Stan Bowman Worst GM of the Year?

[DamonDRW]

century?

 

[Mr grumpy]

Somewhere around the Kings fourth powerplay goal last night it really became wild to see just how badly Bowman fumbled the Oilers depth situation after it felt like it finally all came together last year. The moves all looked kinda bad at the time and now with the benefit of seeing it play out look even worse.

Might be one of the worst pieces of GM’ing in some time for a team in its contention window.

Sorry--all the f*** up were done before he was hired. Oilers screwed up getting him but he did not sign Skinner, Henrique, Arvidsson and a couple of other players

 

[WarriorofTime]

Blues really took advantage of him with those offer sheets.

I couldn't tell you how dire their cap situation is, but that team needs to address it's goaltending in the summer. Can't keep ignoring what is clearly a giant gaping hole in your lineup.

I would say their cap situation is not very good. Much of the rising cap is going to be eaten up by Draisaitl's contract extension beginning year next, with a $5.5 million raise.

Then they have to account for Bouchard coming off a bridge contract as an RFA who is close to his UFA years. So that will entail paying him a "UFA" type contract to buy out years on what should be a large extension on his existing $3.9 million.

They could continue to go cheap on goaltending with the tandem of Skinner/Pickard signed for one more year at a combined $3.6 million but given performance that might not be appealing.

They also have to make sure to save some money for 2026 to hopefully account for a raise for Connor McDavid on top of his existing $12.5 million.

Then they'll need to add about 4 new forwards to replace the players on expiring contracts in Jeff Skinner, Corey Perry, Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen and Trent Frederic. Of course any new UFAs will be aware of and likely taking advantage of the rise in cap to eat into some of the inflation.

On top of that, they don't have much if anything in the way of prospects so it's unlikely they will have any meaningful contributions from players on ELCs or prove-it-deals to provide a lot of surplus value.

With the cap and relevant ages up and down the roster, this season is/was likely the Oilers best chance on paper for a Stanley Cup, which makes it especially disappointing that they botched so many management decisions, and it only gets harder from here.

 

[Rebels57]

Bowman was terrible in Chicago. He is also a POS. What in the world was Edmonton ownership thinking?

Incompetent ownership is absolutely killing a vast majority of sports franchises. It's insane.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Just a disaster of an offseason between Bowman and Jackson. And the sad part is that all they really had to do was lock up Broberg and Holloway well before the offer sheets came, keep McLeod and go out and find an average goalie. Should have been a simple off season to build on last years’ playoff success.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

From PO teams? .Yes. From all of them? Adams exist.

 

[Turin]

Who made the McLeod deal?

 

[Mr Nogatco]

Gonna wait until the 2025 Oilers are dead and buried before making any proclamations like that.

I remember the thread when they were down 3-0 vs Florida, “Are the Oilers the worst Stanley Cup finalists of all time?”

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Who's that guy in Edmonton with the expensive burger meme , I blame that guy

 

[nbwingsfan]

Jeff Jackson is really the person to blame (and is even the guy to hire Bowman)

I remember Oiler fans celebrating the moves Jackson did so much when they first happened... Man did it turn ugly quick. Hows Savoie helping out their cup aspirations this season?

On paper the moves looked good until the offer sheets, and then they F-ed that up worse than anything I’ve seen in a long time

 

[S E P H]

Somewhere around the Kings fourth powerplay goal last night it really became wild to see just how badly Bowman fumbled the Oilers depth situation after it felt like it finally all came together last year. The moves all looked kinda bad at the time and now with the benefit of seeing it play out look even worse.

Might be one of the worst pieces of GM’ing in some time for a team in its contention window.

Stan Bowman to go along with the worst coach in the league, Jared Bednar.

 

[archangel2]

OP needs to check the time line of what caused this cluster fluff. Bowman was hired in August. The screw ups happened between July 1st and 10th(give or take) Jeff Jackson was in charge and Bowman who is a POS was dealt a bad hand

 

[landy]

Meh Oilers up 2-0 and some nut starts teh opposite thread about Leon deserving the Hart and Connor the Conn Smythe and Podloskin the best draft steal in history and Stuart Skinner is great.

Kings arent anything special and I could easily see the oilers coming back.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Wasn't Jeff Jackson the GM on July 1 when they signed Arvidsson, Skinner, and Henrique?

