The Edmonton Oilers acquired important pieces at the 2026 trade deadline, making two separate trades with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Oilers general manager Stan Bowman made deals with his former team, acquiring top-four right handed defenceman Connor Murphy along with bottom-six forwards Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach.
Both Dickinson and Murphy have made meaningful contributions to the Oilers lineup, helping to supplement their team defence. Dach has played a limited time in Edmonton so far after being sidelined with an injury, he is a young player at only 23 years old who provides some positive potential going forward.
Despite these moves paying off well, a recent video released as a promo by Oilers Plus, the process behind their acquisition does not seem great, to put it nicely.
Video makes Oilers management look bad
The video in question, was a behind the scenes look at the Oilers management discussing the potential move for Dickinson and Dach in their war room.
The War Room of the Oilers before they traded with Chicago for Dickinson and Dach.
— Bleed Oil Blue (@BleedOilBlue) April 8, 2026
📹 @oilersplus pic.twitter.com/yH7emOo6zU
This video sparked tons of backlash from fans who were unhappy with the peak they saw behind the curtain. Fans lambasted them as being incompetent and having a poor decision making process with accusations of nepotism and benefitting from the insulated hockey culture.
One fan drew parallels between the discussion going on in this room to the famous scene in the movie Moneyball, where scouts use empty platitudes and cliches to argue for or against players.
this is like that scene in moneyball where the scouts are talking about a player's low confidence because he has an ugly girlfriend. its 2026 and the only data they're using is hits/game. this is pure incompetence that gets rewarded because mcdavid
— crank (@CrankFatton) April 8, 2026
Another fan made an interesting observation -- albeit harshly -- that there was not a lot of dissenting opinions, there just seemed to be a lot of blind agreement.
Maybe just me, but there is too much seal-clapping going on in that room.
— Defence Minister 🏒 (@TheScottMac) April 8, 2026
Nobody challenging the value, the players, giving any constructive ideas, any of it.
Just the group back-patting the boss on vomiting up assets to try & even a keel.
Sadly, the room makes Bowman look smart.
There are plenty of more harsh critiques of the Oilers and their management staff in the replies, some valid and some a little over the top. No hockey team is without failures and there is always room for valid and rational criticism. This is bound to happen, especially in a hockey crazed market like the one in Edmonton.
However, there should be some consideration for the fact that the Oilers are not going to release any compromising details to the public. No team in the entire NHL is showing 'how the sausage is made' so to speak. No professional sports organization, especially one that ended up making the trade in question, is going to throw members of their staff under the bus and publicly show them disagreeing on the value of the player on their team because of X, Y, or Z.