Will the Edmonton Oilers next GM have to prioritize extensions for Leon Draisaitl and eventually Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard?
Sportsnet: Tom Gazzola on Sportsnet 960 radio when asked how important the Edmonton Oilers GM hire is with regards to getting the eventual contract extensions done for Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and Evan Bouchard. Will that even be his main priority or will someone else be handling that?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Host: “How important is this next GM hire for Jeff Jackson, Tom, in the sense of,yes we know (Leon) Draisaitl’s up but Connor’s right around the corner. And oh, I imagine Evan Bouchard gonna want to raise on that $3.9 million. Like, is it too hyperbolic to say like, the guy that comes in and has to work these deals is going to put a stamp on the next like, decade of Oilers hockey one way or another?”
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Gazzola: “I think that’s the natural instinct to say that this next GM bett GMs.
And I think it’s not taken away for, from whoever comes in as GM, but I think that’s where Jeff Jackson is going to have to be at his best and I think he understands that is going to be his role to be the guy to make sure that the big dogs stay and ner be a good wheeler and dealer and have to make sure that he keeps those guys happy and keeps them here.
But the way things have kind of panned out and the way the, the Oilers have kind of maneuvered in the last few weeks has indicated to us that this, the big heavy lifting, and those contracts are probably going to be Jeff Jackson priorities, not the newow Evan Bouchard.
So, I don’t, I don’t necessarily believe it’s going to be the next GM that’s going to be doing the main negotiating from an Oilers standpoint. I think it’s going to be Jeff Jackson. I think Darrell Cates will be involved, especially with Connor and Leon, and then maybe a little bit of Paul Coffey. And ensures whoever is the GM or comes in as GM, you know, might be in there but I think this is Jeff Jackson’s project and I think that’s why Darrell Cates and Paul Coffey brought him in is to make sure the next decade of this franchise is solidly secured.
And that’s kind of a testament to, to the new way of handling NHL front offices. We’re starting to see around the league and there’s kind of this evolution where the POHO (president of hockey operations) and GM kind of work as a tandem. I mean, the Oilers don’t have a president of hockey operations, they have CEO Jeff Jackson.
And you know, I point to like Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford in Vancouver. You kind of looked at the situation in Montreal, Gordon and Hughes there. And it’s kind of like tandems. Ken Kelly McCrimmon, and George McPhee in Vegas. Like, which guys really call the shots or are they working as a team?
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I think that’s kind of what we’re going to see here and I think that Jeff Jackson is going to be the guy that’s going to be kind of running show. And like I said, his GM is going to be the sidekick and running mate basically to help him with the day-to-day smaller stuff.”
