mightyreasoner wrote on Mon, 14 September 2026 10:29

Kr55 wrote on Mon, 14 September 2026 09:25 A picture to illustrate how much concern the Oilers org has right now about a petition mostly signed by Flames, Canucks and Leafs fan trolls Fans gave Bowman a pass. Forgot about Virtanen, Kane, Perry. Already barely care about Babcock's history. I actually consider Formenton down the list compared to some of these other guys. I know people mad about him are maybe louder than for the other guys, but I think people are more caught up on using these guys as a symbol to attack a culture they disprove of, that a huge amount of current players all participated in too. IMO Bowman is probably the worst of the entire bunch in what he actually did to win his first cup. Willfully ignoring someone on your staff stalking, blackmailing and sexually abusing on of your players because it would distract everyone during the playoff run remains completely insane. Think I saw that Mama Stanley is claiming she had no idea of the bad stuff Bowman did It's been very clear since Katz took over that the only thing that matters to the Oilers is making money. It's never been fans first. It's never been winning first. It's never been city first. So congrats to them, they did it. The petition I don't think will do much, other than publicly shame the Oilers. I'm fairly certain the NHLPA and CBA wouldn't allow for the termination of a contact like this – no new knowledge has come forward the team wasn't aware of when they signed the deal. The most that would likely happen is he gets buried in Bakersfield, which given his cap hit, is something possible. I think the bigger issues is that I'm getting really tired of having to twist myself in knots or willfully ignore toxic behaviour and bad people in order to cheer for this team I've been a fan of for 35+ years, but it's becoming issue after issue of compromise. It is absolutely not an easy group of people to cheer for their success anymore. They are our only major four sports team and really do serve as representatives for this city. They are doing a bad job of it.

Honestly, I don't think that Bettman gets in the way if the Oilers decide to back away - he didn't step in when the Bruins (?) signed and then dropped that kid with the serious bullying issues.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/06/sport/boston-bruins-part-ways -mitchell-miller-reaj

Of course, I don't believe the Oilers do it.

And make no mistake - the Formenton stuff is pretty bad. Waaaay worse than Perry or Kassian or Manning (who's racist comment came after he was already an Oiler). Similar level to Virtanen, who at least the team had the sense to only sign to a PTO. Not sure why you'd want to commit to this guy right now.

As I said, people shouldn't listen to Staples, who just goes on and on about them not getting convicted. It's important to remember that there was a bunch of evidence that wasn't allowed in, including the players texts to one another. And if you read the transcript, with even the evidence that the players gave - it's not good. This guy is a dirtbag. I don't want him on the team I cheer for, and it's annoying to know that he's not even close to the best player available - despite his baggage.

[Updated on: Tue, 15 September 2026 14:51]

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
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