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

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I can't say I have ever seen Oilers fans so united in opposition to a move before. I hope this hits their season ticket efforts because that's the only thing that matters to this org.

I've yet to see a single person express any excitement about this hire.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Alright, that's it!

I've had enough of your kink-shaming Drivesaitl! There is nothing wrong with a little aquatic love among consenting adults.

Something rotten in the water.

 

[Canovin]

You're correct, the Oilers have been an expertly run operation the past 20 years or so and the opinions of fans of teams who are personally familiar with their body of work aren't worth anything, just like those of Red Wings fans who warned us about Holland.

Regardless of how you feel about the opinions of others, Bowman's body of work speaks for itself and there are numerous posts in this thread highlighting how poorly he managed the Blackhawks. But if you want the Cole's Notes version go check Seth Jones' contract.

Jackson won't approve of any deal like Seth Jones so you won't have to worry about that

 

[ManByng]

Of all people to hire it’s gotta be Stan Bowman!!

 

[SupremeTeam16]

You're correct, the Oilers have been an expertly run operation the past 20 years or so and the opinions of fans of teams who are personally familiar with their body of work aren't worth anything, just like those of Red Wings fans who warned us about Holland.

Regardless of how you feel about the opinions of others, Bowman's body of work speaks for itself and there are numerous posts in this thread highlighting how poorly he managed the Blackhawks. But if you want the Cole's Notes version go check Seth Jones' contract.

Holland built a team that came within a goal of winning the Cup. Bowman has 3 of them.

Or are Stanley cups and Stanley cup appearances not how we’re measuring success anymore?

 

[ChaoticOrange]

How is “he was very supportive of Bowman’s reinstatement” nebulous?

because it says virtually nothing, and puts words in Beach's mouth without him actually saying them?

Bowman is also an absolute dogshit GM purely from a hockey perspective, so there's that too

 

[Drivesaitl]

You're correct, the Oilers have been an expertly run operation the past 20 years or so and the opinions of fans of teams who are personally familiar with their body of work aren't worth anything, just like those of Red Wings fans who warned us about Holland.

Regardless of how you feel about the opinions of others, Bowman's body of work speaks for itself and there are numerous posts in this thread highlighting how poorly he managed the Blackhawks. But if you want the Cole's Notes version go check Seth Jones' contract.

You mean Hollands work that got us to a SC final?

Not sure how you think your constant doomsday posting is of much merit.

 

[3IR]

I've yet to see a single person express any excitement about this hire.

Honestly the reaction from fans on HF has been kind of encouraging. There’s clearly still division, but I’ve never seen a topic where so many posters are at least completely civil with eachother, and appear to be somewhat understanding of why someone would be reacting very negatively to the hire.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

lol talk about splitting hairs.

At the point Beach himself could host a press conference supporting Bowman and you lot would be convinced he was coerced or parse his words, etc.

It's ok to just admit that no matter what anyone does and says that you don't want Bowman in the league. Drawing a line in the sand "Beach needs to endorse him!" then back track or split hairs when that ends up being the case is silly.

Bolded: doesn't seem to be, given that people saying exactly that are being shit on.

Imagine my lack of surprise that the same people that stumped for Chiarelli and Holland are now stumping for Stan f***ing Bowman.

I'm surprised some of "you lot" can even select a pair of pants in the morning without checking with the Oilers first.

 

[CupofOil]

The ultimate litmus test for moves is what kind of reaction you’d have to them if they were made by the Flames, Leafs or Canucks.

If the reaction would be LOL, LMAO or , then it’s probably a bad move.

Unfortunately I think this is a bad move.

We'd be mocking them endlessly.

Quite frankly, I don't give two hoots about what other fans think but the Oilers deserve to be mocked for this and then some especially when considering the track record of this organization and its hires.

 

[Oildrum]

The response on the Oilers Instagram and Twitter is universally negative. I've never seen this. Even with Kane.

The fact that even twitter is overwhelmingly negative while being a very right wing anti "woke" platform speaks volumes.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Jackson won't approve of any deal like Seth Jones so you won't have to worry about that

Bowman is still in charge of negotiations for a lot of important players due for extensions.

Holland built a team that came within a goal of winning the Cup. Bowman has 3 of them.

Or are Stanley cups and Stanley cup appearances not how we’re measuring success anymore?

You're probably better off not using the "six rings" argument. Chiarelli had a ring too, did you think he was a good GM? There's a few reasons why the Hawks are one of the worst teams in the league right now. Bowman is definitely one of those reasons.

 

[Reasonable Oil Fan]

Yeah
Im already changing my mind. Second chances are important
in other news, I wonder what Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote and Dillon Dube are up to?

 

[K1984]

Bolded: doesn't seem to be, given that people saying exactly that are being shit on.

Imagine my lack of surprise that the same people that stumped for Chiarelli and Holland are now stumping for Stan f***ing Bowman.

I'm surprised some of "you lot" can even select a pair of pants in the morning without checking with the Oilers first.

Nope, not at all. You're trying to dismiss any fact that contravenes your view on the matter.

 

[Oildrum]

Yeah
Im already changing my mind. Second chances are important
in other news, I wonder what Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote and Dillon Dube are up to?

I think Babcock is looking for work as well.

 

[NegativeNelly]

Since we are giving Stan bowman another chance...let's get quenville, Graham James and Brad Aldrich second chances as well. Those guys should be banned for life from the league IMO

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Sooo would anyone like to offer up some reasons why this is a good hiring?

