Polarizing coaching hires and questionable trades have plummeted Edmonton’s front-office standing. 10,000 voters cast doubt on the team's moves by a management team grasping at straws.
The Edmonton Oilers made several changes this offseason, none bigger than firing their coach (Kris Knoblauch) and hiring Mike Babcock to get behind the bench. It was a bold move to let go of a winning coach who hadn't even started a new extension to bring a polarizing coach out of retirement, but it wasn't the only interesting decision the Oilers made.
Those moves led The Athletic to drop Edmonton six spots in its most recent front-office rankings poll.
Moving from 21st to 27th, only five teams fared worse: the New York Rangers, Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Detroit Red Wings.
That's some pretty uninspiring company to be in.
As for why? It was comments like:
“Bowman appears to be operating reactively and without a longer term plan. I get that there is pressure to contend while McDavid is on his two year extension, but several of his panic moves have made the team worse.”
Another comment noted:
“I’ve never been overly worried about the talk of ‘wasting McDavid’s career’ before, but the tandem of Bowman and Babcock finally has me truly concerned.”
"Experts" Don't Like the Oilers' Moves
The article outlines the criteria for their rankings at the beginning. It reads, "Each front office is graded in six categories: roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency, and vision."
What's worth noting (not that their opinions are irrelevant) is that the results come from a poll of 10,000 fans. "According to the collective opinion of our well-informed subscribers," is how it's phrased.
That throws a bit of bias into the equation.
Still, it's understandable why many would question what the Oilers did this summer. Respected analysts have questioned things too, even if some have come around on Babcock, or the Darnell Nurse trade was fairly well received.
The real thorn for the Oilers is that time is running out. They have two of the best players in the world and still haven't won the Stanley Cup with some pretty stacked teams. Connor McDavid signed for only two more years, and the window to get to the mountain top could be closing. Under that scrutiny, every move is magnified.
Even those who admit that trading Nurse without retaining salary and signing Ryan Shea at half the cost was a nicely orchestrated series of moves, this front office has still managed to create real doubt with their head-scratchers. "Tristan Jarry trade was a debacle and the Trent Frederic deal has already aged horribly. While Jason Dickinson is a nice player, the Oilers spent a lot to get him … and keep him. There’s also still the lingering wound from the dual offer sheets," the article writes.
Is this ranking fair? Did the Oilers and their management team do a worse job than franchises like the Winnipeg Jets or Vancouver Canucks? What about in Anaheim, where the Ducks so badly mismanaged their cap situation and were the victims of an offer sheet by the Philadelphia Flyers that they've gone from cap-fortunate to cap-disaster? They could lose Cutter Gauthier over what now appears to be a terrible decision to play contract hardball.
The Oilers were worse than all three of those teams?
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