{"id":522081,"date":"2026-03-08T07:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T07:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/522081\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T07:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T07:44:19","slug":"bob-stauffer-could-be-general-manager-of-edmonton-oilers-ex-player-says-hmm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/522081\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Stauffer could be General Manager of Edmonton Oilers, ex-player says. Hmm"},"content":{"rendered":"

This in from former Edmonton Oilers<\/a> d-man Ryan Whitney, podcaster at Spittin\u2019 Chiclets, his take that Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer could be an NHL GM.<\/p>\n

Whitney was asked by fellow podcaster and ex-NHLer Paul Bissonnette about the matter.<\/p>\n

Said Bissonnette: \u201cLet\u2019s say they (the Oilers) fizzle off, they meet Colorado in the conference finals, and they get beat, do you think that Stauff should be handed the reigns as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Stauff could easily be a GM,\u201d Whitney said. \u201cI\u2019m not even kidding either. Not kidding. If Martin St Louis, yes, he\u2019s a Hall of Fame player, can coach 13 U Triple A hockey and hop into the Montreal Canadiens locker room and just dominate as a coach over the past few seasons, then Bob Stauffer could be a GM.\u201d<\/p>\n

My take<\/p>\n

1. A few years back one of my best friends, a local businessman, told me he could do a good job as the GM of the Oilers. That same week the guy who cuts my hair told me he could be a good GM of the Oilers. Then the principal at my children\u2019s elementary school told me she could do the job.<\/p>\n

Everybody wants to rule the world. And, in Edmonton, the most compelling world to rule is the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n

2. Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonnette are always colourful, always emphatic, always interesting, but not always correct. They\u2019re great performers and they\u2019ve got a great act, so much so that Spittin\u2019 Chiclets is one of the two most popular hockey podcasts on earth, ranking up there with Elliotte Friedman\u2019s 32 Thoughts.<\/p>\n

But are they highly rated head hunters when it comes to identifying hockey management material? Hmm.<\/p>\n

3. Bob Stauffer is an Oilers legend. He\u2019s as big as Rod Phillips used to be. He\u2019s a media icon and something of a local folk hero. People relate to the big man whose heart bleeds for the Oilers and whose head rarely stops thinking Oilers thoughts 24\/7\/365.<\/p>\n

4. I don\u2019t think Stauffer could or should be general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. He doesn\u2019t have the requisite experience in management and in contracts. But in all seriousness I do think Bob Stauffer could be an asset to the Oilers as an asst. general manager or as a special projects advisor, helping GM Stan Bowman to identify, investigate and evaluate top talent in the NHL and in other leagues, and in finding a way to get that player to the Oilers.<\/p>\n

5. Stauffer is incredibly valuable to the Oilers in his current role as Oilers Now host, putting out insider info, setting out the organization\u2019s preferred narrative, and navigating the unsteady waters of the Oilers fandom\u2019s rollercoaster relationship with the maddening team and inconsistent players.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an impressive balancing act. He pulls it off because he\u2019s a) smart, b) as well connected as any hockey insider, c) as hard working as anyone in hockey, d) as hard working as anyone in hockey and e) as hard working as anyone in hockey.<\/p>\n

Did I mention Stauffer is as hard working as anyone in hockey? If he were put into team management I can\u2019t imagine anyone would outwork him. You want a thorough assessment of a player\u2019s background, attitude, skillset and willingness to live and die for the Edmonton Oiler, Stauffer would deliver.<\/p>\n

6. What makes a great scout? What makes someone who can properly assess talent? I can tell you the Oilers haven\u2019t cornered the market on that knowledge given the recent signing of Andrew Mangiapane.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll suggest that this kind of scouting talent can come from all kinds of places. It can be within a computer geek who comes up with fair and accurate ways to properly assess players based on numbers. And it can come from a hockey lifer like Stauffer who has put most his waking hours into understanding hockey and grasping the realities of pro hockey.<\/p>\n

You want an example? It\u2019s evident that both Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg would likely still be Edmonton Oilers right now if Stauffer had been in a management position during the 2023-24 season. If Edmonton could avoid one such mistake because Stauffer wasn\u2019t just an insider, but was part of the actual decision-making process, he\u2019d be a worthy hire.<\/p>\n

At the Cult of Hockey<\/p>\n

\u2018This changes things\u2019: Shockwave in Edmonton Oilers country as Colorado makes huge trade<\/a><\/p>\n

Player Grades: Inept Edmonton Oilers stomped by Carolina Hurricanes 6-3<\/a><\/p>\n

STAPLES: \u2018McDavid screwed up\u2019: Toronto influencer says Oilers management making panic moves<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This in from former Edmonton Oilers d-man Ryan Whitney, podcaster at Spittin\u2019 Chiclets, his take that Oilers Now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[451,201856,49,48,5731,46169,23752,453,14230,10397,743,205796,46170,205797],"class_list":{"0":"post-522081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-andrew-mangiapane","9":"tag-bob-stauffer","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-colorado","13":"tag-dylan-holloway","14":"tag-edmonton","15":"tag-edmonton-oilers","16":"tag-gm","17":"tag-martin-st-louis","18":"tag-montreal-canadiens","19":"tag-paul-bissonnette","20":"tag-philip-broberg","21":"tag-ryan-whitney"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}