In what has been a poorly kept secret for weeks now, the Edmonton Oilers have hired Stan Bowman as their general manager.
Stan Bowman, the former Blackhawks GM who was responsible for an, in his own words, inadequate (read: non-existent) response to allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of Chicago’s then-video coach, Brad Aldrich.
Stan Bowman, who was banned from the NHL because of his insufficient response to these allegations and subsequently reinstated only two weeks ago is now the GM of the Edmonton Oilers.
Stan Bowman is back in the NHL, allowed to restart his career after “doing the work” to atone for his sins, sins which led to the sexual abuse of at least two Chicago Blackhawks prospects, two students at Miami University, and at least one high school hockey player.
That Stan Bowman.
Jackson turning a blind eye
In a press conference to officially announce his hiring, Oilers’ CEO Jeff Jackson essentially avoided answering any questions about Bowman’s involvement in “what happened to Kyle Beach” (a phrase that was used FAR too many times for my liking) by basically telling everyone that “Stan has ‘done the work’ and we are happy to have him here because he’s a Hockey Man and knows how to win.”
Prior to the announcement, Jackson made his twitter account private, presumably because he knows this is an indefensible choice. There’s nothing to say about it, other than that Bowman should not be allowed to be the GM of an NHL team, even if Gary Bettman thinks he should. There are very few places a man who both ignored and enabled sexual abuse would get a second chance, and yet for some reason the Oilers are the launch pad for the Bowman redemption tour.
Without rehashing much of the discussion from twitter, unsurprisingly divided between people who think this is fine and we should all just stick to sports and people who are outraged at the hire, the thing that stands out most is how indirectly both Jackson and Bowman talked about the situation that led to Bowman being banned from the NHL. Jason Gregor in his questioning did call it ‘sex abuse’, but vague references to “what happened to Kyle” were the only answers given.
Bowman’s involvement in the case
What happened to Kyle Beach is that he was sexually abused by Brad Aldrich, a video coach for the team he played for. It was and continues to be awful and the work he has had to do to live with that trauma is monumental. When he first came forward in 2021 as the John Doe in the complaint against the Blackhawks, he said “I am a survivor. I buried this for ten years, eleven years, and it’s destroyed me from the inside out, and I want everybody to know, in the sports world and in the world, that you’re not alone.” That’s what happened to Beach. That’s the thing that neither Jeff Jackson nor Stan Bowman could say, and I don’t think they are actually ready to grapple with the severity of it just yet.
Sure, you can argue that Bowman ‘served his time’, so to speak, and will very hopefully take things more seriously going forward. But the fact that in this introductory press conference, where he knew that he would be asked tough questions about it, he couldn’t even utter the words ‘sexual abuse’ or ‘sexual assault’ suggests that the work he’s supposedly done to be reinstated hasn’t actually sunk in.
In the press conference, Bowman said the following: “I’ve said this to Kyle and my response in 2010 was inadequate. I should have handle it better and done more. I’ve had the chance to learn things I didn’t know from speaking Kyle and working with Sheldon and I’m looking forward to making a difference in the organization. I want to make things better and the only way to do that is learn from my mistakes and do better.” What Bowman did not say is what it means to ‘do better’. Does that mean that he will follow a proper procedure and report an allegation of sexual abuse if it comes to light? Will he believe the victim next time? Will he refuse to sweep the allegations under the rug, and not wait until after the playoffs to deal with something? No one knows, and Bowman wasn’t offering any details.
Jackson’s job is to build a Stanley Cup Champion roster, and he believes wholeheartedly that Bowman is the guy to do that. He made sure that everyone knows that he “did reach out the Kyle and [they] spoke and [Kyle] gave [him] a positive approval to have Stan reinstated in the NHL.” There is no amount of mental gymnastics that will convince me that Jackson wouldn’t have hired Bowman anyway. Frank Seravalli and other insiders, all of whom promised to ‘do better’ themselves when Beach was named as the victim, began speaking about the possibility of Bowman being hired as soon as it was announced that he would be eligible for reinstatement on July 10. The writing was on the wall as soon as the Franks and Elliottes of the hockey world started talking about Bowman as a candidate. But don’t worry, Jackson had a process. He told the assembled media “I want to be clear. What happened to Kyle Beach was wrong and handled poorly. Part of my process was speaking to Sheldon Kennedy about Stan and learning all the work he has done.”
What none of the media bothered to ask was “what, exactly, is the ‘work’ you are both referencing?” We still don’t know, and we will probably never know because that’s not germane to building a winning team. Something else that is apparently not germane to building a winning team was reaching out to the other men abused by Brad Aldrich. When asked if he had done so, Jackson’s response was “As far as the second victim, I don’t think anyone knows who that is.” Maybe Jackson doesn’t know, but the law firm representing that gentleman does, and everyone knows who they are. Emily Kaplan wrote about the second lawsuit against the Blackhawks, filed in November 2023, and the details are shocking to say the least. In her article, she also references a high school player who was sexually assaulted by Aldrich, an offense for which he served time and is now registered as a sex offender. While investigating this claim, police in Houghton, MI recorded five other allegations against Aldrich, all reportedly taking place after he left the Blackhawks organization. Aldrich also sexually assaulted two men at Miami University, both of whom came forward.
The Stan Bowman that the Oilers hired is responsible for perpetuating sexual abuse across the Midwest. Had the allegations against Aldrich been dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner in 2010, he would not have had the freedom to work in the capacity as a coach at either the high school or university level. There is nothing to suggest he wouldn’t have abused others anyway, but at the very least Aldrich’s ties to the hockey community would likely have been severed.
For the Oilers organization to essentially admit that what happened in 2010 (and 2012, and 2013) doesn’t matter shows a stunning lack of empathy from those in charge. Just because Bowman was able to sweep it under the rug does not mean that the survivors can. And even if Kyle Beach (only one of five known victims of Brad Aldrich) gave his ‘blessing’ for the Oilers to hire Bowman, the best decision they could have made was to hire literally anyone else. The optics of this decision are poor at best, and if it was in any other market I’m sure that the media might actually push a little bit. Since this is Edmonton, however, they’re already familiar with the taste of Jackson’s boots.
Megan Fowler you are out of bounds, you are treating Bowman like he was the actual perpetuator.
If your boss said he was going to handle it, would you go over his head and make waves. Sure lots of things were wrong but what are you doing. Do you think you are perfect. The man has paid a big price already, boy talk about kicking the dog when he is down.