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

K1984

Registered User
Feb 7, 2008
14,847
15,895
ironic you mention capacity to understand. Instead of arguing points you decide to go to personal attacks. You’re literally saying it wasn’t his responsibility. I’ll lay it out for you since you seem to lack the basics of humanity. If someone is raping someone, or sexually assaulting someone- you action that. You dont pass it off and wait 10 years. I can’t believe you went from calling it a mistake to now saying it fell outside of his purview. Just horrendously bad takes. Please tell your neighbours the limits of your responsibilities in case their house is on fire or someone attacks them (hey, you posted on HFboards their house is on fire- that’s the limit of your responsibility- someone else should call 911). Dude, I can’t listen to you defend this. I’m done.

Read. The. Report.
 

oobga

Tier 2 Fan
Aug 1, 2003
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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

One thing is absolutely certain now. The embarrassment this org will experience if this doesn't work out is at a whole new level. The shame of wasting a generational talent, plus having another top 5 player with him is unprecedented really. No team has failed to win a cup after being gifted a player of McDavid's caliber. But we also went to Stan Bowman as our last hope for McDavid's remaining prime years.
 
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Canovin

1% is the new 11.5%
Oct 27, 2010
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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.
You still gotta convince your GM to sign Hossa over Havlat. The Panarin trade was also situational. Toews and Kane wanted Saad back so that put Bowman in a tough spot. I would take Jones over Nurse quite comfortably if both players agree to move.

Ekholm-Bouchard
Broberg-Seth Jones
Kulak-J Brown
 

Aerchon

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
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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.
GM work is building a team. Between drafting and big picture long term sustainable success... You generally look to the later parts of a GMs tenure.

I hope Bowman can improve the roster even if it's only short term but I just don't know how anyone could expect it given his overall track record... and of course that is on top of all the bad PR.

The only rational reason I can imagine hiring Bowman under these circumstances is if all other options are significantly worse.

One thing I have not looked into or read about yet is who were the other options? Anyone have some quick easy alternatives that make this hire even stupider? Or was the GM pool super shallow? Would have to be kiddie pool shallow imo but may be a factor in this mess.
 

McDoused

Registered User
Feb 5, 2007
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Katy <3
so is bowman just a puppet? Needs the job and will do whatever jackson tells him? would fit the ego bill i guess - just spitballin - i really don't care who does what if we win the Cup again
I don't think puppet is the right word. He will be taking care of the day to day responsibilities and ensure that his people are working together and doing their jobs.

He's going to be Jackson's first mate but Jackson is still the captain of the ship.
 

Behind Enemy Lines

Registered User
Feb 19, 2003
16,275
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One thing is absolutely certain now. The embarrassment this org will experience if this doesn't work out is at a whole new level. The shame of wasting a generational talent, plus having another top 5 player with him is unprecedented really. No team has failed to win a cup after being gifted a player of McDavid's caliber. But we also went to Stan Bowman as our last hope for McDavid's remaining prime years.
The pivot point is Holland to Jackson and a game 7 Cup Final result. This is Jeff Jackson's team and his unfolding vision for a best in class organization. Bowman is a critical management leadership piece that includes hires Knoblauch, Pracey, Larsson, even Parkatti.

The future is to be written how Jackson's strategic vision plays out with this collaborative leadership group including ... at least for now ... three additional carry over assistant gm's too. There's no gifts in hockey only a hard reality that a fully constructed 20+ man team needs to grind together through a marathon regular season and meat grinder four rounds of playoffs to manifest the ultimate team success. Jackson, a self-professed active CEO, has been aces early. We'll see how his management group moves forward to find value in the margins (and some luck) required to win it all.
 

Salvaged Ship

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Oct 9, 2013
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You still gotta convince your GM to sign Hossa over Havlat. The Panarin trade was also situational. Toews and Kane wanted Saad back so that put Bowman in a tough spot. I would take Jones over Nurse quite comfortably if both players agree to move.

Ekholm-Bouchard
Broberg-Seth Jones
Kulak-J Brown
I do not believe Toews and Kane told Bowman to bring back Brandon Saad if getting rid of Panarin was the way to do it. Panarin was with Kane when he won the Hart, why would he want Saad? You could see what kind of player Panarin was and what he was going to be, you move other contracts and figure out a way to keep him. If Bowman would have let Seabrook walk and not extended him with a no movement clause when you could clearly see the guy was declining fast he could have figured out how to keep Panarin. The guy gave out no movement clause contract extensions like candy.

I give credit to Bowman for some moves. He rebuilt around the core for the 13 and 15 cups but that core was so strong it took only a few good moves to get them back to the top. After 2015 he made moves the next 6 years that buried them into the gutter, things that will take that team many years to recover from. I see the Oilers after this season as being in the same position as the Hawks were in 2015, hopefully having won a cup. Then you have to figure out how to build around this core with the cap. This is the situation where he buried the Hawks. Will he do this with the Oilers? Time will tell but when you see the state of Chicago and add the extra baggage of Bowman’s its just a head scratching hire.

I don't think puppet is the right word. He will be taking care of the day to day responsibilities and ensure that his people are working together and doing their jobs.

He's going to be Jackson's first mate but Jackson is still the captain of the ship.
Pretty cushy gig then, still can’t figure out how Stan Bowman should be the guy to get it.
 
