Revisiting the 2016 NHL entry draft - how did the Oilers make out?

Oilers make new hirings

The major signing was the Oilers made it official a few days ago that Jeff Jackson has hired Stan Bowman to replace Ken Holland as GM. I already said most of what I want to say about Stan Bowman in here, and the vitriol he's received as far as I'm concerned is both disgusting and unsurprising considering the nature of Oilers fans and the stupidity they spew online. I'm not surprised most Oiler fans were reacting emotionally to this hiring, I knew they would if he was officially hired. The investigation into the Kyle Beach incident was made public, and for those of you who bothered to read it - which I'm guessing most of you didn't - spells out everything you need to know. Bowman may not have acted with the speed he should've, but many of you are acting as if there was no distinction between Bowman and the predator Brad Aldrich himself.

There is, in fact, a huge difference. The public facts of the case are that although Bowman may not have acted expediently, the fact is the reason he didn't is because the team president at the time, John Mcdonagh, was the one who promised to act on the allegations in a timely manner, which he didn't. Bowman has admitted that was his biggest mistake, but it's also completely understandable. After all, if your boss says he's going to take care of something, do you believe him or do you go over his head still? I'm guessing for most of you it's the former.

That's something you'll only learn in hindsight, not at the time. Ironically, although Mcdonagh was the biggest culprit in the scandal outside of Aldrich himself, Mcdonagh was never disciplined by the league, only Bowman, head coach Joel Quenneville, and assistant GM Al Macisaac. Not surprising considering the NHL succeeds in spite of itself, not because of itself. It also amazes me that Sheldon Kennedy vouching for Bowman fell on deaf ears too, as did the fact that Kyle Beach has forgiven Bowman. If Aldrich's victim can forgive Bowman, why can't you? If one of Graham James's victims can forgive Bowman, why can't you?

One thing that makes me laugh about the whole situation is a lot of fans are saying they're going to boycott sponsors, or not renew their season tickets, or burn Oilers merch, or cancel their subscriptions to Oilers+, or that any cup win "will be tainted." I call a BS bluff on that one, in a week you'll just go back to what you were doing before, and if you did get rid of merch you'll just repurchase once the playoffs come around again, and you know you'll be cheering just as loudly for the Oilers in the playoffs as you were this past season. You all know that voting with your wallets is an empty threat, so all you've succeeded in doing is making yourself look stupid on the internet.

Don't join the legion of morons, it's a terrible motley crew of superheroes.

Less controversial and more minor is the hiring of Erik Elenz as Video and Analytics Coaching Coordinator, who'll be no doubt working closely with Video Coach Noah Segall. Elenz comes to the Oilers after four seasons at the University of Vermont and two with the Coachella Valley Firebirds doing video work.

Also joining the staff is George Mumford as Mental Performance Coach. He's one of the world's leading sports psychologists and is most famous for working with the 90s dynasty era Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan as they dominated the NBA with six titles in the 1990s. He worked with the Oilers last season helping the players deal with the mental pressure that comes with a deep playoff run on a Canadian team, and now he's here on a permanent basis. I have no doubt this guy is getting paid a buttload of money - when Daryl Katz said he would pull out all the stops to get the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton, you now know he's walking the talk.