Even a month or so after their loss in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s easy to still live in the afterglow if you’re an Edmonton Oilers fan.
The Oilers were just one win away from completing arguably the greatest comeback in sports history against the Florida Panthers. Connor McDavid became the first player since Jean-Sebastien Giguere in 2003 to lose the Final and still win the Conn Smythe Trophy. Leon Draisaitl is, along with McDavid, firmly in the conversation of the top five players in the world. Evan Bouchard has become a Norris Trophy candidate. Zach Hyman has given the Oilers a lethal “Big Three” at forward. Stuart Skinner overcame an awful postseason last year to become the new face of Canadian goaltending. Defense is still questionable, but the emergence of Philip Broberg during the playoffs certainly eases some concerns. All of the pieces were in place for Edmonton to do what the Panthers did last year and return to the Final with a different result.
The off-season only caused the hype train in Edmonton to go into overdrive. Postseason heroes Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark were both re-signed. Depth options like Corey Perry, Connor Brown, and Calvin Pickard were also extended. Outside the organization, the Oilers brought in Jeff Skinner on a fantastic deal after he was bought out from Buffalo. Viktor Arvidsson embraced the “if you can’t beat them, join them” mentality and fled Los Angeles to join the Edmonton war machine. Josh Brown was brought in on the back end to make sure toughness remained on the defensive corps. The front office also made a savvy move to pick up Matt Savoie from Buffalo to potentially pair with one of Edmonton’s elite centers. There are still questions to answer in terms of cap casualties, but it was looking like a fantastic summer for the Oilers.
There was just one small problem that needed to be sorted out: Ken Holland had stepped down as general manager shortly after the Final. Jeff Jackson was doing a good job in the interim, but he already turned down requests to accept the job full-time. Given how crucial the next couple of years are going to be for the franchise, this was a hire the Oilers needed to get right. There were plenty of suitable candidates for Edmonton to choose from, some familiar with the organization and some not.
When the Oilers finally put their hand in the mystery box, however, they pulled out the greatest enigma of all.
Prior to the hire, Stan Bowman’s legacy in the NHL was as complicated as it was controversial. While it’s true that he did win three Stanley Cups as general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, most of the core that won those Cups was in place before Bowman took the helm. His draft record in Chicago was hit or miss, and even some of the hits (Brandon Saad, Teuvo Teravainen, Ryan Hartman, Philip Danault, Nick Schmaltz) were traded under Bowman’s watch. There was also the trade of Artemi Panarin to Columbus for nothing, struggling to find a capable defenseman to replace Niklas Hjalmarsson (including one attempt for Calvin de Haan costing the Blackhawks Gustav Forsling), and the trade and extension for Seth Jones that has looked questionable. By the time Bowman was fired in 2021, the Blackhawks roster was a far cry from the Cup-winning teams of the last decade and a rebuild was desperately needed after the damage done over the last few years.
Of course, no one can discuss Bowman’s tenure as Chicago GM without discussing its ultimate black mark. Much has already been written about the sexual abuse scandal committed by former video coach Brad Aldrich on Kyle Beach, but the main point in this context is Bowman was among a group of Blackhawks executives who became aware of the incident and failed to immediately resolve the issue. Aldrich’s antics would continue and he was forced to resign from his position, but he still was paid by the organization, had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, and continued to take roles for high school and college hockey until another incident in 2013 put him under arrest.
When an investigation on the Beach incident occurred and its findings were reported, the hockey world imploded. Aldrich became persona non grata and removed from NHL history, and the seedy underbelly of hockey culture at the time became exposed for all the world to see. Bowman, then-head coach Joel Quenneville, and then-team executive Al MacIsaac were all ruled ineligible to continue working for the league, but the ruling was overturned at the beginning of July.
Obviously, Bowman’s return to the league was met with immediate pushback, even amongst Oilers fans. Even during the press conference that made the move official, it felt more like the Oilers doing damage control than anything else. They cited Bowman’s genuine remorse and work with the Respect Group, an advocacy group for abuse and harassment started by former NHL player and sexual abuse survivor Sheldon Kennedy. Jackson mentioned that they had even discussed Bowman’s hiring with Beach and said that he had given the Oilers the green light.
