Over the past few months the vibes around the Edmonton Oilers were about as high as they have been since, hell, the 1980s dynasty years.
They have two megastars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl playing at absurdly high levels.
They were one of the best teams in the NHL during the 2023-24 regular season, especially after making the early season coaching change to bring in Kris Knoblauch to replace Jay Woodcroft, and everything finally clicked into place for them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And by everything, I mean the matchups fell their way, their special teams dominated, McDavid put together one of the best postseason runs in NHL history, and they were literally a single game away from winning the Stanley Cup.
Flawed as their play might have been, they finally arrived.
Then they went out in the early stages of the offseason and made two of the best value free agent additions in signing Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson to bargain contracts.
Already a good team that was on the threshold of a championship. It got better on paper and addressed some big issues (depth scoring on the wings). There is a lot to like if you are an Oilers fan.
Then, on Wednesday, in typical Oilers fashion, they stepped on the proverbial rake by hiring former Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman to take over the same role in Edmonton.
It is … eye opening to say the least. Baffling to say the most.
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