Stan Bowman slammed by former Oiler for mismanaging the team.

There may come a time when fans of the Edmonton Oilers will look back on the tenure of general manager Stan Bowman as nothing short of a disaster, at least that is what a pair of former players from the National Hockey League appear to believe.

To say that Bowman was raked over the coals on the most recent episode of the Spittin Chiclets podcast may be an understatement given just how hard former Edmonton Oiler Ryan Whitney and former NHLer Paul Bissonnette went in on Bowman's mismanagement of the Oilers. The two former NHL players pulled no punches and quite frankly roasted Bowman over how he has handled the Oilers since his controversial arrival in July of 2024.

It was Whitney who first addressed the elephant in the room.

"The biggest thing is Dylan Holloway has 58 points," said Whitney.

Holloway did in fact have 58 points at the time of Whitney's comments but as if to really drive home Whitney's point he has since picked up an additional 4 points and currently sits at 26 goals and 36 assists, a total of 62 points in just 74 NHL games this season. Whitney was far from down however, expressing not only his own disbelief but the disbelief he has been sensing from the entire Oilers fan base on this particular topic.

"The Holloway one, just around $2 million dollars, I don't get that and I don't think any Oilers fans understand," said Whitney.

Whitney continued to argue that there was no excuse for the Oilers to let Holloway walk at such a cheap price, stating that he believes Holloway had already shown the organization enough to warrant the Oilers matching the offer sheet that would eventually send him to the St. Louis Blues.

"You had seen it!" exclaimed Whitney. "You had seen the speed, the playmaking, this is the absolute worst case scenario what is happening right now. He is completely exceeding what Oilers fans would have been disappointed with in St. Louis.

It was clear that Whitney was speaking from the heart here with his disgust at the decision making from the Oilers general manager plain to see.

"It's crazy, $2 million bucks dude," said Whitney with disgust.

Things would really get ugly for Bowman when Bissonette jumped into the conversation, with the former NHLer openly questioning the moves that Bowman made in lieu of choosing not to match the offer sheets for Holloway as well as defenseman Philip Broberg.

"If Jeff Skinner, and no insult to him, is making $3 million dollars than why didn't Holloway exist in your plans then?" said Bissonette.

While Whitney was focused primarily on the exceptional play of Dylan Holloway this season, Bissonette wasn't about to let Bowman off the hook for the other player he lost to the St. Louis Blues via an offer sheet. Bissonette argued that giving up Broberg after his performance in the Stanley Cup Finals was simply unacceptable.

"Broberg was their best defenseman in the finals against Florida," said Bissonette. "I thought he was better overall than Bouchard. Say he wasn't he was their second best defenseman, to me that is such a big fumble. They got older, they got smaller and they got slower."

Speaking of the Stanley Cup Finals, Bissonnette also questioned why Bowman would create so much turnover on a roster that had just proven it could go 7 games in the Stanley Cup Final.

"What the f*** is going on?" asked Bissonette. "Why would you want that much turnover on a team that just brought you to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals is beyond me. Something that we are gonna look to as a complete fumble if this team is not able to get out of it."

Whitney echoed the sentiments from Bissonette, adding that the feeling around this year's Edmonton Oilers team is very different as a result of Bowman's poor decisions.

"The feeling this year is so different," said Whitney. "I think seeing those two in St. Louis, seeing how disappointing [Jeff] Skinner and [Viktor] Arvidsson have been overall, and everything that has happened this year has been 'Awww f*** what happened here?'"

In conclusion, Whitney admitted that he was far more frustrated with the Holloway deal given just how affordable of a contract it was for the Oilers.

"It's just weird," said Whitney. "Holloway pisses me off way more. $2.2 is the deal, it was 2 years, he has 58 points and he is one of the fastest players in the league. What the hell are we doing here?"

It was a rant that pulled no punches when it came to Bowman's management of the team and it is one that I believe will resonate with many fans in Edmonton who have been expressing similar sentiments all season long.

Do you agree with their take on how Bowman has handled the Oilers so far? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.