Stan Bowman had an eventful first 40 days as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. He had to deal with multiple offer sheets from St. Louis. He made three trades and signed Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year extension. The next 40 days will be less hectic, but as the new GM, there is still lots of work to do to build and evaluate the 2024-25 Oilers and his management team.



Bowman joined me and Terry Ryan on Sports 1440 last Thursday to get some more context on how he and the team viewed the Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg offer sheets, the Cody Ceci for Ty Emberson trade, how he will assess his management team as assistant GMs Keith Gretzky and Brad Holland are in the final year of their deals and what he learned in Chicago that could help him navigate the next few years in Edmonton.

https://twitter.com/Sports1440/status/1831905617520554468

Jason Gregor: Stan, have you ever played fantasy football?

Stan Bowman: I did. Years ago, I did. I was actually into it quite a bit and it is pretty time-consuming if you want to be good at it. I kind of realized halfway through the season that I wasn't putting enough time in. I was getting smoked, so that was kind of my swan song in fantasy football. It was one year.

Gregor: Now, it is fantasy and, obviously, it's different than being a real GM. But was there anything that you found similar at all?

Bowman: Well, certainly, there are aspects of it. You are orchestrating your team and trying to find the best combination of players. I think the part about it that's not real is just the salary cap portion of hockey, which, you know, we've come to realize over the last, whatever, 10 or 15 years that a lot of decisions are made based upon not so much do you like the player, but more it's like how much does the guy make and we could get this player who makes a lot less money. He signed for three years and might not be quite as good a player. Still, you're trying to put the puzzle pieces together by looking at their performance on the ice, their contractual obligations, and their upcoming contract situation. That's the part where if it was just based on performance, it might look a little bit different than it does.

Gregor: Stan, when you put a puzzle together, usually we build the outside frame because it's the easiest to find those pieces because they're all flat on the one side, and then you fill in the middle. Would the outside border equate to superstars like Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid? You have to get those foundation pieces regardless of their cost, and then you fill in everybody else?

Bowman: Yeah, you nailed it there. I think that's very true. I mean, obviously, we're blessed to have such star players.

That’s the hardest thing to acquire in hockey — to try to find those players because they're never available. If you don't get them, and even then, there's a lot of luck in the draft, you have to be picking high the year that player happens to be in the draft, and not every year is there a superstar player. And they just don't come to market very often at all.

So, yes, I looked at the situation pretty simply, which is like, Leon's a very special player. I've watched him for many years now, marvelling at the things he can do with the puck, and obviously, Connor's much the same. They do play the game differently as far as what makes them special as players, but the reality of the situation is they're both so unique and if you have an opportunity to get them on your team, you don't ever let that pass. 

Terry Ryan: Congrats on the signing of Draisaitl. As a GM, you need to have a vibe of the dressing room, but a lot of general managers aren’t in the dressing room a lot, so what's your approach to getting a grasp of your team? How do you go about it?

Bowman: Yeah, that's a great question, and people don't ask that a lot. I do think it's important to have a relationship with your players. I don't know if it's so much in the locker room. I feel like that's kind of their place, but I'm around the team a lot. I'm on road trips, you're in meal rooms, and you get to the rink early to talk to players. They're just messing around with their sticks, and that's where I like to kind of form relationships with the players that way, because I think it is important.

I don't believe that you just kind of separate yourself because I think we're in this together. The coaches, players, and management: we all want to win and help each other out, and you have to collaborate with them. Certainly, the younger players today need to understand what's going on. They like to have a connection with people. I think it's important to have relationships.

So, I like to let them. The locker room is their place, so I don't really go in the locker room much, but I have, and I want to get to know these guys and have a relationship with all of them because, like I said, we're all in this together. You win and lose as a team, and that's both the coaching staff and management. I think we all have to be pulling in the same direction.

Ryan: The Four Nation Faceoff happens this year. I’d love it to be best on best with more countries, but what's your point of view on the tourney?

Bowman: I think back to the World Cup we had back in 2016. I was fortunate enough to be part of that. I was with Team North America, which was, whatever you want to call us, the young stars. That was a blast.

I had such a good time with that group of players, and I know that was a bit of a one-off event, but that sure was fun to be around that team. I agree, best on best is something we haven't had in a long time. Maybe it's not the perfect format, but I still think it's better than nothing to have something this year.

It's going to be fun to watch. The Olympics is obviously different, with more teams involved, so I don't know the perfect formula for it. I think it's fun, though, to watch the players play for their country, and we haven't had the opportunity for a lot of the top players, and certainly the top younger players haven't really had the chance to do that.

So, I think that's going to be fun to watch, and I'll remember that team. One of the most fun experiences I've had was being in that group in 2016 with Team North America.

