FULL Edmonton Oilers Management Year-End Press Conference

FULL Edmonton Oilers Management Year-End Press Conference

hey Stan I guess we’ll start with you know your assessment of the season and unfortunately falling a little short but how did you think things kind of evolved for this hockey team uh yeah sitting here today with the way it ended it it certainly feels like a a disappointment and I think it’s hard to in the moment reflect upon how great a season it was i think over time you get some perspective on that and I I know from experience that it the emotions of the moment right now are are challenging um but I’ll try to do my best to explain you know the fact that this was a a great season we fell short but we did a lot of great things we you know there’s 30 other teams that would would trade with where we were um but uh so I I think just for me it was my first year being here with the team and being in Edmonton and you know I heard a lot about what it’s like to witness the fans and the support and um I watched it from a distance but I guess I first want to say it’s it’s incredible the the support that we have from the fans here and the enthusiasm they have for the team and there’s nothing like being here in the playoffs and watching the city be captivated by uh our team so that that was really special and you know it’s a credit to everyone here who loves the team as much as they do um I think uh you know at the end of the day Florida you know played better than we did in the final and they they deserved it um you know I think leading up to that point I think we played some very impressive hockey and uh if you start from like really game three of the LA series once we got going all the way through to the final um we played really really well and we made it um you know I think we did to those other teams what Florida did to us which is they they look like they couldn’t get to their game like we just really were able to win a lot of different ways it wasn’t just one style that we were winning with sometimes it was the goalending sometimes it was the forwards sometimes it was how great our D was transitioning the puck sometimes it was uh our big guys found a way to to to score overtime goal to win the game for us so I think we had a lot of different contributions and you know we left those teams LA Dallas and Vegas scratching their heads like what happened and that’s kind of what happened to us like I don’t we didn’t play our best in the final they were Florida was excellent i think you have to give them credit um they played really well and then that combination where we weren’t quite at our best and they were um that’s what ended up the way we did but uh I think I was I was certainly proud of the the resiliency the group showed especially later in the season when we had a lot of injuries and we had different lineups every night we’re dressing with 17 skaters and you know lineups where guys that hadn’t played together before and we found a way um and the coaching coaches deserve a lot of credit for being able to get that new group starting in the playoffs really no ramp up time to quickly find out which players were good together and you know they made some changes and mixed things up and they found the right combo so I guess that’s my quick summary on the team and just wanted to add about obviously July 1st the clock starts ticking on Conor McDavid to resign can you just give us a thought on that and obviously the importance of getting him signed and where kind of how do you kind of view that well Connor’s the the best player in the league the most important player in the league he’s he’s our captain he’s our leader so certainly he’s the number one priority um you know I think also listening to Conor’s take on things like he’s earned the right for us to be respectful of his timing certainly we’re eager to meet with him whenever he wants um but also understanding that you just went through a very you know tough ending to the season and um so timing wise that’s Connor is going to drive that process but there’s no question he’s a pivotal player uh on our team and not just what he does on the ice but his leadership you know I’ve had a chance to work with him now this year and I’ve been just so impressed with how things you guys probably don’t see but what kind of a teammate he is and and you know he’s he’s uh incredibly important to our group and you know whenever he’s ready we’re going to dive into that stan your first year as GM in Chicago you guys went to the cup final you The only difference was you won that year instead of losing then you kind of had to retool and you guys stayed in that window for a while so how do you use that experience on on how to retool a team like Florida one and they still made changes you’re obviously going to make changes how do you approach that and do you see an area that it’s the most pressing that you need to change yeah I I’ve always thought that win or lose it’s good to have some new players in your group because um it’s the players that weren’t here with this group this season you know they have a hunger to try to you know experience what it was like to get all the way to the final like unless they were on the Florida Panthers they they didn’t go through that this year so they didn’t get a chance to experience what a run felt like so I think some newness is always good um and we’re going to have some changes we’re not going to bring the same group back uh how many is tough to say right now like that’s where the work work begins really yesterday when we we met with all of our players and I also had several conversations with other GMs um I’ve had some again this morning already and uh so that work will play out over the next 10 days to find out what other teams are looking to do what what players we want to change out um I think looking at our team the the area with probably the least amount of change will be the defense i think that you know we have guys under contract they played very well i really like the way our defense played this season uh I think they did a good job um they grew as the season went on and I thought they were really important to where we were getting to the final um so I think probably won’t be big changes there i think up up front we need some some different players what you know uh and we’re going to look at we’re going to look at everything because I think now is the