The response to this will be crickets because even if you're somehow okay with allowing an abuser to move on to commit more sexual assaults through inaction as long as you're sorry about it afterward, Stan Bowman was a terrible GM that did more harm than good than the Hawks and largely busied himself with trading minor leaguers for minor leaguers and mid picks for more mid picks.

When he had to step up to trade big pieces, the results were downright Chiarellian in nature.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

You mean Hollands work that got us to a SC final?

Not sure how you think your constant doomsday posting is of much merit.

Weird because there's definitely a very large contingent of negative reaction about this hire, both from a PR and an ability perspective. Hardly just me decrying this hire.

As for Holland, your constant bellyaching about the starting goalie suggests to me that you weren't satisfied with at least a part of his work either.

 

[Canovin]

Chia came in with McDavid, 2015 1st and 2nd, Hall, Ebs, Yak, RNH, Pulju and did jack all with it.

Holland got us to the SC finals but he did some bads too. AA trade, adding Kesselring to Bjugstad trade, Nurse deal, Kassian deal.

Bowman inherited an elite team in Chicago which resulted in 3 cups.

All I'm saying is you can only deal with what you have in hands.

Chia could have built a dynasty team but he messed it up even with prime assets

 

[Stoneman89]

Woof...

At the very least he has Kennedy vouching for his work/improvements, can't really question he's been doing leg work to show improvement during his 2 year suspension.
Going into this I was expecting something closer Babcock situation, who just went back to U-Sports for a few years, and stated he learned a lot through the power of self-reflection.

But was this enough time for Bowman? Or more importantly rather, has he grown enough in that time? The cynic in me leans no, but Kennedy is a qualified voice in this sphere; plus Bowamn has spoken and worked with Beach in that time.


Next question, is he actually a good GM? He did a decent job keeping the band (which Tallon built) together for several seasons, but I don't see a ton of quality moves post 2015 outside of Breadman.


Still, unless you're damn sure Bowman is so far above the field, why deal with this s**tshow? Even if you're confident he'll develop into a force for (better) change on this front in hockey, you're giving your chosen GM those extra hoops to jump through, while he needs to re-sign Drai, Bouch, and Connor over the next 23 months.


On an unrelated note, what are the odds Toews is an Oiler before TC?

In what capacity? With his playing days clearly done due to long term Covid some time ago, do you see him as a scout?

 

[BudBundy]

This. Primarily the bolded.

What is wrong with people in present day? What is this need to banish people for transgression? Redemption not possible?

Atonement. This is an org that has often given 2nd chances to players or staff and did to Murphy, MacTavish, Murdoch, Kane, Perry, and now are doing it again.

Try to judge Bowman on merit rather than other.

Judging purely on his record, ignoring the elephant in the room, he is largely without merit. I’m against cancel culture as a general rule. If the Oilers had hired him as a Consultant or even Assistant GM position, I wouldn’t be so vehemently opposed. Better yet, let him rehab his image with some other organization and steer clear of him. But on merit, I don’t see how he could possibly have been the best choice. I have ZERO confidence in his ability to handle contract negotiations and trades based on his past record. And again, that’s before all the baggage attached to him.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The response to this will be crickets because even if you're somehow okay with allowing an abuser to move on to commit more sexual assaults through inaction as long as you're sorry about it afterward, Stan Bowman was a terrible GM that did more harm than good than the Hawks and largely busied himself with trading minor leaguers for minor leaguers and mid picks for more mid picks.

When he had to step up to trade big pieces, the results were downright Chiarellian in nature.

The irony that the best GMing the Oilers had in decades was when nobody was in the GM spot will never be lost on me.

 

[Canovin]

Bowman is still in charge of negotiations for a lot of important players due for extensions.


You're probably better off not using the "six rings" argument. Chiarelli had a ring too, did you think he was a good GM? There's a few reasons why the Hawks are one of the worst teams in the league right now. Bowman is definitely one of those reasons.

Jackson said in the presser that they will work together when it comes to negotiations

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Nope, not at all. You're trying to dismiss any fact that contravenes your view on the matter.

Oh, facts? okay.

My view on the matter is that Bowman's inaction allowed Brad Aldrich to sexually assault more people, one of whom was a minor. How's that for facts?

"The lead investigator, former assistant US attorney Reid Schar, stated that Bowman's failure to report the alleged assault had consequences, eventually leading to the perpetrator committing further acts of sexual abuse.”

Kyle Beach being OK with Bowman being allowed to work in the league again isn't the same as an endorsement for him to be put in that position again.

 

[CupofOil]

even if you’re satisfied with all the PR about bowman and his remorse/rehabilitation it’s just such a sideshow…. all the players will have to speak about it - that’s another angle of this I don’t understand

Yep, I mentioned that earlier.

Imagine you're McDavid getting married going on his honeymoon after coming off of the teams' best season of his career and great offseason, as good as it gets from a personal and professional standpoint, then you have to come back to answer to THIS immediately after because you know the media will swarm him with Bowman questions.
I'm sure he endorsed this hiring on some level because McDavid probably trusts in JJ no matter what his choices are (hell, McDavid endorsed the Brandon Manning trade for cripes sake, he's a YES man essentially) but for a guy who loathes the media as is, he's going to be walking into quite a shitstorm that I'm sure he's not looking forward to.
It's unfair to put the players in this position but that's now the reality.

You also wonder if this has a snowball effect around the league now. This is Bowman's reputation now so I can only imagine that at least some players aren't too keen on the idea of playing for this guy so this might narrow their options somewhat. This just seems so unneeded, I'm still wrapping my head around how JJ sees this as a positive in any way. A market like Vegas can probably get away with a controversial hire like this, I'm not sure Edmonton can.