Oilers hire Stan Bowman as GM and Executibe VP of Hockey Operations

[JR Ewing]

Oilers name ex-Blackhawks executive Bowman as general manager

TSN.ca Staff

3–4 minutes

---

 

The Edmonton Oilers have hired former Chicago Blackhawks executive Stan Bowman as the team's new general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations.

 

The announcement comes exactly two weeks after Bowman, Joel Quenneville and Al MacIsaac all became eligible to sign contracts with NHL teams on July 10 after a more than two years out of the league as fallout for their roles Chicago Blackhawks alleged sexual assault scandal. Their reinstatement was announced by commissioner Gary Bettman on July 1. 

 

“I am excited and pleased to be welcoming Stan to the Edmonton Oilers,” Jeff Jackson, Oilers CEO of Hockey Operations said in a team release. “I believe his vast experience and proven success in this role, together with the important work he has done in his time away from the game, fits our goal of being best in class when it comes to all facets of our organization. Through our many conversations, we share a common vision of where we are as a team and what is required to achieve another Stanley Cup title.”    

 

Bowman, Quenneville and MacIsaac have been out of the league since 2021 after specifics were revealed about how the Chicago Blackhawks mishandled allegations that a player was sexually abused by an assistant coach in 2010 during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup that season.

 

Though they were never formally suspended by the league, Bettman had stated he would need to clear any of them to return.

 

“For more than the last two and a half years, these individuals have been ineligible to work for any NHL team as a result of their inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ player Kyle Beach had been assaulted by the club’s video coach,” the league said on July 1, “While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals ... has acknowledged that and used his time away from the game to engage in activities which not only demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened, but also evidence greater awareness of the responsibilities that all NHL personnel have, particularly personnel who are in positions of leadership.”

 

The 51-year-old Bowman resigned from his role of president of hockey operations with the Blackhawks in the fall of 2021, with Quenneville resigning as head coach of the Florida Panthers at the same time. 

 

Bowman was Chicago's general manager when the alleged abuse occurred, while Quenneville was the team's head coach. MacIsaac was a top executive with the Blackhawks and held a role with the franchise from 2000-2021. The Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups during Bowman's tenure as general manager.

 

The Oilers mutually parted ways with general manager Ken Holland after reaching the Stanley Cup Final this season. The 68-year-old over saw a team that went 220-121-32 during his five-year tenure that saw four playoff appearances.

[JR Ewing]

-I just don't understand this hiring. Not. At. All.

-I don't understand how you can hire a person when you know that, during the press conference to announce his hiring, the media will mostly be asking questions about his involvement in a sexual abuse scandal. I can't begin to guess why you would wish to bring that sort of negative attention to your operation.

-I'm willing to believe Sheldon Kennedy that Bowman has learned, and I think it's important to note that only Bowman has received Kennedy's endorsement. That seems worth something to me. It also doesn't change his actions/inaction.

-From a purely hockey-related standpoint, he bled talent from the Blackhawks organization.

-After a summer of great work by Jeff Jackson, I'm sort of stunned by this move. This is a hiring that will be controversial and will either fracture the fan base or even worse, unite them in opposition to the Oilers franchise itself. This is such a self-imposed wound.

 

 

[Math]

Meh, I don't get it either... Usually, you don't fix what's ain't broken...

[thegx.ca]

Nah this is a good move because Bowman wins Cups and Ken Holland's Oilers underachieved all but the final season he was there...besides I doubt many will blame Bowman anymore since Sheldon Kennedy even supports him ect...Edmonchuck definetly winning a Cup these next few years now I'm thinking...the mistakes that Holland can never live down are Jack Campbell and Pul-me-RV...and maybe Cory Perry I love the guy and the way he plays but can't deny he looking like bad luck these 3 years straight

[JR Ewing]

56 minutes ago, thegx.ca said:

Nah this is a good move because Bowman wins Cups and Ken Holland's Oilers underachieved all but the final season he was there...besides I doubt many will blame Bowman anymore since Sheldon Kennedy even supports him ect...Edmonchuck definetly winning a Cup these next few years now I'm thinking....

 

Stan Bowman won two Cups on the core that Dale Tallon built and then bled talent at every turn after that. He did an objectively bad job in Chicago.

 

-Traded a young Dustin Byfuglien & Andrew Ladd for pennies on the dollar.
-Signed Bryan Bickell to an inexplicable contract, then had to attach Teuvo Teraveinen in a trade to get rid of him.