So why, even after a week later to process this, do I still have issues with the hire?
While I would have preferred Beach’s approval of the Bowman hire to come from the man himself, Kennedy’s statement also mentions that the two had a positive meeting together, so I’m willing to at least believe that part. Where the problem begins is that the NHL is currently in a rough patch with sexual abuse scandals and “changed men” returning to the league. The NHL is still reeling from the 2018 Canada World Juniors team scandal, which has seen five of its players removed from the league and facing charges of sexual assault in Canada. In terms of changed men, the Columbus Blue Jackets brought in Mike Babcock as head coach last year, despite knowledge of multiple incidents with players during his tenures in Detroit and Toronto regarding verbal abuse and invasion of privacy. Babcock didn’t even make it to training camp before another incident flared up and he was swiftly removed from his position. It’s easy to say that people have changed; to prove it is a different and more difficult matter entirely.
Any move the Oilers have made to this point have been completely overshadowed. News about the team will be dominated not by how the team looks on the ice or what changes are being implemented, but how the players feel about Bowman being in charge. One would think that the team would also discuss this with its players, especially with their stars. While it can be debated whether discussing a coach or GM hire with players is a good idea or not, the Oilers have a tenuous situation to justify it. Draisaitl’s contract expires after this season and McDavid’s the year after, with both becoming unrestricted free agents. One, if not both, should undisputedly be in Edmonton’s long-term plans, so why make a controversial hire now that casts a shadow over potential negotiations? It’s fair to assume that some in the NHL will never truly forgive Bowman for his role in the Aldrich scandal, and there’s a real chance that Edmonton’s best players want no part in any sort of controversy. If that’s the case and both choose to go elsewhere when their contracts expire, the Bowman hire will have a much greater negative impact than it already does.
Even worse, such an incident would have been completely avoidable had the Oilers just gone a different route with the hire. Even without discussing Jackson, there are two people in particular who should have been given at least a look: Keith Gretzky and Shawn Horcoff.
Keith Gretzky, brother of Wayne, has worked in the Oilers organization for almost a decade now, so he would have the most experience with the team out of any eligible candidate. While he’s mostly served as GM of Edmonton’s AHL affiliate Bakersfield Condors, it’s been noted that he has served as an advisor to Holland and Jackson during the off-seasons. Given the success this summer has been for the Oilers and that he already had a foot in the door with the organization, promoting Gretzky to the GM position would have made sense to people. Meanwhile, Horcoff is a former Oilers captain and longtime player who has seen the organization at both high and low points, so he would know what bringing a Cup would mean to Edmonton. He is currently working his way through the Detroit Red Wings front office, now serving as assistant GM and GM to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Throughout his time, Horcoff has been able to develop younger players and get them ready for the NHL, which is something Edmonton would certainly value. With their connections to the organization, they would have a great chance to sell McDavid and Draisaitl on the idea to stay in Edmonton and become national heroes if they bring the Cup back to Canada for the first time in over 30 years.
The search doesn’t even have to end there. Mathieu Darche’s diverse skillset and expertise in negotiations would have made him an asset. Mark Hunter has a great track record of developing talent as part-owner of the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League, and his chances of landing an NHL job have improved due to another CHL owner in Kelly McCrimmon exceeding expectations in Vegas. Perhaps Jason Botteril could have provided ideas that he was previously unable to in Buffalo? Does Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch tap into his connections to bring Hartford Wolf Pack GM Ryan Martin along? All of this sheds light on my ultimate problem with the Bowman hire: there were so many other qualified options that would not have come with Bowman’s baggage, especially given that Edmonton’s long-term future isn’t quite set in stone.
For what it’s worth, I genuinely hope Bowman has changed. It appears on the surface that he has learned the error of his ways and is doing what he can to correct them. That said, all of this feels like too much, too fast. Bowman will not only be tasked with running a team with legitimate Cup aspirations, but also to ensure complete transparency on the organization’s inner workings. Bowman’s second chance, given the circumstances, feels like a blessing; there will not be a third should issues arise again.
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