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

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Still crickets on how Bowman is a good GM on merit alone.

But keep crying about cancel culture and sensitivity without seeing the irony in your own posts.

This is really it. There's plenty of posts defending his actions (or lack thereof) but not a single one defending his track record as Chicago's GM.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

Still crickets on how Bowman is a good GM on merit alone.

But keep crying about cancel culture and sensitivity without seeing the irony in your own posts.

I’ve started to see a couple on the thread on the mains. Drafting and one of the first GMs to use analytics.

 

[McDrai]

I’m a forgiving person and will eventually come around to forgiving Bowman in time when he proves that he can turn this terrible thing into spreading more awareness about sexual misconduct in sports (I know he has been working on this during his suspension in the league but he needs to prove himself while he operates in the same league in which the abuse took place)

What I am thoroughly frustrated at is why Bowman was selected in the first place (and why he’s been handed the keys to one of if not the best pro hockey team). This has already created division between the fans and the season hasn’t even started yet. Not to mention there is the risk that some players, staff, agents, etc feel uneasy about the Bowman hiring. Another point is that he wasn’t a great GM in the first place. I’d say he was pretty average and got worse over time (especially leading up to the end of his tenure in Chicago).

JJ made a terrible decision here. It is what it is but we’re going to have to live with it since we are fans of the team. All we can hope for is that this Bowman hiring doesn’t destroy the organization which currently has a black cloud over its head despite the great offseason in terms of player transactions.

 

[bobbythebrain]

This is really it. There's plenty of posts defending his actions (or lack thereof) but not a single one defending his track record as Chicago's GM.

Well, he did sign his 3 star players to extensions which alotted for the cups
During a time of 13 year contracts, he negoitated a 5 year window of cap flexibility.
He had the forsight to sign Richards when nobody else did or wanted to, which ended up being the biggest reason for the last cup

 

[Stauf4Prez]

Well, he did sign his 3 star players to extensions which alotted for the cups
During a time of 13 year contracts, he negoitated a 5 year window of cap flexibility.
He had the forsight to sign Richards when nobody else did or wanted to, which ended up being the biggest reason for the last cup

Even with his contractual blunders and two rough trades, he still made some very good moves within the franchise during his time.

This is really it. There's plenty of posts defending his actions (or lack thereof) but not a single one defending his track record as Chicago's GM.

You have had an agenda and hated all things Blackhawks since Keith was brought onto the team, your continual crying falls on deaf ears.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Even with his contractual blunders and two rough trades, he still made some very good moves within the franchise during his time.


You have had an agenda and hated all things Blackhawks since Keith was brought onto the team, your continual crying falls on deaf ears.

You're right, the Blackhawks are absolutely a model franchise and one we should be emulating as closely as possible. I'm sure if you looked around even a tiny bit you'd see that they've been met with scorn for the past few years and deservedly so.

Well, he did sign his 3 star players to extensions which alotted for the cups
During a time of 13 year contracts, he negoitated a 5 year window of cap flexibility.
He had the forsight to sign Richards when nobody else did or wanted to, which ended up being the biggest reason for the last cup

And then he basically tossed grenade after grenade at the team including arguably the worst contract in hockey.

 

[Mr Positive]

This is really it. There's plenty of posts defending his actions (or lack thereof) but not a single one defending his track record as Chicago's GM.

There are posts defending him on merit. It just gets lost in the shuffle.

I am on the fence with him but I always try to logic out what is going on in the heads of those in charge. They likely picked Bowman because his challenges in Chicago are exactly where our team is at. He didn't have to add to the core so much, but just had to maintain the team. That is harder than it looks when you are up to the cap. You inevitably lack leverage and have to gamble

His record is spotty but in his interview he probably had lots to say about his successes and failures, to a level of detail that blew the other candidates out of the water. It's not only to do with position in the rebuild. That Hawks team is very similar to this Oilers team.

 

[Aerchon]

I truly wonder how many people panicking actually bothered to understand the story and Bowman's role in all of it. He wasn't part of any active cover up, he played no role in referring Aldrich to other organizations, it isn't even clear that he was fully aware of the nature of the allegations or what happened beyond "he tried to get him into bed." His boss told him he would handle it, his boss didn't handle it, and Bowman was guilty of not following that up diligently enough. That's it.