-Traded Philip Danault & a 2nd for 19 games of Tomas Fleischmann and 15 games of Dale Weiss.

-In 2016, the Hawks had a bad first round, so he panicked, trading Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad.
-Traded for Seth Jones and signed him to a godawful contract.

 

re: Sheldon Kennedy and Kyle Beach saying that Bowman has learned from his mistakes, etc, etc, etc... That's all great, and I take them at their word, but... I’m not sure I can think of another time when a team signed a new GM and the press conference announcing the hire was mostly questions about his involvement in a sexual abuse scandal, and I don’t understand why any organization would want their logo anywhere in that scene.

 

It's not as if the Oilers are bringing all of that negative attention on themselves so they can hire the reincarnation of Sam Pollock. He's just another GM gave up more than he got and signed players to bad contracts, but who also brings the baggage of scandal with him.

 

 

Quote

the mistakes that Holland can never live down are Jack Campbell and Pul-me-RV..

 

-Campbell was a bad deal and I was livid the day the contract was signed.

-What does Ken Holland have to do with Jesse Puljujarvi, who was drafted by Peter Chiarelli?

[thegx.ca]

50 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

 

Stan Bowman won two Cups on the core that Dale Tallon built and then bled talent at every turn after that. He did an objectively bad job in Chicago.

 

-Traded a young Dustin Byfuglien & Andrew Ladd for pennies on the dollar.
-Signed Bryan Bickell to an inexplicable contract, then had to attach Teuvo Teraveinen in a trade to get rid of him.

-Traded Philip Danault & a 2nd for 19 games of Tomas Fleischmann and 15 games of Dale Weiss.

-In 2016, the Hawks had a bad first round, so he panicked, trading Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad.
-Traded for Seth Jones and signed him to a godawful contract.

 

re: Sheldon Kennedy and Kyle Beach saying that Bowman has learned from his mistakes, etc, etc, etc... That's all great, and I take them at their word, but... I’m not sure I can think of another time when a team signed a new GM and the press conference announcing the hire was mostly questions about his involvement in a sexual abuse scandal, and I don’t understand why any organization would want their logo anywhere in that scene.

 

It's not as if the Oilers are bringing all of that negative attention on themselves so they can hire the reincarnation of Sam Pollock. He's just another GM gave up more than he got and signed players to bad contracts, but who also brings the baggage of scandal with him.

 

 

 

-Campbell was a bad deal and I was livid the day the contract was signed.

-What does Ken Holland have to do with Jesse Puljujarvi, who was drafted by Peter Chiarelli?

Oh thought it was Holland who drafted him instead of Tkachuk...well in any event any GM that wins 3 Cups in 5 years is doing something right no matter how they doing it so and at very least he's lucky and can't be called unsuccessful so despite the media trying to spin things into a media circus atmosphere I agree with Jackson trying to point on that he doesn't care what the media thinks when he doing his job making hockey discisions...I mean if even the victim doesn't agree he should be cancelled why allow your hockey organisation to be influenced at all by them or others who don't have any business trying to influence others?

Edited July 24 by thegx.ca

[yave1964]

Ugh. Too soon.

[thegx.ca]

52 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

 

Stan Bowman won two Cups on the core that Dale Tallon built and then bled talent at every turn after that. He did an objectively bad job in Chicago.

 

-Traded a young Dustin Byfuglien & Andrew Ladd for pennies on the dollar.
-Signed Bryan Bickell to an inexplicable contract, then had to attach Teuvo Teraveinen in a trade to get rid of him.

-Traded Philip Danault & a 2nd for 19 games of Tomas Fleischmann and 15 games of Dale Weiss.

-In 2016, the Hawks had a bad first round, so he panicked, trading Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad.
-Traded for Seth Jones and signed him to a godawful contract.

 

re: Sheldon Kennedy and Kyle Beach saying that Bowman has learned from his mistakes, etc, etc, etc... That's all great, and I take them at their word, but... I’m not sure I can think of another time when a team signed a new GM and the press conference announcing the hire was mostly questions about his involvement in a sexual abuse scandal, and I don’t understand why any organization would want their logo anywhere in that scene.

 

It's not as if the Oilers are bringing all of that negative attention on themselves so they can hire the reincarnation of Sam Pollock. He's just another GM gave up more than he got and signed players to bad contracts, but who also brings the baggage of scandal with him.

