The growth of the Oilers Organization

Kevin Lowe, Patrick LaForge and Bob Nicholson who are the 3 new members of the OEG.

This Friday the 13th was like no other for fans of the Oilers and Edmontonians as it saw the creation of the Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG). The move brings in the hockey business guru Bob Nicholson brings some huge international street cred.

The past few days

It was first reported by @THNKenCampbell that Edmonton was the front runner to land Nicholson two days ago. The news created an absolute flurry of noise with many saying "Kevin Lowe is stepping down!" or "Kevin Lowe is fired!" just like everytime the Oilers call one of their many press conferences. It's time to put the past in the past and move on from what has happened the last 8 years. 

Although many still have hard feelings about the dark ages within the Oilers organization the past 8 years, this addition of Nicholson may be the last piece of Daryl Katz's puzzle to hockey supremacy. While listening to 630 Ched after the press conference, Nicholson himself said that "The reason I am here is because of Kevin Lowe. I am going to focus on the business side of things, but I will help the hockey side too." 

Complementing each other

Old School.

In the world of sports, it is all about complementing each other; bringing in different pieces to fit the rest around them. I am a firm believer in the group that is currently running the Oilers and now that Dallas Eakins' has been given the ability to go and get the coaches that he wants to complement himself, this team will only become more successful. Bob Nicholson began his relationship with Kevin Lowe in 2000 when Lowe joined Hockey Canada working as the Executive Director and as it's been widely known, the two have had great success in the past 14 years striking gold 3 times. The hope now is that the two of them will work together and help bring the Stanley Cup back to the city it belongs in.

The Growth of Edmonton

The new downtown arena.

I must say I was quite surprised by the amount of negativity surrounding the move today. With many saying that the main goal is still the on ice product, the thing people still need to remember is that bringing in an experienced and well liked man like Nicholson only helps this. His knowledge and expertise will hopefully help turn Edmonton into a destination that players will want to go. It is all about building an image and this is something that Katz has been working on. The common thought know is that Nicholson's addition will assist the Katz Group in trying to purchase the NLL Rush and potentially OHL and QMJHL franchises as well as increasing the value of the new arena and the rest of Edmonton.

Who knows, we might be sitting on MSG 2.0 with Rogers Place here.