It's really unfortunate that a lot of people simply aren't willing to stop, take a breath, and actually understand the facts before going off the deep end. Maybe the worst of it, as has been demonstrated here by a few people, that even if they learn things that they didn't know before, they dismiss them because they so fully entrenched their position that they would look silly to back track.

This is really it. There's plenty of posts defending his actions (or lack thereof) but not a single one defending his track record as Chicago's GM.

I am just going to repeat how mind bogglingly stupid this decision is.

You move on from Holland, imo because everyone can see his many mistakes and how far removed he really is from being a championship impactful GM in the cap world... to bring in another has been with extremely questionable GM skills over the last decade plus...

It's not about the incidents, although hat is what takes it to plaid level bad, it's about getting a GM clearly better than Holland. With a good track record this last decade for f sakes.

 

[Canovin]

While I give credits to Holland for signing Hyman and Kane and trading for Ekholm. Those moves were obvious. Ekholm is the type of Dman the Oilers have been screaming for years. Kane was going to be a free asset and likely going to be cheap to sign. Oilers needed a top 6 player that was available at free agency and we signed Hyman

 

[Canovin]

Imagine a GM that helped the team get 3 cups in 6 years and fans are still bitching and moaning.

 

[Aerchon]

Imagine a GM that helped the team get 3 cups in 6 years and fans are still bitching and moaning.

Lol, imagine a team that signs a GM that give Jones the worst contract in the nhl and leads one of the best nhl teams straight to the bottom of the league during his tenure.

Bowmans resume over the last ten years is creating one of the worst teams in nhl history... Exagerating of course but come on.

This is a bad hockey move. Very obvious.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Lol, imagine a team that signs a GM that give Jones the worst contract in the nhl and leads one of the best nhl teams straight to the bottom of the league during his tenure.

Bowmans resume over the last ten years is creating one of the worst teams in nhl history... Exagerating of course but come on.

This is a bad hockey move. Very obvious.

meh, I think he's a "Holland-tier" hire...some good things, some bad things
still baffling they're willing to have this PR nightmare for a GM of this calibre

 

[Pavel10]

Imagine a GM that helped the team get 3 cups in 6 years and fans are still bitching and moaning.

How did he help? It's like saying Holland had anything to do with mcdavid and Draisaitl on the team. What were his moves in Chicago for those 3 cups he didn't inherit.

 

[Aerchon]

meh, I think he's a "Holland-tier" hire...some good things, some bad things
still baffling they're willing to have this PR nightmare for a GM of this calibre

For the record. Holland on paper when he was hired was a pretty bad GM over his last decade + as well.

Holland made some incredibly bad moves but surprised me with some very good ones as well.

To get a cup I think we do need someone better than Holland was. We were literally one ot two more good moves away from a cup. Not sure Bowman can manage the difference needed.

 

[GOilers88]

Yes you do, because otherwise someone else may be a victim. It’s an actual federal crime. Beach can choose to be part of the investigation or not. You still report it

Yeah that's not quite how it works.

 

[GOilers88]

So Sheldon Kennedy is risking his and his businesses reputation by putting his credibility and morals up for sale? That’s what some of you actually believe? Rather than the far less reasonable explanation that he’s actually spent time with Bowman and gotten to know him and genuinely supports the guy?

It’s starting to make sense now guys.. You know what, the Oilers probably paid Kennedy 2 years ago to take Bowman to pave the way for hiring him years later.

Makes sense that a victim of SA who has spent years trying to help victims and others involved in SA situations would be completely fake and endorse people who support predators and abusers for some money.

Makes perfect sense. Even more so when we consider that Kyle Beach himself has worked closely with, and also endorsed and supports Stan Bowman being hired. Clearly these individuals who have a dark history involving abuse are only in it for the money.

So much sense to be made here....

 

[Zerotonine]

People do realize also bowman is responsible for nurse contact right? it was the deal he gave Jones that had nurse and his agent salivating at the mouth after lolol

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Imagine a GM that helped the team get 3 cups in 6 years and fans are still bitching and moaning.