Gregor: You acquired Ty Emberson in the Cody Ceci trade. Kris Knoblauch coached him in the American League. How much insight was from Kris, and how much was from your pro scouts? Can you walk us through that trade? What do you like about Emberson?

Bowman: I would say it was a collaboration. I talked to Kris quite a few times about Emberson, as well as our scouts, and he was also a player I was pretty familiar with just from scouting with the U.S. program and at Wisconsin. I feel like I'd seen him play a lot of hockey coming up and growing up. There was a lot to like about him as a player and he hadn't quite totally made it in the NHL yet.

I think last year was his first real opportunity. I think everyone weighed in and it was nice to know that Kris had that experience coaching him and although it was the American League, Kris was a big fan. He is a big fan of the way Ty plays and he was very confident that he could be a nice addition to our team. We spent time talking to people, watching his games, and trying to see where we thought he could fit in. But he's got a really nice skill set, and I think the other thing I like about him is that he's in that age range. He’s a 24-year-old and we haven't seen his best days yet. I think he's coming into his own.

The thing I like about younger players is they have a chance to grow their game throughout the season. So, the player that we see in October is not the same player as you're going to see in March. And I think there's going to be growth to his game.

With veteran players, they're probably, you're looking more to stabilize their performance over the year. When guys get into their 30s, they're not really getting better as the year goes on. But the younger players, I think you see progression in their games and you see a different player, not all the time, but often you see a much better player as they find a role, they gain confidence and, you know, they can step their game up in the second half.

So, I think everyone's always looking for that. You're looking for your team, in general, to show some progression and to be a better team in the second half than they were in the first. And I think that's something that's exciting about Ty Emerson.

Gregor: Stan, where do you come out on PTOs? We actually had Ritch Winter in studio (Giordano’s agent) and he admitted he's trying to pitch Mark Giordano to your team. And others like Kevin Shattenkirk, Tony DeAngelo and Travis Dermott have expressed interest. 

We know you're having conversations. When does it make sense not just to bring in a guy as an extra body, but somebody who can actually compete for your team? Where's the balancing act on that?

Bowman: It is a balancing act in the sense that you've got players that are already signed, and they want to be given the full opportunity to show they can help the team win. So, I think you can get to a point where you have too many bodies and they can get in each other's way and I guess that that would be a reason not to. The reason for doing this would be to make sure that you have the best players possible.

So, the balancing act is just having too many bodies around, and everyone, you have five or six guys going for one spot. It's hard to make that determination when there's not enough time or there are not enough evaluation opportunities to give it a fair look. And you've got some guys that have a lot of experience, other guys that are trying to break through from the American League and show that they're NHL players.

So, I think we're weighing all those factors as we're trying to decide whether or not we want to just go with the group we have now or whether it makes sense. And I've done it both ways in the past. I don't know if there's a right way to do it where you have a few different PTOs or sometimes you don't have any.

That's something that it's probably not a right answer for it. It just depends on the group that you have and the year in question, whether it made the most sense or not.

*Since our interview aired, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-expected-to-invite-defenceman-travis-dermott-to-training-camp">Travis Dermott has agreed to a PTO</a> with the Oilers and will be in town soon.*

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[caption id="attachment_157657" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="size-large wp-image-157657" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/USATSI_23069960-1024x738.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="738" /> Apr 17, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Edmonton Oilers defenseman Philip Broberg (86) against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]

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Ryan: I assume you were a bit surprised by the offer sheets that came in for Holloway and Broberg. You were in a unique situation, having just joined the organization. How did you approach that in seven days? Because it's not just those guys. There are a lot of moving parts and it's not just what's there now. How do you approach that situation of A, being rare and B, you only had seven days to sort out their deals and your overall cap situation?

Bowman: That's true. A lot of evaluations went into it. I would say we took our time with it. I think we spent the first few days game-planning a bunch of different scenarios. Let's assume that we match both of them. Let's see what our team's going to look like.

Let's see what our financial picture looks like in the short term, the midterm and the long term. And you run through those different scenarios, and then you start looking at, well, that picture didn't look so pretty, just what it would have meant in order to actually be able to put a team on the ice in the short term. If we had matched the offers, it would have required us to trade at least a couple of other players away from our current group just to get under the cap.

And we felt like at the end of the day, that would have been too disruptive to our team to be effective. So, I would say we used a lot of the time up there. I mean, we didn't really make our final decision until near the end. It wasn't like we got through all those scenarios in the first couple of days. We took our time with it. We didn't really have a bias as to which was the best thing to do.

What I told the staff was that I wanted everyone to give each of these different scenarios a lot of consideration. We would have a meeting, and then we would let everyone go do their work, give people different assignments, and then come back. Let's meet again later in the day and talk about what we found and what we think. So, you do that enough times over those days that you can cover a lot of ground.

