New-Look Oilers – Part Two

The Edmonton Oilers have done a lot this off-season, re-shaping their roster and their coaching staff. That isn’t the only thing the Oilers have done however, as there was some change in the front office ranks as well. The Oilers have added two new faces to the mix and subtracted one, as Craig MacTavish continues to put his stamp on the Oilers.

The Subtraction:

Assistant GM Ricky Olczyk was relieved of his duties and ended up catching on in the same role with the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this summer. Olczyk was the right-hand man of former GM Steve Tambellini, and was at the center of a number of CBA-related screw-ups committed by the team in recent memory, including the recall of Magnus Paajarvi after already going over the post-deadline limit.

We don’t really know what Olczyk was responsible for and what he wasn’t involved in, but it’s clear that his track record in Edmonton isn’t very good. The Oilers management team was arguably the worst in the NHL during his time under Tambellini, and he was a guy that was supposed to be the cap-specialist for the team but continually made cap-related screw-ups.

He was a Tambellini guy and simply his time simply ran out under Craig MacTavish, who understandably wanted his own guy in the position moving forward.

While this won’t make or break the Oilers season, they are likely better off with letting go of another front-office remnant of the dreaded Steve Tambellini era.

The Additions:

To replace Olczyk, Craig MacTavish promoted Bill Scott from the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons. Scott had experience working for the AHL prior to taking over in OKC, and oversaw the day-to-day operations for an organization that has been highly successful during the last four seasons, qualifying for the playoffs every year and reaching the conference finals twice.

Scott controlled transactions not related to the NHL club, so when the team added an AHL contract or brought someone in on a try-out, it was Scott behind the move. His track record in this regard is very good, and he kept the Barons competitive even with barrages of NHL call-ups and players moving on every single year.

He’s a guy proven in the day-to-day operations of a hockey club, and worked well with MacTavish this past season by all accounts. MacT must have seen something he liked in him to promote him, and we should expect to see Scott take on most of the roles handled by Olczyk.

The other addition is more on the business side, but Bob Nicholson also joined the front-office as the Vice-Chairman of the Oilers Entertainment Group, the group owned by Oilers’ owner Daryl Katz that will be running the team and the new arena that is currently under construction.

Nicholson has a solid hockey background, as he was last the head of Hockey Canada’s operation. Nicholson will mainly be involved in other things within the organization, but will likely also be available for advice for GM Craig MacTavish and his staff as they make their decisions throughout the year.

While he isn’t officially a part of the Hockey Ops team on paper, it would be foolish to think that Nicholson will have no input in what happens. At the very least, I’d expect that he gives out advice on players and personal that he has worked with in the past.

He’ll be an extremely valuable commodity on the business end of things, and will help the OEG with the opening and maintaining of the new arena as well as other business ventures.

Overview:

The Oilers didn’t make any drastic changes like last summer in this spot. GM Craig MacTavish will be back for his second season as GM, and he’s already had a pretty active summer and filled a lot of apparent holes on this Oilers’ team.

President of Hockey Ops Kevin Lowe will also return, although against the wishes of the fans. Another terrible season in Edmonton and Lowe could be a fall guy, considering he nearly stepped-down after backlash last January.

The subtraction of Ricky Olczyk officially puts the Steve Tambellini era to bed, which is a VERY good thing for the organization. There were far too many screw-ups in Olczyk’s area of expertise, and a move was only right. The addition of a proven guy like Bill Scott who has paid his dues running the minor-league team was a smart move and one that likely pays off for the team.

Bob Nicholson will be a huge add on the business side of things for the ownership group, and likely will also be of help to the Hockey Ops department, giving the Oilers another proven hockey brain to pick when making decisions.

The Oilers management team has improved over the last year and a half, mainly thanks to Craig MacTavish taking over as the team’s GM. This summer, a few more pieces were moved around and two new minds were added in. There is slight improvement in this regard, although the big domino, Kevin Lowe, still remains in place.

Overall though, a smarter Craig MacTavish with a fresh and motivated new assistant GM and a new brain to pick from Hockey Canada means that Edmonton has done some good things in their front office this off-season.