He didn't build that team. Like Chiarelli, he inherited a team and got the credit.

He traded Panarin for Saad. He traded 2 firsts for Jones and gave him way too much money (which lead to the Nurse contract).

 

[Aerchon]

People do realize also bowman is responsible for nurse contact right? it was the deal he gave joined that had nurse and his agent salivating at the mouth after lolol

He didn't build that team. Like Chiarelli, he inherited a team and got the credit.

He traded Panarin for Saad. He traded 2 firsts for Jones and gave him way too much money (which lead to the Nurse contract).

It's such a bad hockey hire the convoluted abuse PR issue is actually masking/diverting attention away from how bad a hockey hire it is. Lol.

Imo a petition to fire Bowman based on his poor GMing over the last ten years should be circulating as well

 

[Canovin]

He didn't build that team. Like Chiarelli, he inherited a team and got the credit.

He traded Panarin for Saad. He traded 2 firsts for Jones and gave him way too much money (which lead to the Nurse contract).

He also got Chicago to go after Hossa. He also signed Panarin. The Seth Jones trades looks bad cause Jones is playing on a rebuilding team. If the Oilers made that Seth Jones trade, he would solidify our D. Who knows what other good moves he made when Tallon was GM

 

[oobga]

People do realize also bowman is responsible for nurse contact right? it was the deal he gave joined that had nurse and his agent salivating at the mouth after lolol

Bowman was trying to create a splash to distract fans from the scandal. That was a move by a guy that knew he was on the edge of being done, just trying to throw something against the wall and hoping it would stick. On the other hand, I don't know what Holland's excuse was for helping Bowman clear cap space, plus giving him Jones' brother to sign Jones and destroy the D market before we handed a blank cheque to Nurse.

Keith only allowed a couple options for Bowman to trade him. Bowman was ripe to be squeezed, no matter how much anyone thinks squeezing a GM is impossible. Oh well though, I guess enjoy the irony that Bowman has to deal with that Nurse contract now.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

He also got Chicago to go after Hossa. He also signed Panarin. The Seth Jones trades looks bad cause Jones is playing on a rebuilding team. If the Oilers made that Seth Jones trade, he would solidify our D. Who knows what other good moves he made when Tallon was GM

Everyone was after Hossa. The Panarin signing was great but then wasted. The Seth Jones trade looks bad because like Nurse, he isn't a top pairing dman and hadn't been for years before the Hawks traded for him.

 

[Canovin]

Bowman was trying to create a splash to distract fans from the scandal. That was a move by a guy that knew he was on the edge of being done, just trying to throw something against the wall and hoping it would stick. On the other hand, I don't know what Holland's excuse was for helping Bowman clear cap space, plus giving him Jones' brother to sign Jones and destroy the D market before we handed a blank cheque to Nurse.

Keith only allowed a couple options for Bowman to trade him. Bowman was ripe to be squeezed, no matter how much anyone thinks squeezing a GM is impossible. Oh well though, I guess enjoy the irony that Bowman has to deal with that Nurse contract now.

Keith only wanted to come to Edmonton and Bowman was still able to squeeze Holland

 

[Little Fury]

So Sheldon Kennedy is risking his and his businesses reputation by putting his credibility and morals up for sale? That’s what some of you actually believe? Rather than the far less reasonable explanation that he’s actually spent time with Bowman and gotten to know him and genuinely supports the guy?

It’s starting to make sense now guys.. You know what, the Oilers probably paid Kennedy 2 years ago to take Bowman to pave the way for hiring him years later.

No one has said this. It's possible to believe that Bowman is sincere in his contrition for what he did and has done the listening/learning/whatever AND he doesn't deserve to be gifted a plum gig in the NHL again. I guarantee if he was brought in to serve in a lesser role, the shitstorm would be far smaller.

 

[McDNicks17]

Still crickets on how Bowman is a good GM on merit alone.

But keep crying about cancel culture and sensitivity without seeing the irony in your own posts.

Well, the Blackhawks did win like 50 games a season for 8 years after Tallon stepped down.

Pretty tough to do that if he’s as bad as some people say.