So, I felt like we were pretty thorough in the analysis. And obviously, we came to the conclusion that it made the most sense for us not to match the offer sheets. In conjunction with that, we made these other moves, too. Although we don't have Holloway and Broberg, we do have Emberson and (Vasily) Podkolzin right now. Two guys who are different players.

So, we're not trying to replace the players that we don't have anymore, but we do have two young players, and we have some assets in draft picks as well as cap space. So, when you add it all up, I think it gave us a lot more flexibility where we are now than where we would have been had we matched one or both.

Gregor: Stan, you've been on the job just over for six weeks. When I spoke to you when you took over, your first priority was taking time to try and get to know people in the organization. And I don't know if you can really, truly know someone in their philosophies in that short of time. And I don't know if there is that massive of a difference of philosophy, but when you look at like your assistant GMs in Keith Gretzky and Brad Holland and others, who are in the final years of your contract, what are you looking for in evaluating, and deciphering your management team to know that it's the right group that you want moving forward?  How long does that take?

Bowman: Yeah, that's a great question. And you're right. I know all these people have been in the game for a while, but I have never worked with them. So, you know them sort of casually. And before the offer sheets came by, we had the Hlinka/Gretzky tournament. I was in Edmonton for that. And our whole staff was there, which was great. I got a chance to meet with them and get to know the amateur staff and Rick Pracey.

And I was really impressed. I've been very impressed with everyone I've had a chance to get to know and talk to. I think that the silver lining of the offer sheets was the ability for us all to roll up our sleeves right away and work together. And I think I've been, I wouldn't say I've been surprised. I've been, I guess, it's been pleasant how great the chemistry has been with the group. I walked into it with an open mind and, you know, I can get along with anybody.

It's not that I have to have certain people around me. Actually, I like the fact that I'm getting a chance to learn some new things from people I haven't worked with before, but so far, I've been very impressed by that tremendous staff. We've got a great morale and a great chemistry amongst them. And I feel like we've been working together for a few years.

It is still early still, but I feel like even though it's only been six weeks, it's almost like we've had a chance to get to know all of them so far. I'm really encouraged by that. I look forward to working with them and probably bringing some new people in as well, but in addition to not being in place of the people that we have,

Gregor: One last one for you, Stan. When you were promoted in Chicago, you had a good team and won the Cup your first year. Then you had to kind of retool on the fly a few times, and move guys out because of the salary cap. When you look back at your tenure in Chicago from a pure hockey evaluation aspect, what was the thing you feel you learned the most about the job that's going to help you now that you're in Edmonton?

Bowman: I referenced this a little bit in my initial press conference, but I can give you a little more context. I think the natural tendency when you've had success is to try to replicate that success again, especially when you win a Cup. You're always going to have some new faces; no team is the same year-to-year. And we had that challenge. Our first year after we won, we had to get rid of a bunch of guys for cap reasons.

In 2010 it was unusual to be moving guys out for cap reasons, but now it's commonplace. But I think I fell into the trap of trying to just recreate what was really successful. You think, okay, well, this guy, we don't have that player anymore. So, this new guy is going to take his role. We'll just put them on that third line.

And they'll be good, but that just doesn't work. They're trying to replicate something from the past with a different group. Each year is different. And as much as there are similarities, and you may have all your main guys back, but there are still differences.

There are a lot of traps you fall into trying to just look backwards and recreate what was magical the year before. So, I think the challenge is to try to treat each year like looking forward. We're going to have to create some new things. There may be some combinations that we never tried or we didn't have to try last year. Often, you want to rely on things. You may go back to certain things because they're so good, but the next year, they might not all work as well.

I think that's a trap that I want to try to get us away from. I think that's something that I learned probably the hard way is stop trying to recreate what was great last year. Just as an example, you think back to the playoffs, when the special teams were outstanding. The power play and the penalty kill for the Oilers were epic performances. So, I think everyone's assuming we'll just be that good again. I certainly hope we could, but the reality of sports is it's really hard to just continually be the best.

So maybe that is something we'll have to work on that, or we'll have to use different players that we didn't use last year. And I think that's all part of the challenge to try to win. That's why it's such a difficult sport to be the winner of because there are so many factors that go into it and trying to look ahead with sort of some optimism and some excitement that it's going to be a different group, but that's okay.

Let’s not try to turn away from that. Let's actually lean into it and try to find those new combinations. And I think as fans, that's exciting too. It's really about trying to figure out what this year's team is going to look like? It's going to have a lot of similar players, a lot of those same guys that we've known for years, but we have some new players, and hopefully, we're going to find some even better combinations to help us win.

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