Well they've all been consistently awful managers in Edmonton so it kind of blends together. Just a barrage of bad decisions the entire McDavid era.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

I suppose it's a poor excuse but I feel like Oilers' management really was not expecting offer sheets for both Holloway and Broberg, it kinda threw their offseason plans out of whack.

 

[Mr Nogatco]

I suppose it's a poor excuse but I feel like Oilers' management really was not expecting offer sheets for both Holloway and Broberg, it kinda threw their offseason plans out of whack.

Probably got sidetracked doing damage control for the GM they were bringing in, or prioritizing FA's to appease their star player.

Just seems like a deeply dysfunctional organization that was never forced to truly learn from their mistakes because they lucked into a generational talent

 

[WarriorofTime]

I suppose it's a poor excuse but I feel like Oilers' management really was not expecting offer sheets for both Holloway and Broberg, it kinda threw their offseason plans out of whack.

What was their plan? Bully them to signing for $1 million each?

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Probably got sidetracked doing damage control for the GM they were bringing in, or prioritizing FA's to appease their star player.

Just seems like a deeply dysfunctional organization that was never forced to truly learn from their mistakes because they lucked into a generational talent

No offense but I feel like the FA criticism is made with hindsight, at the time Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner were both considered good signings.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I suppose it's a poor excuse but I feel like Oilers' management really was not expecting offer sheets for both Holloway and Broberg, it kinda threw their offseason plans out of whack.

I mean it’s kind of their job and in their pay grade to prepare for a bunch of contingencies. Having two young players subject to offer sheets while spending right to the cap really set them up as an obvious target.

 

[Spirits]

Somewhere around the Kings fourth powerplay goal last night it really became wild to see just how badly Bowman fumbled the Oilers depth situation after it felt like it finally all came together last year. The moves all looked kinda bad at the time and now with the benefit of seeing it play out look even worse.

Might be one of the worst pieces of GM’ing in some time for a team in its contention window.

Let's make sure we blame everything except McCupless.

 

[Drake1588]

What was their plan? Bully them to signing for $1 million each?

It really kind of was, yeah. That's exactly why the RFA process exists, to prevent teams from doing exactly what the Oilers planned to do with those guys. If you're going to lowball talented young players, the existence of offer sheets gives them an avenue to explore a new contract with someone else.

You're not supposed to lose good players in those situations, though. You're supposed to be forced to match and deal with the cap carnage afterwards. You're only supposed to let the guys who are subsequently overpaid leave. There was a thin argument where Broberg was concerned, not a great one, but it was there. There was absolutely none with Holloway. You match that offer sheet every time. Dumb.

...and they have bad goaltending. Always have had with those two, and it comes during the crest of their competitiveness wave before the superstars get paid (or leave). Really dumb.

 

[The Panther]

I think Bowman's done pretty well so far, actually. I'd imagine his hands were still tied when those offer sheets came (he'd been on the job for 15 minutes). I don't blame him at all for that; Holland and Jackson screwed that by not locking those guys down way earlier. And the big free agent signings were all before Bowman.

Goalie situation should have been dealt with, but I suspect they tried and just couldn't get anyone.

Anyway, you need to wait at least three years before you can judge GMs.

 

[JianYang]

Jeff Jackson is really the person to blame (and is even the guy to hire Bowman)

I remember Oiler fans celebrating the moves Jackson did so much when they first happened... Man did it turn ugly quick. Hows Savoie helping out their cup aspirations this season?

This reminds me of a thread which considered the oilers to have the deepest 4 lines in hockey in July.

Jackson was a saint.

 

[Peasy]

I think Bowman's done pretty well so far, actually. I'd imagine his hands were still tied when those offer sheets came (he'd been on the job for 15 minutes). I don't blame him at all for that; Holland and Jackson screwed that by not locking those guys down way earlier. And the big free agent signings were all before Bowman.

Goalie situation should have been dealt with, but I suspect they tried and just couldn't get anyone.

Anyway, you need to wait at least three years before you can judge GMs.

Blackwood was traded for a 2nd early at the start of the season. Lower cap hit than Skinner this year. There were options and potential moves that could have been made but nothing happened.

 

[Folignos Helmet]

Moves were weird. Seems all the focus was on forward depth when I think it’s been clear for a few seasons that goalie and D were the priorities. You generally can’t solve all problems in the off-season but they seemed to do a poor job of addressing their least pressing need. And not even trying on the other two issues.