time when you have to look at your forwards your D and your goalies um and see how can we get better and sometimes it’s just an incremental difference where I wouldn’t expect you know wholesale changes we’re not going to have nine or 10 new players but I do think we are going to have some changes um so we’ll have to look at probably more likely the the forwards and the goalies are the ones we’re going to evaluate them the most deeply chris uh since you arrived uh no team has won more games playoffs and regular season combined uh you’ve had lots of success you obviously didn’t get your ultimate goal what What do you see as a coach and and how you you can change like the biggest difference probably from the one year to the next was your penalty kill last playoffs was unreal this year it really struggled so what do you do as a coach this summer to try to look to say what can I do to help us improve which is hard to do because you’ve had a lot of success there’s a lot of things that we want to um address over the uh summer going into the next regular season and uh you know special teams be one of them the penalty kill obviously was not nearly at that level it was um the previous year and a lot of it had to do with um you know some fortunate events of just of luck being part of that but um there’s a lot of player personnel on our penalty kill from the previous year to this year and we had so much success that last year or two years ago that it’d be ridiculous to change it no matter how many players were missing just we felt that we’re dialed in and and then through the year we kind of felt that it wasn’t running as well because we had some players that weren’t um as good at as the year before so that that’s one area that we’re looking at adjusting and how we’re going to do it and obviously we won’t make any decisions today we’re going to certainly see what our our roster is going to look like that next year and what type of players that would be on the pel um yeah there’s other things that we want to look at on you know our system wise whether it’s what we do in our neutral zone our defensive zone coverage you know I think there’s always things that you can get a little bit better at obviously we’re very happy with the success that we’ve had so we’re not going to be changing a lot but I think there’s things that we can um improve on upon a little bit sorry Stan rather just to piggy back off of uh Dererick’s question about Conor McDavid he said yesterday that he’d have no problem signing here if he sees that there’s a window to contend and to try to win over and over again with that in mind how do you view this off seasonason and do you um kind of see it as a really important couple weeks here to really show a blueprint print to Connor for the future success uh well yeah I think the whole goal is to always find a way to improve your team and also sustain the good aspects of this past season so I think you’ve got a lot of players that are in the prime of their career so I think that that bodess well for us i think um you know there’s no reason that the guys that drove the the ship for us this year they’re all going to be part of this going forward so I think adding to it is something we want to do um and that’s what we’re going to spend our time on but I think if you look at our group and the group that’s been here the last couple years that as as they referenced we’ve had a lot of wins the last couple seasons with this group um so there’s a lot of things to be excited about and um with the exception of maybe one or two guys everyone is in their prime of their ages like they’re not in their late 30s i mean Cory Perry is the oldest guy he had a fantastic season but other than Corey you know we don’t have a team that can’t be just as good the next few years so I think that bodess well for us and then adding to it um is important um we want to try to bring some youth into our team as well i think that that will be something we want to do um I think there’s a benefit in the youthful enthusiasm having a couple younger players um you know you don’t want to have a young player just because he’s young u but I think having some guys who are you know who can show a progression to their game over a season so they start at one level in October the time you get to March and April their game has really improved that’s how you can show your team is getting better in season if you have a couple players like that because usually the veteran players kind of maintain their level um but I and the older players they’re they’re trying to maintain it they don’t want it to drop um but I think if we have a little bit of youth I think that’s important and so we’re going to we’re going to do our best to give opportunities to to players but you know for where we are it’s not like we’re going to put a bunch of inexperienced guys in the lineup because you know our objective is to win next year we’re not trying to take uh a different route we we want to be playing in the final next year we had u Trent Frederick here yesterday uh what can you tell us I guess about where negotiations are with him and he also said he’s quite interested in playing center more at the NHL level even full-time what do you make of that and how that could kind of make for for construction of the roster in the offseason here yeah um I don’t have anything to announce on on Trent but you know we’re hopeful we can get something to the finish line there and and to keep him in Edmonton um getting to know him as a person has been uh a great experience because he’s got a lot of attributes that I think are very important to a successful team you know he’s incredibly competitive um great teammate great team guy he brings an element um that I think you need which is um very competitive he’s fearless um he gives our team um to know that nobody’s going to push us around um but I think you touched on it there he’s really impressive to have someone with his skill set that can play three different positions um you know when we talked to him yesterday and he did he said he likes to play center he likes to play right wing too or left um you know he almost prefers uh center or right wing to left wing and we used him this year mostly on left but um you know I think that his he’s a young guy you know he’s you know to be a free agent you know usually they’re a little bit older than that so he’s got kind of the prime