The Oilers have named Stan Bowman their general manager and EVP of hockey operations, the team announced Wednesday. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report.
Bowman, 51, has not worked in the league since resigning as GM and president of hockey operations of the Blackhawks in October 2021. His resignation came following an independent report detailing his “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 then moved to make Bowman, as well as former Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville and senior VP of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, ineligible to work for any NHL team.
Earlier this month, the league announced that all three had been reinstated and would be available to hire as early as July 10. The NHL supplemented the news with this statement:
While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals (Messrs. Bowman, MacIsaac and Quenneville) 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. Moreover, each has made significant strides in personal improvement by participating in myriad programs, many of which focused on the imperative of responding in effective and meaningful ways to address alleged acts of abuse. The League expects that they will continue this commitment in any future capacity with the NHL and/or one of our Clubs.
Upon the news of their reinstatement emerging, Bowman was immediately viewed as the top contender for Edmonton’s GM vacancy, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported at the time.
The Oilers were without a GM after opting not to renew Ken Holland’s contract after five years at the helm. Jeff Jackson, who had served above Holland last season as the team’s CEO of hockey operations, took over as acting GM at the draft and during the beginning of free agency. In his weeks-long tenure in the position, Jackson was quite active, notably acquiring Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner on the UFA market and acquiring the organization’s new top prospect, 2022 ninth-overall pick Matthew Savoie, in a trade with the Sabres.
Jackson now hands the keys to Bowman, whose first year as GM in Chicago coincided with their 2010 Stanley Cup championship. He remained at the helm for their Cup wins in 2013 and 2015, all in all spending parts of 12 seasons in the role. Before being promoted to GM, Bowman served as the Blackhawks’ director of hockey operations from 2005 to 2007 and as assistant GM from 2007 to 2009.
In regards to Bowman’s hiring, Jackson issued the following statement:
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.
While Bowman did well to maintain the core built by previous GM Dale Tallon and oversee the greatest sustained period of success in franchise history, he also oversaw its downfall. The Blackhawks still haven’t advanced past the first round since winning it all in 2015 and have made the playoffs only thrice. In the final three seasons of Bowman’s tenure, the Blackhawks’ best point total was 84.
Now, much like he did in Chicago, Bowman inherits a superstar core of Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. He’s got less time on the clock to win, though. Draisaitl and McDavid are 28 and 27, respectively, while Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were both in their age-21 seasons when he took over.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
lol
Embarrassing
That’s sad
Oilers fans NOT happy about this. Big mad up there in Edmonton right now.
Hope he trades for Seth Jones!
Is this from the Babylon Bee?
They really couldn’t a better option than this guy?
Funny, the Oilers look like they had a great summer. I would’ve simply let the guy who made those decisions to continue on. Now they bring in the guy who destroyed the Blackhawks (he inherited the Cup Winning roster, he definitely did not build it)
He is a clown of a GM.
People make mistakes. Quenneville is easily one of the best coaches in recent years, Bowman is a great GM. I think it’s a solid hire, people have too much emotional value attached to this hire.
What has Bowman done that makes him a great GM?
Noooo @doug you dont understand! Ppl here in comments are much more competent than those who make hires in nhl. You must listen to them Lol
That’s not a mistake that you can easily ask forgiveness for. And the point that has to be made about a mistake versus common sense questions whether he’s qualified to lead a team.
Forget all the baggage. This man signed Seth Jones to an 8 x 9 and traded Panarian for Saad. He isn’t even a good GM
That’s the key point. The other stuff is interesting fodder, but Bowman stunk as a GM.
It’s unlikely if the GM at your daughter’s work covered up her being sexually assaulted, you’d consider it “interesting fodder”.
Oh ya and then he gave a recommendation so he could help someone molest your other child.
He didn’t give a recommendation. That’s misinformation. Read the report.
You (most likely deliberately to feel self righteous) missed the point of my comment. People can argue all day about whether Bowman did this or that, but the fact he was a lousy GM should’ve been more than enough to prevent him being hired.
Frankly, I have no time for insufferable virtue signalers like you.
You most likely don’t value a person’s character because you don’t have any either
Well he did win the Sharp trade. So there’s that.
Look up when that trade was made – it wasn’t Bowman as GM at the time.
This guy single handily destroyed the Black Hawks just go research the trades he made and how bad they drafted under him. This hire is the worse possible thing the Oilers could have made
I love McDavid but the Oiler’s brass is embarrassing to the city and the province. But the real clown here is A*****e Bettman.