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iCanada

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Feb 6, 2010
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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 think Bowman actually might be a good fit for the teams needs as GM, despite being a mediocre GM who did mediocre GM moves. Why? I don't think he's necessarily been chosen for his moves or architect the team - the current group of executives has that under lock. I think he's been chosen to do the day to day monotony of running the club that Jackson and the current group don't want to do.

Jackson's has said all along that the whole management process was a collaborative process under him. That off season we just had without an official gm is proof they're capable of making moves without Bowman.

We also know that Jackson doesn't want to be the GM because he doesn't want the job since being a GM is more than making trades and signing players. It's running the whole organization. It's organizing scouting departments, it's the rigmarole of scheduling, it's logistics, it's player development, it's training and conditioning, etc. It's a lot of the crap that Holland did that turned this organization around that doesn't show up on capgeek.


Stan Bowman has a lot of experience with all of that, and he was elite at all of that. Add to that - he has fire-forged new HR skills tie in - which is all the more helpful since we like to bring in players with checkered track records - And since we like bringing in players with problem track records, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a guy fully experienced and connected on how to handle their particular issues and make sure the instilled culture is set up to put out fires before they begin.

Fact of the matter is - as much as Bowman probably has the worst PR - I'd also bet if you were to get a third party organization like say RAINN to interview and rank all available candidates on their readiness / understanding / suitability to prevent something like the Beach situation this from happening again - I'd bet odds are pretty good Bowman is the top of the list. There's certain things you learn only from experience and certain mistakes you only really make once. Certainly none of the other candidates have this level of experience or learning.


My guess is, Bowman is a great fit because Jackson wanted more control, and due to the exact situation surrounding Bowman he's much more willing to accept his boss having a lot og say and pull on signings and trades compared to some of his peers that bring a comparative level of "other GM stuff."


Looking at it through that lense, I think it's potentially a very savvy move.
 

Forgot About Drai

Dr Drai the Second
Jul 10, 2009
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Edmonton


What was exactly said between Kyle and Stan? We really dont know. "having a productive conversation" as stan bowman put it doesnt sound like a ringing endorsement. Either way we can never really know, what that conversation was like. John Doe 2 also seems to not have forgiven him.

Reading other survivor stories, a lot of them HAVE to forgive and move on, or else it destroys them inside out. I am very glad Kyle Beach found his peace and found grace to forgive Stan Bowman. I am happy for both Kyle and Stan in that regard. But if people generally are having a moral quandry about this, that is very much fair and their given right. That doesnt make them a virtue signaler or some type of grandstander. Thats a very fair thing to feel
 

SupremeTeam16

5-14-6-1
May 31, 2013
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Baker’s Bay
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.
My comments had nothing to do with Bowman’s position rather I was commenting on several posters from the last page who were suggesting Sheldon Kennedy’s endorsement was bought by the Oilers in exchange for donations to his group.

Jackson probably could have convinced Bowman to take a lesser role and stashed him in the shadows but I think having Bowman in a highly visible position is part of the plan and that’s why he didn’t only make him GM but a EVP of hockey ops as well.
 
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K1984

Registered User
Feb 7, 2008
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Not to veer into the political but I'm willing to bet the Venn diagram between people who think we're too soft on crime and Oilers fans who think Bowman deserves a second chance is a circle.

I'm willing to bet that the people that think that Bowman should be banned forever have difficulty grasping that he didn't commit any crime at all, no matter how much that they wish that wasn't the case.
 

K1984

Registered User
Feb 7, 2008
14,847
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One of the most ironic takes I’ve ever seen on these boards

“We need to protect people from sexual predation…but these victims and their advocates are definitely paid off”

wtf?

My favourite was "Pfft Kennedy wrote that letter, great, BUT WHAT DID HE ACTUALLY EVEN DO!?"

Read the letter and you'll find out

"I READ THE LETTER, BUT IT DOESN'T SAY WHAT HE EVEN DID"

You didn't read the letter.

"PFFT BOWMAN DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING HE PROBABLY PAID HIM OFF"

Just absolutely f***ing baffling.

You have one side of this debate discussing the intricacies of the event, where Bowman went wrong in the context of everything, and even looking to put themselves in Bowman's shoes thinking about what they would have done in that situation. Meanwhile, the other side is either completely making things up, barfing out nonsense that indicates they didn't read a word of the report, or straight up inventing conspiracies when the facts don't align with their view (Kennedy was paid off!).
 

ottawa

Avatar of the Year*
Nov 7, 2012
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Account date may not suggest it but Im plenty familiar with who they are; this isnt their first nor will it be their last attempt to portray others as worse fans for not believing the same as them

If this post doesn't reek of ban evasion idk what does, account created last month and he's familiar with everyone because he's probably been "lurking" for a couple decades
 
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McBaevid

Lottery Dynasty
Oct 3, 2010
4,162
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Edmonton, AB
I’m no fan of Bowman, but that’s no reason to accuse Kennedy of selling out.

Like I said earlier, there’s a good chance Bowman really did do a lot during his rehab. Whether or not you think he was sincere or if it is enough to atone for his grave errors are up for debate.
Why does it take rehab for a grown ass adult to know that the rape of a 19 year old by his staff is wrong? f*** Stan bowman
 

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