years of his career ahead of him so you know if we can get that done um I think that flexibility to use him in the middle um Chris can talk about that as well that’s more of a coaching thing but I think having the versatility for a guy with his skill set he’s a pretty unique player on the league there’s not a lot of guys that have that combination of his age his experience his competitiveness size physicality and um I think when you add it all up um he could bring a lot to the team stan what can you say about the guy sitting beside you is the way he coached and is there any thought to extending his contract i thought Chris did an outstanding job this year i’ve really uh enjoyed working with him i first and foremost I think we have a a great uh camaraderie and collaboration i think we see the game similarly not identical but very similar um I think he’s got to you know it’s it’s not easy coaching star players i think that’s talking to my dad over the years that’s some of the they can be some of the most challenging guys to coach because they have so much talent but to be able to connect with them and get them um you know to be able to play at their best but the way that you need them to play for the team i think he did an outstanding job and I think um so yeah I think Chris is going to be the coach here for a while and uh I enjoy working with him and I think we’re lucky to have him one question has Dallas asked you for permission to talk to Glenn Gulletson i don’t want to get into that right now is that a a no or a yes uh no I just I not I understand you’re asking but I’m not going to make that announcement okay uh Stan Connor obviously made it clear that winning is the most important thing for him um when you’re dealing with a player who’s not uh whose primary focus isn’t just about money do you have to kind of sell I guess the organization in your vision a bit more to Connor rather than you know if his primary focus was just you know dollars and cents uh I don’t know if you have to sell anything any more than another i think it’s it’s there’s no question Connor is all about winning i mean from the first time I met him and talked to him he talked about he wants to win he just wants to win the cup that’s all he cares about um he’s not driven by statistics or points or records or money um and I think that’s what you love about him so yeah the objective is to demonst we have the same goal from that perspective like everyone here that’s why we do it that’s why I’m working and that’s why Chris is doing this I would imagine is we’re here because there’s you know I’ve been fortunate very fortunate to be able to win and there’s no feeling like that when you when everything comes together as a group you know and you achieve the ultimate accomplishment that’s why we do this and um so yes it it’s I guess my job to connect with Connor that way and demonstrate that that that’s what we’re all trying to do we all have the same objective and I know how passionate he is about winning it’s what I love about him i mean like that’s what’s he’s not just a fantastic hockey player but he’s a great person a great leader and he’s um incredibly motivated to do whatever it takes uh you mentioned that goalending and forwards are two areas where you might be looking or will be looking to make some changes how aggressive are you going to be at potentially making a goalending change this summer um I don’t want to single the goalending out i think it’s it’s just uh something that we’re going to look at and investigate what what’s the best path moving forward for our team and it’s really hard to predict where that’s going to go and you know we we have to have a lot of conversations about what other teams are looking to do and eventually we’ll come up with the best uh approach for our team that we think will give us the best chance next year and I’m not going to handicap what that’s going to look like cuz it’s it’s really too early to tell right now uh Stan you’ve uh this team has spent a lot of draft picks over the last few years and some good young players got away in the last year or so how do you stay in win now mode while still protecting yourself four or five years down the road so you don’t hit that barren wasteland when the core of this team is is mid30s well I think that’s it’s a challenge but I think what we’ve really tried to do is invest in our player development group and um you know recruitment of free agent players i think that’s important um that’s going to be a big focus for us moving forward i think we had a great season this year credit to the staff i think they did a tremendous job um on the player development side led by Kelly Larson and you know over in Europe we had uh Toby Salina who did a great job uh finding some really promising prospects that are going to come over and join our group so it’s true we haven’t had a lot of you know first and second round draft picks that’s not the only way you can find players you can find players um later in the draft and then you need to lean on your player development group um and you need to lean on your amateur scouts to find those players wherever you’re picking even if you’re picking in a third or fourth round you got to try to find a player there uh and then there’s free agents and I think you know the one thing it’s it’s good for us is we you know we we are an attractive location for free agents to come because they they look at our team they look at the chance to play on a really good team with great players and also you know there’s opportunity for them and I think that’s something that we’re going to continue to do so uh I think we you know we have to be aggressive though we we want to we’re trying to win now we’re not necessarily trying to build our team to be good in five years we certainly want to maintain that you know we don’t want to drop off i think that’s going to fall upon our player development and our recruitment of free agents over here hi just wondering if you have any second guessing any regrets anything to not be a little bit more aggressive at the trade deadline to try and bulk up the team for a long playoff run uh it kind of cuts both ways it’s like you always with the benefit of hindsight you know you’re going to make different changes all the time but I think you got to look at the information you had at the time and the the options that you could have done so I think looking