have a go at his GM credentials.. go to town.

Seth Jones' contract. Enough said. Or just the current state of the Blackhawks.

 

[Stoneman89]

MacT literally signed his Oilers contract while in prison. I'm not sure he's a great example of someone that spent lots of time paying their dues.

So the last 40 years didn't happen?

 

[Mcnofool6110]

The Oilers line dance

5 steps forward (Draft McDavid! Draisaitl emergence and contract! Talbot deal! Patty Maroon!), 5 steps back (trade for Reinhart, Hall for Larsson, the Lucic gamble, a series of terrible small deals exemplified by the Brandon Manning trade)
5 steps forward (Mike Smith! Zach Hyman! Parts of Evander Kane! Ekholm!), 5 steps back (AA for 2 2nds, the Nurse deal, the drafting in general, a constant zoo of subpar 2RW/2RD never addressed)
5 steps forward (Skinner! Arvidsson! Rico is back! Restocked prospect pool!), 5 steps back (hire a GM with a spotty hockey record and even spottier past)

Seriously didn't think we'd have a moment here to say "why not bring back Ken Holland" but
Why not bring back Ken Holland?

 

[SupremeTeam16]

This thread is just one example of why this is a terrible hire. JJ had this entire market in the palm of his hands with a flurry of great moves that had this team set up well in the short and now long term possibly and now he essentially created chaos in the market and a whole whack of questions/confusion.
He could have hired just about anybody else and people would have been largely on board.

I think it proves that Jackson doesn’t care what the market thinks or if they are “eating out of the palm of his hand”. He knows the fans will show up regardless of who the gm is and they’ll pack the building and they’ll pay outrageous amounts for playoffs tickets.

Inevitably some will turn their back on the team but it will be such an insignificant number that those people are really irrelevant. The majority of the fan base will be filling the building come October.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

If you are a cynic then I guess that would be your point of view.

If you believe people can learn, grow and change from their mistakes then maybe you might believe that he is well positioned to help educate many more improve the game and society.

In this vein, I vote we hire more bank robbers to be in charge of bank security

 

[TheNumber4]

This thread is just one example of why this is a terrible hire. JJ had this entire market in the palm of his hands with a flurry of great moves that had this team set up well in the short and now long term possibly and now he essentially created chaos in the market and a whole whack of questions/confusion.
He could have hired just about anybody else and people would have been largely on board.

100% Bad PR. But PR isn’t GMing. Could still be a good GM hire though, time will tell.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I think it proves that Jackson doesn’t care what the market thinks or if they are “eating out of the palm of his hand”. He knows the fans will show up regardless of who the gm is and they’ll pack the building and they’ll pay outrageous amounts for playoffs tickets.

Inevitably some will turn their back on the team but it will be such an insignificant number that those people are really irrelevant. The majority of the fan base will be filling the building come October.

That's... not a good thing.

 

[McDoused]

So JJ talked to Beach too, and Beach was “very supportive” of “Bowman’s reinstatement.”

It's actually kind of crazy how individuals who aren't impacted by this are more offended than the actual victim.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Didn't know Chicago paid off a 17 year old (17 year old took the money) for a NDA. Chicago in the end, gets rewarded with Bedard

 

[McDNicks17]

So the last 40 years didn't happen?

The last 40 years where he's been employed by an NHL team for like 35 of them?

 

[ManofSteel55]

I was around then, and it WAS a big deal. Everyone knew. Killing someone is ALWAYS a big deal. People were throwing the Oilers under the bus, if you yourself were actually around then. Only it wasn't on social media like we have today. It was around water cooler, talking about it at the lake, etc, etc.

I was around, but pretty young, which is why I likely don't remember it if it caused a storm like you are suggesting. I would wager that most of the people throwing the Oilers under the bus had moved on within a week or two though, as that's what happened back then. I think my point still stands though - morality changes over time. Holding today's standards to another generation is flawed.

 

[Reasonable Oil Fan]

imagine if HF was around when the Oilers signed MacT back in the day...

of course, its all good.
We forgive everyone
Best locker room in the league by far!

 

[SupremeTeam16]

In this vein, I vote we hire more bank robbers to be in charge of bank security

If anyone is going to know how to catch bank robbers it’s going to be other bank robbers.