Edmonton Oilers’ front office is viewed by NHL experts as average, but better than Toronto’s

Released on October 24, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read

Edmonton Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson (right) introduces Stan Bowman, left, as the Oilers’ new general manager and vice president of hockey operations during a press conference at Rogers Place in Edmonton on July 24, 2024. Photo: Shaughn Butts /postmedia

This inside Ranking of NHL front offices, as voted by 40 NHL executives, from The Athletic Edmonton Lubricants They are ranked 15th out of 32 teams, tied with the other two teams, Utah and Pittsburgh.

The Oilers received one third-place vote and two fifth-place votes, giving them seven points overall under The Athletic’s system.

Dallas was at the top with 251 points, while Tampa was at the top with 187 points.

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Canada’s best team was Montreal, which ranked 11th with 13 points. The Winnipeg Jets were in 18th place with six points. Vancouver was in 22nd place with three points. Toronto finished 23rd, taking fifth place for one point.

my opinion

1. If the Oilers had signed Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to new contracts at the (low) going rate for Restricted Free Agents, I have a strong suspicion that the Oilers would be in the Top 10 right now, if not the Top 5.

However, this major misstep came at a high cost to the team, and this was reflected in the voting.

Edmonton found itself tied to the St. Louis bullpen by first failing to lock up Broberg and Holloway before the end of the season, then overspending early on July 1, leaving little leeway to retain Holloway or Broberg. Louis left it wide open to raid.

2. A typical shot at the Oilers in the wake of the Broberg/Holloway fiasco came from Drew Livingstone, executive producer of the Steven Dangle Podcast Network in Toronto, who chuckled at Edmonton’s expense: “This marks the end of the Oilers championship window “

3. Oilers hockey boss Jeff Jackson was on the rise in July, keeping players like Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown on cheap contracts, bringing in free agents Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner and acquiring top prospect Matt Savoie in a trade. For Ryan McLeod.

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“The Oilers are having a very bad offseason,” said NHL podcast host Peter Blackburn of What Chaos .

And former AHL and pro scout Shawn Simpson: “Jeff Jackson is like a modern-day Pierre Lacroix as he transitions from the management side. The only difference was that Jax spent time in the Leafs’ front office. I worked with him and he is a very smart and level-headed man. “It was a great offseason for the Oilers.”

And Daily Hive’s Preston Hodgkinson: “The Oilers could hire a new GM tomorrow and win the Stanley Cup, and I still think Jeff Jackson will win the GM of the Year Award.”

Calgary Sportsnet commentator Eric Francis said: “I’ll tell you this right now: on paper, this is the scariest team in the West and in my opinion, the scariest team in hockey. Credit to the Oilers. When they added Skinner, I rolled my eyes and said, ‘Wow.’ Good creative way to add more depth to your squad.”

Most importantly, Connor McDavid He was impressed: “I thought the whole management team did a great job. They’ve had a great offseason so far. It was short and rushed. But I think they’ve done some great things in the short time they’ve been in this business. It’s a good thing to keep that many guys together in the salary cap era. That’s hard to do, and (Jackson) did a great job finding a way to do it…”

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4. Petroleum has made a number of management hires to support its professional development system. Will this work? It certainly wouldn’t hurt and would bring the Oilers more in line with what other major teams are doing.

5. Of course, the only rankings that matter come at the end of June, when one team beats the others and takes home the Stanley Cup. Before the season started, Edmonton was considered the favorite to do so by the majority of NHL experts. So we’ll see. I’ll still like Edmonton’s chances. You?