[TAS]

The Oilers have officially named Stan Bowman General Manager and I have one thing to say about it:

WTF!!!!

Bowman is not only the man who participated in the cover up of a horrific sexual scandal within the Blackhawks organisation but also is just not a very good GM.

I had heard that the GM job was going to be essentially a puppet for Jeff Jackson, who would make all the big decisions while the GM would simply do the day-to-day GM tasks. If this was the case though, why not hire someone from within the organisation. Not someone with this... baggage.

Awful decision, the Oilers organisation is going to be absolutely flamed for this.

He was endorsed by Sheldon Kennedy a couple of weeks ago after his reinstatement was announced by the league on July 1.

Former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy, co-founder of the Respect Group, released a statement earlier last week saying that he has worked closely with Bowman on several initiatives. In the statement, Kennedy said he feels Bowman “would be a valuable asset to an organization due to his acknowledgment of past mistakes and his relentless efforts to make the locker room/game safer for everyone.”

He was with Chicago from 2009-21 as GM and then president of hockey operations - they won 3 Cups.

You don't think he deserves a second chance?

 

[Gus Haynes]

I don't get why we would hire this guy, even BEYOND his sexual assault mismanagement. He was not exactly a stellar GM!

 

[erudyk_29]

You don't think he deserves a second chance?

Short Answer: No

Longer Answer:

Bowman was directly involved in shielding Brad Aldrich from any punishment, deliberately and intentionally harboring a sex criminal. Not only this but he also gave him a reccomendation for another job after the Kyle Beach incident, where he assaulted another player.

He was endorsed by Sheldon Kennedy a couple of weeks ago after his reinstatement was announced by the league on July 1.

Former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy, co-founder of the Respect Group, released a statement earlier last week saying that he has worked closely with Bowman on several initiatives. In the statement, Kennedy said he feels Bowman “would be a valuable asset to an organization due to his acknowledgment of past mistakes and his relentless efforts to make the locker room/game safer for everyone.”

These are token gestures, whatever work Bowman did is not focused on a genuine attempt to improve and become a better person, but to get himself to a place where he can get exactly what he's gotten, another job in the league as a GM.

I highly doubt Stan Bowman has any genuine interest in becoming a better person and improving the toxic hockey culture.

He was with Chicago from 2009-21 as GM and then president of hockey operations - they won 3 Cups.

He may have won 3 Stanley Cups, but he inherited that core, he did not build the team that won those cups, the entire core: Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook, etc were all drafted and developed prior to Bowman entering the organization. The moves he made towards the end of his tenure as Blackhawks GM were puzzling.


Even if Bowman does intend to be better and make changes for the better, regrets his actions, etc. It makes absolutely no sense why the Oilers would take on all his baggage at a time when they're positioned to win a Stanley Cup. There are literally dozens and dozens of people out there, whether they be former agents, analytics people, and even former players, some of which most of us have probably never heard of, who would make far better GM's than Bowman and do not come with the history that Bowman does.

This move makes no sense

 

[Gronk!]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1816117218113118256

 

[Gus Haynes]

That's exactly the sort of tweet I'd expect from Rishaug, who seems more concerned with maintaining good relationships with Oilers management than providing critical coverage of anything.

 

[TAS]

Short Answer: No

Longer Answer:

Bowman was directly involved in shielding Brad Aldrich from any punishment, deliberately and intentionally harboring a sex criminal. Not only this but he also gave him a reccomendation for another job after the Kyle Beach incident, where he assaulted another player.



These are token gestures, whatever work Bowman did is not focused on a genuine attempt to improve and become a better person, but to get himself to a place where he can get exactly what he's gotten, another job in the league as a GM.

I highly doubt Stan Bowman has any genuine interest in becoming a better person and improving the toxic hockey culture.



He may have won 3 Stanley Cups, but he inherited that core, he did not build the team that won those cups, the entire core: Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook, etc were all drafted and developed prior to Bowman entering the organization. The moves he made towards the end of his tenure as Blackhawks GM were puzzling.


Even if Bowman does intend to be better and make changes for the better, regrets his actions, etc. It makes absolutely no sense why the Oilers would take on all his baggage at a time when they're positioned to win a Stanley Cup. There are literally dozens and dozens of people out there, whether they be former agents, analytics people, and even former players, some of which most of us have probably never heard of, who would make far better GM's than Bowman and do not come with the history that Bowman does.

This move makes no sense

He definitely did inherit an amazing team of players.

 

[jason403]

This hiring should be cancelled and fast. Never mind the ethical and moral perspective, but there is no way that hiring someone such as this as the face of a franchise is good for business (look at Babcock hiring previously, which is 1/100th of this scale). Will be interesting to see if there will be enough momentum for sponsors pulling out, as I feel like someone like Bowman does not align with their mission or values. Jeff Jackson and Bob Nicholson should also be fired, but I feel like Jackson being so connected with McDavid may make this hard.

