Newly named Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman’s first day on the job will likely go down as one of his most difficult.
After all, the team he is inheriting is already Stanley Cup ready, as far as the fans are concerned.
Especially after finishing with a one-goal difference between winning and losing the most recent Stanley Cup Final, with a roster that’s been meticulously (if not miraculously) held together through free agency, having had an absolute home-run of a head-coach hiring in Kris Knoblauch that took no time proving to be the right move, and none other than a generational talent in Connor McDavid leading the charge.
Honestly, what’s left to do other than watch the upcoming season unfold? If that’s not an express ticket to early success in his new environment, then nothing is.
At the same time, there is almost nowhere to go but down — quite literally Cup or Bust, for real now — as the pressure of expectation ensures it will be anything but a free ride here for Bowman.
But it’s been anything but an easy road for him to get back to this point.
After masterminding the closest thing hockey has seen to a dynasty over the past decade, with three Stanley Cups in a span of six seasons, the bubble burst for Bowman, who saw his tenure as Chicago Blackhawks GM end in 2021 with the sexual assault scandal involving former first-round draft pick Kyle Beach and then-video coach Brad Aldrich from more than 10 years earlier.
Fortunately, the elephant didn’t have much of a chance to enter the Hall of Fame room at Rogers Place during Wednesday’s announcement, as the Oilers kicked off the proceedings by tackling, head on, the issue on everyone’s mind.
Namely, how was such a thing allowed to happen on his watch? And why didn’t he do anything about it at the time?
The answers are, of course, convoluted and involved much investigation and litigation, but the end result saw Bowman, along with then-head coach Joel Quenneville and assistant GM Al MacIsaac get suspended from the NHL for two years.
The trio was reinstated on July 1, with no doubt having had the wheels in motion for this hiring well ahead of time.
“I know that some of you are going to have questions about Stan’s tenure in Chicago,” said Oilers hockey operations CEO Jeff Jackson. “Let me be clear, what happened to Kyle Beach in 2010 was wrong, was horrible, it wasn’t handled properly at the time.
“I think Stan has acknowledged and taken full responsibility for the inadequate response. But I also know that he’s spent a great deal of time in the two-and-a-half years since then to educate himself. He’s done a lot of work with Sheldon Kennedy, whose one of the foremost experts in the field of abuse, sexual and otherwise, and came out last week with his op-ed supporting Stan.”
Which is all fine and good. And the approval of Kennedy, Respect Group co-founder and hockey’s leading figure in countering sexual abuse, should not go unnoticed and could end up going a long way for Bowman. One day …
But Wednesday was all about the Oilers trying to sell a bill of goods to their fan base. One that was expectedly on edge with the whole controversial hiring. If not well over it.
The backlash was fierce, with no punches being pulled when it comes to the notion of hockey being plagued by ‘rape culture’ and being an ‘old boy’s club’.
Edmonton Oilers fans if you want to read more about Stan Bowman and why hiring him is bad my dad wrote an entire book about it! Check out pages 16-17 specifically! pic.twitter.com/ldh6wYu7D2
— Andrea Dekeseredy (@AndieYEG) July 24, 2024
Why on earth would the Oilers hire Stan Bowman? Terrible business decision. Astonishingly tone deaf. Old school hockey at it again.
— Eric Macramalla (@EricMacramalla) July 24, 2024
“Listen, I respect people’s opinion and one thing I’ve learned over time is it’s very difficult to talk people into things,” Bowman said. “So, I’m not going to try to make an argument on why they should feel a certain way. The fans, I respect the way that they feel. It’s going to be my job to try to win them over.”
He could do himself a big favour, of course, by getting star forward Leon Draisaitl signed to a contract extension before heading into the final season of his current deal.
But even before that, Bowman began his reparation with an admission of his own faults.
“I’m not trying to re-litigate the past, but I do think it’s important to start off by touching on my departure from the Blackhawks a couple seasons ago,” Bowman said. “I can tell you in this room and watching, as well as something I’ve said directly to Kyle Beach, that my response was inadequate back in 2010.
“I didn’t handle things properly. I should have done more and that’s something I regret. And it’s something I’ve had a chance to reflect on and try to learn from.”
Kennedy said after having worked together for what amounts to full-time over a period of six moths, Bowman has learned his lesson. As long as the lesson continues to be learned.
“I think there is a commitment to change. Is it done? Absolutely not,” Kennedy said. “But is there acknowledgement of the impact on individuals? Absolutely. To me, that’s the starting point of moving forward, and that’s what I think Stan needs to keep doing.
“These issues need to be prioritized. Culture has to be prioritized. And I believe he understands that.”
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