Wow, NOT a good look for the Oilers. Aside from being a completely inept GM he’s a POS human being too.
LOL, enjoying the meltdown. Besides you get Scottie with him! I can’t wait to see how the Draisaitl negotiations go….That will be more of a deciding factor than his past history.
Love to see him trade Drai this year for a 2C, and a #3RD +++, and the Oil have another banner year!
Hurry up Kyle, get Bowman on the phone and trade him Seth Jones and Connor Murphy !
Man, and here I was hoping teams would be smarter than to do this. Loser org.
Oil cornering the market on unlikeable people! Perry, Kane, Leon, now this guy!?
Exactly what I thought. They really are the Oakland raiders of the NHL.
DeAngelo is still without contract I think
@Grocery stick — Bowman should be without a contract.
Why do people not like Draisaitl?
Shameful, and he’s not even a good GM.
ROTFLMAO. Wow, Stupidity runs rampant that this guy gets a prime job less than a month after he gets reinstated. That’s pitiful . From game 7 of the Cup to this. Wow.
Wasn’t Bowman the biggest contributor to covering up the assault and everything? Like Coach Q was less complicit than Bowman, to my understanding.
Really stupid hire from Edmonton…
It was McDonough the head honcho. He told them all to focus on the playoffs and he’d take care of it. He never did. It’s in the investigation report
Bowman was the biggest contributor to the Hawks going from the Stanley Cup into the toilet in like 2 years. Not to mention being the Butt( No pun intended) of every joke told in the NHL.
Say goodbye to Leon lol
It would be better to trade him then to give him 13M x 8
He’s walking hahaha
@Johnny Z — Leon’s been an outright monster in the playoffs for them. He would be worth that payday, but with Bowman there now, that team could get wrecked almost overnight. Chiarelli did his damnedest to trash everything, and it took Holland his entire tenure to get things back to half-decent. Just like Dubas isn’t likely to make PIT better, Bowman will likely take EDM backwards.
I doubt it. Jackson is very hands-on. Anything Bowman does will likely have some kind of input from JJ and the team. And we saw what Jackson just did this free agency and with the fleecing of Savoie from Buffalo. I dont think we’ll see the typical GM doing whatever he wants show as per usual. This has a completely different feel then normal
Did this team not F*ing hear us when they were contemplating this epic stupidity??? Maybe they want another “Decade of Darkness”…
Mac- It’s obvious they didn’t listen to the fans. But I wonder if they bothered to ask the PLAYERS what they thought? Hmmmm……
can’t be any worse than chiarelli at wasting a few more mcdavid years .. chuck fletcher will be their next brilliant hire in three years
@alstott40 — Ordinarily, I’d say “Ha Ha!”, but at the rate that organization is going, you may have made a good prediction there.
McDavid is getting traded to LA
@AaronV — Worse, yet, he could be “sold” to the Kings. Keep the tradition going.
Not only is this hire disappointing, but so is the NHL’s utter lack of transparency regarding these “myriad programs” that Q and Bowman apparently took. Tell us exactly what those were. Name them. It shouldn’t be hard if they actually put in some work.
Regardless, if you’re a grown*ss man and need significant assistance in understanding that covering up a criminal act of abuse is wrong, you’re a lost cause anyway.
During his introductory press conference, Bowman admitted his response to the Beach situation was inadequate and mishandled, saying it was something he regrets. He worked with Sheldon Kennedy and his organization, Respect Group, as part of the process of learning about the prevention of bullying, harassment, abuse and discrimination. Kennedy recently endorsed Bowman’s effort to return to the NHL.
Bowman also said that he reached out to Beach with Kennedy’s encouragement. The two have kept in touch since last year, including Bowman spending a day and a half working with Beach at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, where Beach works as an assistant coach. Bowman said he called Beach the day before his hiring by the Oilers, calling it an encouraging conversation.
Oilers sure love controversy and giving second chances. Evander Kane, Jake Virtanen, Corey Perry, and now Stan Bowman. Don’t know how to feel about that franchise.
Hawks fan here.
I hope the Oilers insist that Bowman take a class in Cap Mgmt 101.
He made several terrible signings, which forced give away trades.
It’s pretty hard to fail on every level, but they succeeded!
To redeem himself I think he should trade nurse to St. Louis for paraynko and than ceci to and prob a first or second round pick for cam frowler but sign draisaitl first so we can have 2 of the best shutdown d’s