Edmonton Oilers fans wasted little time in expressing their dismay at the club hiring former Chicago Blackhawks executive <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/07/24/oilers-name-stan-bowman-general-manager-executive-vice-president-of-hockey-operations/">Stan Bowman as their new general manager</a> and executive vice president of hockey operations on Wednesday.
The tweet announcing Bowman&#8217;s hiring amassed more than 1,500 replies and 1,200 quotes by 10:00 a.m. MT on Wednesday, just over two hours after the club posted it.
The majority of the commenters took issue with the Oilers hiring an executive who was barred from working in the NHL for more than two years for his failure to appropriately handle the alleged sexual assault of former Blackhawks prospect Kyle Beach during Chicago&#8217;s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final — inaction that allowed the perpetrator, then-Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich, to commit further acts of abuse.
Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson, who had been serving as interim GM after Ken Holland&#8217;s departure in June, took his Twitter account <a href="https://x.com/Avry/status/1815964647285219681" target="_blank" rel="noopener">private</a> on Tuesday night, seemingly in anticipation of negative reactions to the club hiring Bowman. Indeed, shortly after the Oilers officially announced the hiring on Wednesday, fans took to social media to protest the move.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve cancelled my subscriptions. Who else is with me? They&#8217;ve hired a man who covered up a rapist&#8217;s actions allowing him to rape again,&#8221; began <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOilers/comments/1eb35y9/ive_canceled_my_subscriptions_who_else_is_with_me/?share_id=uJ1xPVbx18FmhKbw1Blak&amp;utm_content=1&amp;utm_medium=ios_app&amp;utm_name=ioscss&amp;utm_source=share&amp;utm_term=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Reddit post</a> shared by u/fables_of_faubus on Wednesday morning. &#8220;They know it&#8217;s bad because JJ has gone private on Twitter.
&#8220;It&#8217;s really too bad. This was going to be an exciting season. Now, I can&#8217;t support this team the same way I always have. Money is obviously the only thing these guys care about, so I&#8217;ve stopped paying for Oilers+, and SN.&#8221;
Fan reactions on Twitter took on a similar slant across the board.
&#8220;The Oilers had one of the best off seasons I’ve seen in my lifetime just to end it all hiring Stan Bowman who shouldn’t be anywhere near the NHL again,&#8221; wrote user @dhockey13.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
The Oilers had one of the best off seasons i’ve seen in my lifetime just to end it all hiring Stan Bowman who shouldn’t be anywhere near the NHL again. <a href="https://t.co/dtA0V3Q1k1">pic.twitter.com/dtA0V3Q1k1</a>
&mdash; Dyl (@dhockey13) <a href="https://twitter.com/dhockey13/status/1816117492885983370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Many media members also reacted negatively to the Oilers hiring Bowman, who was only officially reinstated by the league back on July 1 alongside fellow ex-Blackhawks employees Joel Quenneville and Al McIsaac.
&#8220;Why on earth would the Oilers hire Stan Bowman? Terrible business decision,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/EricMacramalla/status/1816113562101661801" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> TSN radio host Eric Macramalla. &#8220;Astonishingly tone deaf. Old school hockey at it again.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m genuinely glad that Stan Bowman has put in the work to learn, to understand, to grow, and to help others handle future situations properly. Truly. But we can&#8217;t forget that these men&#8217;s craven failure led directly to the sexual abuse of a minor. You don&#8217;t HAVE to hire them,&#8221; The Athletic&#8216;s Mark Lazerus <a href="https://x.com/MarkLazerus/status/1816113302394507666" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.
The Oilers hiring Bowman comes in the wake of former NHL player and child protection advocate Sheldon Kennedy endorsing the work the former Blackhawks executive has done to learn from the mistakes he made in Chicago.
&#8220;I believe Stan 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,&#8221; Kennedy said in <a href="https://www.respectgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/my-work-with-stan-bowman-sk.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a statement</a> released last week. &#8220;He possesses the insights, knowledge, and confidence needed to lead in this area. I feel building a strong and healthy culture within an organization and practicing it on an ongoing basis will be a top priority for Stan. I also believe Stan will carry this message within the hockey ecosystem, which can only help.
&#8220;Lastly and most importantly I feel that Stan will do everything in his power to make sure what happened to Kyle Beach (who is a hero in my opinion) will not happen to anyone else,&#8221; Kennedy added.
In <a href="https://x.com/MarkLazerus/status/1816113724089847997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another tweet</a> posted on Wednesday, Lazerus acknowledged the work Bowman has done with Kennedy but questioned whether the Oilers took the appropriate course of action by immediately giving Bowman a GM job.
&#8220;I would have been glad to see Stan Bowman continue to work with someone like Sheldon Kennedy, to carve out a new path in the hockey world as an educator, as an example. Instead, he walks right back into an NHL GM job 14 days after reinstatement. This league, man,&#8221; Lazerus tweeted. &#8220;So now two of the NHL&#8217;s 32 general managers were in that room on May 23, 2010, when the Blackhawks chose not to act on Kyle Beach&#8217;s allegations against Brad Aldrich. Kevin Cheveldayoff never faced any consequences.&#8221;

Edmonton Oilers fans wasted little time in expressing their dismay at the club hiring former Chicago Blackhawks executive <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/07/24/oilers-name-stan-bowman-general-manager-executive-vice-president-of-hockey-operations/">Stan Bowman as their new general manager</a> and executive vice president of hockey operations on Wednesday.