 

 

 

-Campbell was a bad deal and I was livid the day the contract was signed.

-What does Ken Holland have to do with Jesse Puljujarvi, who was drafted by Peter Chiarelli?

But yeah those all bad GM decisions but people with Cups deserve benefit of the doubt just like Cory Perry and Patrick Maroon etc...

[thegx.ca]

2 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

Ugh. Too soon.

Well we'll see if it was right decision or not soon enough because any GM that can't win Cups with McDavid/Drai will never live it down...

[JR Ewing]

35 minutes ago, thegx.ca said:

Oh thought it was Holland who drafted him instead of Tkachuk...

 

When Jarmo Kekalainen stepped up as Blue Jackets GM, and went right by the big Finn and took PLD, I thought "Ohhhhh, what does he know that the scouts don't?" I kind of thought it was a slam dunk that he would choose Puljujarvi.

 

Puljujarvi was a funny player. He had a big World Juniors that year, and that always bumps you up with the scouts, but he was never going to be big scorer of that line. He had tremendous size and wheels, but was always much better suited to being a possession/defensive winger who covered his bet and had the puck moving in the right direction. His lines always out-scored when he was on the ice, but what did him in was needing hip surgery at the end of his rookie year, then another hip surgery in 2019, and then needing a hip replacement on both hips after the 2023 season.

 

We don't have NHL Edge number prior to 2022, but his speed had taken a hit after 2019.

 

2022:

 

And then last year, after getting both his hips joints replaced:

 

A lot was made of him being a bust, but a tremendous amount of was him being jerked around in his rookie year by Todd McLelland and Ken Hitchcock, injuring his hip later that year, and then ending up with chronic hip issues.

 

 

Quote

well in any event any GM that wins 3 Cups in 5 years is doing something right no matter how they doing it so and at very least he's lucky and can't be called unsuccessful so despite the media trying to spin things into a media circus atmosphere I agree with Jackson trying to point on that he doesn't care what the media thinks when he doing his job making hockey discisions...I mean if even the victim doesn't agree he should be cancelled why allow your hockey organisation to be influenced at all by them or others who don't have any business trying to influence others?

 

 

Literally every key player on those teams was a Dale Tallon acquisition, except for Brandon Saad in 2015, and the price for him was Artemi Panarin. Bowman bled the Hawks of their talent, trade-by-trade, signing-by-signing, like a doctor from the Middle Ages. I could live with the media circus if the Oilers were burning goodwill to bring in the reincarnation of Sam Pollock, but that just isn't the case here.

Edited July 24 by JR Ewing

[thegx.ca]

1 hour ago, JR Ewing said:

 

When Jarmo Kekalainen stepped up as Blue Jackets GM, and went right by the big Finn and took PLD, I thought "Ohhhhh, what does he know that the scouts don't?" I kind of thought it was a slam dunk that he would choose Puljujarvi.

 

Puljujarvi was a funny player. He had a big World Juniors that year, and that always bumps you up with the scouts, but he was never going to be big scorer of that line. He had tremendous size and wheels, but was always much better suited to being a possession/defensive winger who covered his bet and had the puck moving in the right direction. His lines always out-scored when he was on the ice, but what did him in was needing hip surgery at the end of his rookie year, then another hip surgery in 2019, and then needing a hip replacement on both hips after the 2023 season.

 

We don't have NHL Edge number prior to 2022, but his speed had taken a hit after 2019.

 

2022:

 

And then last year, after getting both his hips joints replaced:

 

A lot was made of him being a bust, but a tremendous amount of was him being jerked around in his rookie year by Todd McLelland and Ken Hitchcock, injuring his hip later that year, and then ending up with chronic hip issues.

 

 

 

 

Literally every key player on those teams was a Dale Tallon acquisition, except for Brandon Saad in 2015, and the price for him was Artemi Panarin. Bowman bled the Hawks of their talent, trade-by-trade, signing-by-signing, like a doctor from the Middle Ages. I could live with the media circus if the Oilers were burning goodwill to bring in the reincarnation of Sam Pollock, but that just isn't the case here.

Good point about CBJ passing on Pulji and his injuries too...Bowman was special adviser to Tallon those years too and it is weird that only Tallon got blamed and demoted any ideas as to why Chicago management wanted him gone so badly?

 

Still...bad luck for him to get demoted right before them winning the Cup while Bowman the lucky one but Cup luck is still Cup luck either way results matter...