Prediction is that Bowman is gone within a week, and Nicholson takes the fall for this, as there is a lot of fan and organizational support for Jackson. Oilers will donate $1M to a sexual assault charity, and mandate entire organization of staff have sensitivity training regarding sexual assault. Either Jackson will be named interim GM for the year, or some old re-tread with a winning record be given the role (while Jackson named president of hockey operations).

 

[Greenspace]

Strange hire.

 

[IanO]

Are we the heel of the league or the place of redemption?

Franchise with amazing fans, likeable superstars determined to become league villains

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers announced the hiring of Stan Bowman, the Blackhawks executive who helped cover up the sexual abuse of Kyle Beach by assistant coach Brad Aldrich, as part of their ongoing plan to become the league’s most hated team. “We started in a bad spot. We had a passionate...

www.thebeaverton.com

 

[EdmTrekker]

Short Answer: No

Longer Answer:

Bowman was directly involved in shielding Brad Aldrich from any punishment, deliberately and intentionally harboring a sex criminal. Not only this but he also gave him a reccomendation for another job after the Kyle Beach incident, where he assaulted another player.



These are token gestures, whatever work Bowman did is not focused on a genuine attempt to improve and become a better person, but to get himself to a place where he can get exactly what he's gotten, another job in the league as a GM.

I highly doubt Stan Bowman has any genuine interest in becoming a better person and improving the toxic hockey culture.



He may have won 3 Stanley Cups, but he inherited that core, he did not build the team that won those cups, the entire core: Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook, etc were all drafted and developed prior to Bowman entering the organization. The moves he made towards the end of his tenure as Blackhawks GM were puzzling.


Even if Bowman does intend to be better and make changes for the better, regrets his actions, etc. It makes absolutely no sense why the Oilers would take on all his baggage at a time when they're positioned to win a Stanley Cup. There are literally dozens and dozens of people out there, whether they be former agents, analytics people, and even former players, some of which most of us have probably never heard of, who would make far better GM's than Bowman and do not come with the history that Bowman does.

This move makes no sense

I have no concerns with the decision as a fan and nor did Mr. Katz as the Owner. Best man for the job. Let’s move along to the next season.

 

[Glenco]

Bowman was directly involved in shielding Brad Aldrich from any punishment, deliberately and intentionally harboring a sex criminal. Not only this but he also gave him a reccomendation for another job after the Kyle Beach incident, where he assaulted another player.

So your mind is already made up but there is some disagreement as to whether Bowman did give Aldrich a recommendation. It would appear Wikipedia is in disagreement with the report according to David Staples who did read the report.

 

[erudyk_29]

So your mind is already made up but there is some disagreement as to whether Bowman did give Aldrich a recommendation. It would appear Wikipedia is in disagreement with the report according to David Staples who did read the report.

I had heard the he did give the recommendation, later received information from another source (and now you) that it's disputed whether that actually happened.

It's still a very bad look for him, as he did nothing to stop it, and allowed Aldrich to attack again (this time against a far younger, more vulnerable victim). He (and the Oilers media) seem to be leaning into the idea that it was a lack of action on Bowman's part rather than an active "cover-up".

So I guess you could say not doing anything is better than actively working to cover things up. But knowing about it and not doing/saying anything to help or stop it from happening again in the future is very nearly as bad.

There is absolutely no doubt that Bowman knew about the Kyle Beach incident and chose not to say/do anything.

Even without the baggage though, Bowman was definitely not the best option out there.

The guy who traded for and signed Seth Jones to a kings ransom, and also traded away Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad, is not the GM the Oilers need right now.

 

[TAS]

Without a doubt Bowman and the Blackhawks leadership and their so called HR dept terribly mismanaged this by doing nothing when learning about this and never pursuing an investigation or reporting it further.

Hearing somewhere? that they provided references for Aldrich and recommendations and communicating that out there as fact without knowing these kind of details is not helpful or good.

This is a very similar incident to what the Calgary Stampede was found guilty of - learning about an abuse situation and then not doing anything about it and then many more people were abused as a result. Abuse victims have the toughest job deciding to come forward and then are totally victimized again when this is just swept ynder the rug.

Given that Beach and Bowman have reportedly talked numerous times in the past couple years and even collaborated on an initiative, it seems Beach has been able to move forward in a way that is hopefully supporting his mental and physical well-being. It is with that understanding that I take statements from the Oilers organization and people like Kennedy and Bowman's own words that he is genuine in his regret and has taken some significant learnings from this.