Getty

Stan Bowman of the Oilers.

NHL on TNT panelist Paul Bissonnette ripped Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman, saying that the team’s management group has failed the team.

The Oilers lost 5-2 to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night to lose their first-round playoff series 4-2 and get bounced from the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Considering the Oilers went to the finals the last two years, seeing them lose in the first round this season is nothing short of shocking. But the Ducks were the better team all series long, and they deserved to win.

With the Oilers losing, changes are inevitably going to be made. Team captain Connor McDavid only has two years left on his contract, so the clock is ticking on the team to make another Stanley Cup run before he’s eligible for free agency. In fact, former Oilers player Anson Carter suggested that McDavid won’t even make it the full two years with the team, as he believes the superstar will be traded one year from now if the Oilers don’t make another long playoff run next season.

Oilers GM Stan Bowman is Very Much to Blame

One of the reasons for the Oilers taking a big step back this year was the shoddy work of their GM, Stan Bowman. After inheriting a Stanley Cup contender, the team seems to have severely regressed under his watch, as many of Bowman’s moves have been highly criticized. In fact, some believe he may end up being fired due to the Oilers getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

Speaking on the NHL on TNT panel, former NHLer Paul Bissonnette criticized Bowman’s tenure as the Oilers GM, saying that management is the reason why this team failed to make a run this season.

“I’ve been kinda beating this drum for the last couple of years. I think management’s failed them,” Bissonnette said.

“I’m a little bit disgusted with the way they’ve surrounded (McDavid) over the last two years and how they’ve moved off of pieces that I thought were working to begin with when they were so close. Why wouldn’t you allow those same people who got you to Game 7 (of the Cup finals), or at least most of them, to come back and have that opportunity again?

“Obviously, there is blame and onus on the player sand coaches, but at the top, there’s been some major, major deficiencies, and those are the ones I would start to address.”

Stan Bowman’s Moves Have Not Panned Out

Most of Bowman’s moves as the Oilers GM have not panned out since he took the job in July 2024.

Two years ago, the St. Louis Blues made offer sheets for young talents in Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. Instead of matching the offer sheets, the Oilers took 2nd and 3rd round picks as compensation, while watching both players become stars for the Blues.

Bowman also traded a 1st round pick for defenseman Jake Walman and then signed him to an anchor contract of seven years, $49 million, which will not age well. Depth forward Trent Frederic was also overpaid, getting eight years, $30.8 million from the Oilers, a move that already looks terrible one year into the contract.

Another bad move was signing Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year, $7.2 million deal. Mangiapane was a poor fit for the Oilers, and the team was forced to give up another 1st-round pick to move off his deal at this year’s deadline.

But perhaps the biggest blunder Bowman has made for the team is in the net. Despite the entire hockey world knowing the Oilers needed an elite goalie to make another run to the finals, the team went into this season with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard as its goaltending duo. Both players performed poorly and were replaced by Connor Ingram and the trade acquisition of Tristan Jarry, who also has a bad contract. The Oilers’ goaltending failing in the playoffs and was one of the reasons the team was bounced by the Ducks.

With a poor track record as the Oilers’ GM, it would not be surprising at all to see the team fire Bowman and bring in someone new, as he’s shown he doesn’t have the vision to build a winner around McDavid.