In October of 2021 Stan Bowman resigned from the Chicago Blackhawks, or as the team put it at the time, he “stepped aside” following an independent investigation into the sexual assault allegations filed against the team and assistant video coach Brad Aldrich. Bowman’s exile from the NHL lasted less than three years as he was named the new general manager and VP of hockey operations of the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
The hiring took place less than a month after the NHL lifted the ban on Bowman, Joel Quenneville, and executive Al MacIsaac. Bowman was the first of the trio to return to the league, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Quenneville back in the league soon.
Bowman has the task of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton, but first he has to figure out their salary cap situation. According to Puckpedia, the Oilers are currently $354,167 over the cap with 21 players on the roster and restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg still needing contracts. With Evander Kane dealing with a sports hernia there is the chance they can start the season with the forward on LTIR and kick the problem down the road a bit.
Can Bowman find a way to keep the Oilers relevant in a tough Western Conference? After winning three Cups with Chicago over a six-year period, he was at the helm as the dynasty declined with Blackhawks finishing in the bottom half of their division in each of the last four seasons he was their GM. Along the way he was forced to trade young players like Teuvo Teravainen and Artemi Panarin due to salary cap constraints.
Will he keep that trend up to solve Edmonton’s current problems?
Other Hockey News
The folks over at Puckpedia were able to get their hands on the arbitration hearing dates for a few of the restricted free agents that haven’t signed yet.
One of those hearings is already cancelled as the Buffalo Sabres and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen agreed to a five-year deal with an AAV of $4.75 million [Die by the Blade]. The 25-year-old earned the top spot in the rotation last season as he finished the season with a strong run to bring his record to 27-22-4 with a .910 SV% and a 2.57 GAA.
The Sabres are hoping he is the answer in net that they’ve been looking for to put them back into the playoffs for the first time since 2011. With Luukkonen on a bridge deal, will that make Devon Levi expendable? James Reimer is likely to be the back-up this season with the 22-year-old Levi either starting the season in Rochester or as a third goalie. While Buffalo is sitting alright in regards to the cap, they might want to leverage Levi’s pedigree and affordability and move him to a team looking for a young netminder with potential.
Over in Nashville, Spencer Stastney and the Predators had a hearing and the 24-year-old was awarded a two-year contract that pays him $825,000 ($400,000 in the AHL) in 2024-25 and $850,000 in 2025-26 on a one-way deal [Daily Faceoff]. The ruling does open up a buyout window for the Predators, who still have to sign RFA forwards Philip Tomasino and Jusso Parssinen.
The gang at The Athletic is rolling through the league’s goaltenders and ranking the teams based on their current and future goaltenders. The Lightning came in 14th in their list with the present more than taken care of, but the future a little more cloudy. For now they are okay, but with Hugo Alnefelt and Harrison Meneghin projected to be borderline back-ups/AHL starters things could go off the rails quickly.
With Alex Meruelo out of the picture in Arizona, it looks like Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia might be leading the charge to bring hockey back to the desert [Arizona Republic]. The NHL hasn’t commented on his potential ownership and Ishbia’s own comments were vague stating that he is interested, and that if he could help bring the sport back to Arizona, he would “look into it”.
Matvei Michkov introduced himself to the town of Philadelphia and general manager Danny Briere made sure to level set expectations by telling the gathered media that the 19-year-old isn’t expected “to be the savior of the team” [Broad Street Hockey].
Retired players heading into the broadcast booth has been happening in all sports since microphones made their first appearance. The NHL is helping the next generation get ready for that step as they hosted a broadcast camp for several current and ex-players [NHL.com]. Bolts fans may recognize some of the names as Nate Thompson and Louis Domingue attended the training.
