Shocking!!! The front office of the Oilers ranked very poorly.

The Oilers’ front office probably would have gotten a much higher ranking if this survey had been conducted before July 24. Instead, they placed 30th out of 32 NHL teams, which is shocking. That, as the author, Dom Luszczyszyn, pointed out, was largely attributable to the hiring of GM Stan Bowman. Jeff Jackson was serving as the interim general manager following Ken Holland’s departure.

Oilers fans prayed that he would stay in that position after a masterclass in free agency, even though he repeatedly stated that he was not interested.

Then, almost immediately after hiring the highly polarizing Bowman, all of the praise he had garnered vanished. According to Luszczyszyn’s writing, “Jeff Jackson was having a top-notch summer, one that had the Oilers looking like no-doubt Stanley Cup favorites for the next season.

” The Oilers appeared to be the team to beat in 2025 after coming so close in 2024. With the franchise’s controversial hiring of Stan Bowman, which was criticized by many fans, all that goodwill seemed to vanish. “In addition to being expelled from the league for a period of three years for what the NHL deemed to be an “inadequate response” to the sexual assault allegations made by former Blackhawks player Kyle Beach, there is a long history of questionable decision-making in Chicago.”

As Luszczyszyn mentioned, despite the fact that many believed Bowman should not have been hired due to his inadequate response to Beach’s sexual assault allegations, many also believed he was not a good general manager from the start.

During his time in Chicago, he made a number of questionable decisions regarding hockey, perhaps the two most notable of which were signing Seth Jones to an eight-year, $76 million contract and trading Artemi Panarin for Brandon Saad. The signing of Jones is one in particular that worries Oilers fans because an extension needs to be worked out for Leon Draisaitl before free agency next offseason, and shortly after that, both Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard will require new deals.

Although all three will receive substantial contracts, it is essential that they do not receive excessive compensation, and many do not believe Bowman will be able to prevent this. Oilers Continue to Be Failed by Survey The Oilers’ low score in The Athletic’s annual survey is nothing new. They finished 20th out of 32 teams last year.

That was their highest finish, even though they were still quite low. In 2022, they finished 23rd, in 2021, 22nd, in 2020, 28th, and 29th, respectively.

Since McDavid and Draisaitl, two of the best players in the game, have signed offer sheets with the St. Louis Blues, the Oilers are likely to lose at least one of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, indicating that there is little faith in their front office. Given that they have two of the best players in the game in McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers have yet to win a Stanley Cup. On Tuesday (August), the Louis Blues 13). As both players are first-round picks who have bright NHL futures and should have remained on this roster for years to come, it is a major oversight by the organization.