back at what we did you know I was very happy with the way that went i think uh Wman was a big addition to our team i don’t think he would have been able to we our team would have been able to get where we did without Jake uh so you know I I think our staff did a good job we really uh discussed that thoroughly so I’m trying to look forward not look backwards i think you have to look back to learn from it maybe um learn for next year but I I don’t think that there’s a lot of value in just second guessing yourself and Chris I brought it up to you before about the fans and you are a fan favorite here in the city uh I’m gonna kind of go a little bit more fun here but I don’t know if you saw that lookalike pastor and any thought outstanding he was so handsome almost almost Brad Pitt does it kind of make you laugh that he says he can’t go anywhere because everyone thinks he’s you and they’re so excited to meet Chris Knoblock and so just your thoughts of you know coming to the city and then just how much the fans have you know accepted you and learned to really love you and then you got a guy who can’t even go to the grocery store without being asked for a pick my time in Edmonton’s been phenomenal and I’m not even saying just my time here as head coach of the Oilers my time here as a junior hockey player um my five years at the University of Alberta I’ve always enjoyed my time in Edmonton and you know I didn’t necessarily think I was ever going to come back just I didn’t think my path was going to come here and then for this opportunity to come back to Edmonson to be a head coach of a franchise like the Oilers is um phenomenal and my time here I’ve really really enjoyed it um and the excitement around the city you know especially during the playoffs is um was very enjoyable seeing all the flags the excitement around the city and you know coming back from the airport that last time after losing that game six in Florida and you just feel a little bit of um you know obviously at the time in Florida we disappointment with the team but then you come into the city and you feel disappointment for the city and you know you know hopefully I’m coaching here for a long time i love Edmonson i love the organization the great players that are here and working with Stan and everybody is um you know it’s it’s ideal for a coach there’s a lot of things that can be difficult but uh it’s pretty ideal for me here and um you know hopefully we can continue what we’ve done and uh build off of it because I don’t think there’d be anything better than to win at all in a place like this sure um you’ve been to two cups you played the same goalie both times and I think we’d all agree Florida had better goalending than you guys had in both in instances uh no one’s saying you’re going to go out and get Babski or Helabuk or Vaselvki or a guy like that but do you need to address your goalending to show your team your players uh more than anyone that you are trying to do something about the fact that you were the second best goalended club in both finals yeah I I was kind of expecting that question i think it’s goalending is a strange part of a game it’s on the one hand it’s kind of simultaneously the most important thing but also it’s the hardest thing to really understand because sometimes the goalenders who you think are the best aren’t the best and I think you know just this playoff run is a perfect example like in the four rounds in three of the four rounds we had the better goalending than our opponent and we you know you look at Keer Aiden Hill and Atter goalies were better than um in each of those series and I think that’s the reason we went to the final and then in the final it flipped so three of the four rounds we had the better goalending that’s just that’s just simple to look at it and you know so I I can’t explain that it’s hard to explain how that happened or why it happened and I’m not disputing that in the final Babski was excellent i mean he he was he made a lot of big saves when we had chances early in games and we didn’t get the lead and credit to him or you know our our players needed to pick the corners better like it’s it’s one of the two right and um but it’s it’s I can’t really explain how in the first three rounds not that either goalending was elite um but ours was always better than our opponent which I think is strange you wouldn’t think that if you just were to talk to the casual fan but you just got to look at the way the series played out um so it’s a fair question i don’t have an answer for you right now i mean we’re going to examine not just our goalies but our whole team and see if there’s a way to be better prepared next season um so we could involve the culting it could not we There’s a lot of factors that I just don’t have all the information to answer you right now do you do you I mean there’s two ways to go I suppose go out and get a super elite goalie and there you have it or build a team that can win a Stanley Cup without a super elite goalender uh really are there any other options than that uh well those are the two extremes certainly um the other thing is the way the the reality of the world is it’s not like you just go down to the corner and pick up an elite goalie um they’re not just waiting for you to to to join your team right so um how many are there anyways in that group and then even if you look at the guys I think were considered elite some of them have had some tough playoffs so there’s no guarantee in the goalending world is it’s just the that’s why I said it’s simultaneously the most important but it’s also in some instances not why teams win uh so you know if you have a strong enough team then there’s been goal teams that won the cup without elite goalending and there’s been teams that won because of their goalie so you know it’s a it’s a great discussion point and I think it’s what the media and the fans love to talk about i get it i understand that um so we’ve got to you know take in that information and sift through it and come up with a plan and that’s what we’re going to do over the next few weeks and months [Music]

Edmonton Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch field questions from the media at the team’s year-end press conference.

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FULL Edmonton Oilers Management Year-End Press Conference

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