Oilers New GM – Steve Tambellini
The good thing about being an Oilers fan is that it is never dull – even during the dog days of summer.
What seemed like another Thursday morning in late July – where Oilers fans talk of Hockey Cards and Batman Movies – a major announcement from the team quickly turned a dull afternoon into one filled with analysis and debate.
Assuming you haven’t heard, the Oilers announced a reshuffling of the decks at the hockey operations level with the hiring of Steve Tambellini, the former Assistant GM of the Vancouver Canucks, as the new General Manager of the Oilers. The contract is rumored to be four-years.
Kevin Lowe, the now former GM, is being promoted to President of Hockey Operations – a newly created position in the organization that shifts Lowe’s main responsibilities from the day-to-day tasks of a GM (contract negotiations/scouting) to overseeing the management of all hockey operations (Oilers/Falcons/Oil Kings/Thunder) as well as a likely expanded role across the organization (working with the business side on projects including the arena). Lowe will still have the ultimate say on hockey decisions for the Oilers with Tambellini reporting to him.
Kevin Prendergast, who was previously the V.P. of Hockey Operation, will take over the role of Assistant GM.
When I first heard the news of the move, I was shocked as I imagine most Oilers fans were, not because I don’t think it is the right move but that it came completely out of left field. It is still hard for me to think that Kevin Lowe, love him or hate him, isn’t or General Manager anymore. Who is he going to pick fights with now – Bob Murray?
But as the shock waned, I got really excited. This move makes the organization a lot a better. And not because Kevin Lowe couldn’t do the job but because we have added another great hockey mind to the fold, which can’t hurt.
Tambellini brings an immense amount of hockey experience and knowledge from a 10-year career in the NHL, which he won a Stanley Cup (Islanders – 1980), to 17 years in management with the Canucks (business operations/player personal/hockey operations/assistant GM). He also has been involved heavily with Hockey Canada at the management level as Director of Player Personal (2002 Olympics – Gold) and the GM of the 2003 and 2005 IIHF World Hockey Championships (Gold/Silver).
With that immense experience – how could you not love the addition of depth in the front office to help in the hockey operations decision-making process and adding variety of opinion.
The move highlights the impact that new owner Daryl Katz is having on the Oilers organization. It is clear to me that Katz feels that it isn’t only the players on the ice that lead to success but the management team running the organization – which isn’t rocket science but can sometimes be overlooked in hockey.
Any successful business, whether hockey or pharmacies, needs an effective management team with a variety of talent and skill sets to handle the operations as well as move the company forward. A well laid out structure allows for efficient decision making – no bottlenecks with one person doing the work of multiple people – and higher level thinking that moves the company forward, which is often put on the back burner if the top executive team is muddled down with the day-to-day.
This reshuffling moves the Oilers to a better structure on the hockey side of the business.
There have been some that suggest ulterior motives to the move – from Lowe leaving to Mactavish being fired – but to me there is nothing more complex to the move than it being a reshuffling of the front office to increase its depth and strengthen the overall company. It will also allow the front office to be more agile in the decision making process with Lowe now moving away from GM task so we will likely see a lot more decisions made a lot quicker.
And at the end of the day – the Oilers are better off for it.
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