Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman just got graded by his own fan base, and the grade card is not kind.
The Athletic released its front office confidence survey this week, and Oilers fans did not hold back on Bowman's operation.
Fans handed the front office a D+ overall, ranking Edmonton 26th in the entire NHL for front office confidence.
Only 42 percent of Oilers fans said their trust in the front office has actually grown over the last year.
Break it down by category and the picture gets worse. Cap management came back D+, tied for 27th leaguewide among fan bases.
Draft and development graded out the same, D+, also 27th. For an organization built around a two-time MVP center, that is a rough look.
And here is the tension nobody in Edmonton wants to sit with. Leon Draisaitl carries a $14,000,000 cap hit, the richest in the league. Connor McDavid sits fourth overall at $12,500,000.
That is two of the biggest cap numbers in hockey attached to a front office fans just rated among the worst at managing money.
New coach walks into a fan base that already stopped trusting the front office
Mike Babcock was hired as head coach on June 23, barely two months before this survey landed. He inherits a locker room shaped by grades like these, whether he asked for them or not.
The Oilers actually closed the season on a heater. They went 6-2-2 over their last 10, capped by a 6-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks to finish 41-30-11 with 93 points.
That is 14th overall and second in their division, hardly a disaster on paper. Goal differential sat at plus-13, with 282 scored against 269 allowed.
But wins on the ice clearly are not translating into faith off it. GM Stan Bowman has been running the front office since July of 2024, and the grades suggest patience is thinning.
Trading drew a D+ from the fan base too, ranking 26th, while free agency actually held up better at a C, 22nd in the league.
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So which is it? A team with real regular season traction, or a front office fans genuinely believe is mismanaging its stars? Babcock is about to find out just how short that leash really is.
Is a D+ grade fair for Stan Bowman's front office, or are Oilers fans overreacting?
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