The tweet announcing Bowman's hiring amassed more than 1,500 replies and 1,200 quotes by 10:00 a.m. MT on Wednesday, just over two hours after the club posted it.

The majority of the commenters took issue with the Oilers hiring an executive who was barred from working in the NHL for more than two years for his failure to appropriately handle the alleged sexual assault of former Blackhawks prospect Kyle Beach during Chicago's run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final — inaction that allowed the perpetrator, then-Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich, to commit further acts of abuse.

Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson, who had been serving as interim GM after Ken Holland's departure in June, took his Twitter account <a href="https://x.com/Avry/status/1815964647285219681" target="_blank" rel="noopener">private</a> on Tuesday night, seemingly in anticipation of negative reactions to the club hiring Bowman. Indeed, shortly after the Oilers officially announced the hiring on Wednesday, fans took to social media to protest the move.

"I've cancelled my subscriptions. Who else is with me? They've hired a man who covered up a rapist's actions allowing him to rape again," began <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOilers/comments/1eb35y9/ive_canceled_my_subscriptions_who_else_is_with_me/?share_id=uJ1xPVbx18FmhKbw1Blak&amp;utm_content=1&amp;utm_medium=ios_app&amp;utm_name=ioscss&amp;utm_source=share&amp;utm_term=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Reddit post</a> shared by u/fables_of_faubus on Wednesday morning. "They know it's bad because JJ has gone private on Twitter.

"It's really too bad. This was going to be an exciting season. Now, I can't support this team the same way I always have. Money is obviously the only thing these guys care about, so I've stopped paying for Oilers+, and SN."

Fan reactions on Twitter took on a similar slant across the board.

"The Oilers had one of the best off seasons I’ve seen in my lifetime just to end it all hiring Stan Bowman who shouldn’t be anywhere near the NHL again," wrote user @dhockey13.

https://twitter.com/dhockey13/status/1816117492885983370

Many media members also reacted negatively to the Oilers hiring Bowman, who was only officially reinstated by the league back on July 1 alongside fellow ex-Blackhawks employees Joel Quenneville and Al McIsaac.

"Why on earth would the Oilers hire Stan Bowman? Terrible business decision," <a href="https://x.com/EricMacramalla/status/1816113562101661801" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> TSN radio host Eric Macramalla. "Astonishingly tone deaf. Old school hockey at it again."

"I'm genuinely glad that Stan Bowman has put in the work to learn, to understand, to grow, and to help others handle future situations properly. Truly. But we can't forget that these men's craven failure led directly to the sexual abuse of a minor. You don't HAVE to hire them," The Athletic's Mark Lazerus <a href="https://x.com/MarkLazerus/status/1816113302394507666" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.

The Oilers hiring Bowman comes in the wake of former NHL player and child protection advocate Sheldon Kennedy endorsing the work the former Blackhawks executive has done to learn from the mistakes he made in Chicago.

"I believe Stan 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," Kennedy said in <a href="https://www.respectgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/my-work-with-stan-bowman-sk.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a statement</a> released last week. "He possesses the insights, knowledge, and confidence needed to lead in this area. I feel building a strong and healthy culture within an organization and practicing it on an ongoing basis will be a top priority for Stan. I also believe Stan will carry this message within the hockey ecosystem, which can only help.

"Lastly and most importantly I feel that Stan will do everything in his power to make sure what happened to Kyle Beach (who is a hero in my opinion) will not happen to anyone else," Kennedy added.

In <a href="https://x.com/MarkLazerus/status/1816113724089847997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another tweet</a> posted on Wednesday, Lazerus acknowledged the work Bowman has done with Kennedy but questioned whether the Oilers took the appropriate course of action by immediately giving Bowman a GM job.

"I would have been glad to see Stan Bowman continue to work with someone like Sheldon Kennedy, to carve out a new path in the hockey world as an educator, as an example. Instead, he walks right back into an NHL GM job 14 days after reinstatement. This league, man," Lazerus tweeted. "So now two of the NHL's 32 general managers were in that room on May 23, 2010, when the Blackhawks chose not to act on Kyle Beach's allegations against Brad Aldrich. Kevin Cheveldayoff never faced any consequences."

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