Oilers to hire Stan Bowman as GM

[madmike]

I honestly feel bad for Oilers fans. I’m sure a lot of them hate this hire.

It makes no sense to me. Bowman has a mediocre record as a GM (Talon built that Chicago team) and all the baggage in the world. The Oilers were a great feel-good story heading into next season and their management has all but killed any positive vibes the franchise had. Not to mention this will likely resurface all the ugly stories around Katz.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by madmike

The Oilers were a great feel-good story heading into next season and their management has all but killed any positive vibes the franchise had.

A feel-no-good story.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Butterfly hasn't chimed in

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Which Hawk chased him around practice and call him the F word after finding out about the assault?

Was it Toews? Didn't the Oilers try to ge thim as well.

Pretty sure that was Duncan Keith who is already on Edmontons payroll.

[My2Cents]

You know its a bad day when everyone is aligned, Oilers and Flames fans alike. What a mess that never had to happen. I wonder if this is ends up like a Babcock scenario where he is fired before he starts.

[Snuffleupagus]

From a Philly fan on HF.

"Congratulations to the Calgary Flames for winning the hearts and minds of every neutral fan in the Battle of Alberta."

[Rejean31]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Staples:

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/h...key-operations

"Craig MacTavish. Zack Kassian. Evander Kane. Corey Perry. Stan Bowman. The Edmonton Oilers are the team of second chances. It started with Glen Sather and has carried on. It’s in the organizational DNA. I’m good with that."

Correct David. It is in the DNA of the organization. But it's not a good thing. It's a deplorable thing.

Staples is such a a blathering idiot fanboy!!! If Hitler was brought back from the dead and hired by the Oilers this asshat clown would blathering on about another great Oilers hire. How did all the idiot media personnel end up in one city?

[Reggie Dunlop]

Yeah, I've got friends renouncing their allegiances on Facebook.

[Sofa GM]

Originally Posted by My2Cents

You know its a bad day when everyone is aligned, Oilers and Flames fans alike. What a mess that never had to happen. I wonder if this is ends up like a Babcock scenario where he is fired before he starts.

Oilers fans will be back on the bandwagon tomorrow and celebrating…..don’t think that this Bowman hiring hasn’t been in the plans for the last 6 months.

[Reggie Dunlop]

A debacle of monumental proportions.

[CaptainCrunch]

Going to be interesting to see if there are new chants in opposing arenas?

[KPat99]

Originally Posted by Whynotnow

Well, I’m here after a long day of work and that was filled with all sorts of emotions - none of them good - toward the team I’ve cheered for nearly 45 years. I commend and respect Stang for his response and courage of his conviction on this. I have not talked to a single fan of the team who thinks this was a good hire. I am angry, disappointed, bewildered, sad and more disallusioned then ever over the ills of pro sports (betting, fleecing taxpayers for hundreds of millions to the benefit of billionaires and in many cases a toxic bro culture that lacks accountability].

If I could just isolate this as a hockey hire I would be here saying I didn’t like it. It seems like the wrong hire based in his track record. If only that was the problem.

The fact the org was this arrogant, and this tone deaf to the reaction that came out when this started to leak is just a head scratcher. How, how can this have been the best path? Unfathomable.

I feel for the players. They are now being asked about this by their families. Mcdavid gets married on Saturday and this news comes out. The media will ask them about it when camps start, and in no way should they have to deal with this. This could prove to be an issue for the team and the margins between winning and losing are razor thin.

The only potential mitigating factor for me, is the words of Sheldon Kennedy. It’s helpful, I respect him. I don’t think Bowman should never work again, but this shouldn’t have been the first opportunity he got, I’m mad at the team for placing fans in this situation.

What am I going to do? I don’t know and I suspect some of you will judge me harshly for not having the conviction of Stang today.I respect and understand that but I need to think about this for longer than a few hours, but there’s a real chance I fall into his camp and this is it for me.

Today, and only today and on this issue E=NG.

I can understand this feeling. Being a fan of a team is generally more than the people they employ and it's really hard to let that go. I generally feel bad for fans like yourself placed in this position feeling like they have to either walk away or create some cognitive dissonance to dismiss this stuff.

I can appreciate what Kennedy said and even that Beach offered forgiveness and an ok but I think I like up more with the Lazerus' of the world. I'm glad he's done some work and has seemingly improved but the "2nd chance" doesn't have to be in one of the 32 most desired jobs in the hockey world. He could keep working and carving out a role in the Kennedy organization and using his experience to teach and improve hockey culture. I don't think I'd be able to cheer for the team that hired him to just walk back as a GM.

[btimbit]

Props to all the Oilers fans renouncing their fandom over this

Of course, I expect most will be over it by the time October rolls around

[Sofa GM]

I mean let’s be honest, the Owner dolling out hush money to hide inappropriate underage sexual offences, Advisor/Governor to the Team set up sexual misconduct hush money for Hockey Canada, now people are upset about Bowman?????

The Oilers have a moral and conduct problem and are the trash of the league and the NHL turns the blind eye and frankly endorses it. This type of culture starts at the top with Katz and filters all the way down to the fan base.

Most embarrassing team in all of professional sport. Complete black eye to the game.

[midniteowl]

I'm just so very happy that I'm a Flames fan, this off season I get to watch my favorite team reveal the new arena. In 3 years, we the fans get to watch our team play in that beautiful arena. Meanwhile, this summer, we get to watch our rival hired a POS to be their GM, and he isn't that good to boot. Damn, it's good to be a Flames fan.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Staples:

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/h...key-operations

"Craig MacTavish. Zack Kassian. Evander Kane. Corey Perry. Stan Bowman. The Edmonton Oilers are the team of second chances. It started with Glen Sather and has carried on. It’s in the organizational DNA. I’m good with that."

Correct David. It is in the DNA of the organization. But it's not a good thing. It's a deplorable thing.

Somebody should run that DNA against the CODIS.

[Rejean31]

Originally Posted by Pickle Juice

To summarize the following people on the Oilers currently have an incriminating background:

Stan Bowman
Evander Kane
Daryl Katz

Who else am I missing?

Corey Perry.

[browna]

Trotting out Kennedy feels a little slimy on the Oilers part.

Of course he had a terrible experience with his situation and being an advocate of the cause as his life's work is beyond admirable. But every situation is different.

There were multiple failures in the Blackhawks situation and more than enough blame to go around, with some having more knowledge that others, but Bowman as the head of the group that could take action and knew, has to take the brunt of the responsibility.

For the Oilers to try and defer some of the blame off the guy they hired by bringing in a former victim to advocate for him, just doesn't sit right. Let Bowman talk for himself and answer for himself and deal with the fallout, now and in the future.

[Demzy84]

Originally Posted by Whynotnow

The only potential mitigating factor for me, is the words of Sheldon Kennedy. It’s helpful, I respect him. I don’t think Bowman should never work again, but this shouldn’t have been the first opportunity he got, I’m mad at the team for placing fans in this situation.

Running a for profit organization….what’s to say there wasn’t a large donation to give the wink and nudge that Bowman is a good guy and try and get some good PR for this hire knowing it was going to blow up in their faces.

Not sure how Sheldon Kennedy can speak on Bowman in a positive light at all when this man allowed a known sexual predator to leave the team and assault a 16 year old.

[Rejean31]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

At least Dany Heatley turned them down.

And Michael Nylander.