When it came time for the Chicago Blackhawks to decide whether or not sexual assault against one of their own players should even be reported to the authorities just as the team clinched a spot in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, general manager Stan Bowman was one of seven members of Chicago’s front office to turn their heads and look the other way.
When it came time for the Edmonton Oilers to pick themselves back up after a devastating loss in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, they turned to Bowman.
Make no mistake, someone would’ve hired him sooner if they could. The NHL reinstated Bowman on July 1 after exiling him for nearly three years following the Brad Aldrich scandal in Chicago. Former Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville and executive Al MacIsaac were reinstated, too, and it’s hard to imagine they won’t find gainful employment in hockey’s top circuit soon enough.
This is the NHL, after all. A league of 32 teams featuring 10 active head coaches who have each led at least three other clubs. Established names die hard. Anyone expecting morals and values to win the day (any day, really) should look elsewhere for their hockey fix.
This is the end result of process that rightfully and forever tainted one of the sport’s most iconic names: Bowman now gets to manage a roster featuring the best player in the world in Connor McDavid.
“I am excited and pleased to be welcoming Stan to the Edmonton Oilers,” Oilers CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson said in a 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.”
The most surprising aspect of Jackson’s comments, of course, being that he even mentioned Bowman’s “time away” from the sport.
It’s hard to feel anything but nihilistic — though anger and embarrassment put up a good fight — because this is just what hockey does. It allows someone like Mitchell Miller get drafted despite knowing he bullied a Black classmate with developmental disabilities. Then it allows Miller to get signed (and quickly dropped) again after fans pressured the Arizona Coyotes Utah Hockey Club to renounce his rights. It lets Trevor Connelly get drafted in the first round this year despite similarly concerning incidents. It lets Logan Mailloux, who was charged with sharing explicit pictures of a sexual act without the consent of his partner, get drafted even after he asked to be removed from the prospect pool. None of those incidents even begin to cover the Hockey Canada mess, either.
Sense a pattern here? The next time you wonder about why a GM would bring troubled players into the league, remember it’s people like Bowman who are being empowered to do so.
By all accounts — for whatever those are worth — Bowman has put in work during his exile to grow. That’s great. Good for him. It does not mean he deserves to work in hockey ever again. Regardless of what his last name is.
Maybe Edmonton fans will get as worked up over Bowman’s arrival as Arizona Utah supporters did when Miller was drafted forcing the Oilers to cut ties. But don’t hold your breath.
There’s a reason Edmonton’s interest in Bowman didn’t leak before his hiring. The team knew there would be tremendous backlash and decided to make his employment official before anything could talk them out of it.
That’s NHL logic for you. The same decision-making process that led seven allegedly grown men in the Blackhawks’ front office to protect a predator instead of their own player because it might disrupt team chemistry.
As the player who began his pro career living in Bowman’s basement likes to say, that’s hockey, baby.
