Rumor: Big changes coming to Oilers management, and fans will not be happy.

The Edmonton Oilers have had a hard time getting out of their own way in recent years and a lot of the blame for that has been placed on the organizations apparent unwillingness to move on from what has been labelled the Old Boys Club. Rather than being an actual club the Old Boys Club refers to the fact that the Oilers have kept several legacy names in and around the organization for extended periods of time in spite of signs of gross incompetence or negligence from those same legacy names.

For some the Oilers finally took a step in the right direction when they brought in a huge outside voice when they hired general manager Ken Holland, although there are those who still very much view him as part of the old guard. There is some legitimacy to that criticism as Holland has had a working relationship with the Oilers' Bob Nicholson through their work together with Hockey Canada, however the almost immediate departure of Craig MacTavish following the hire of Holland did help to sooth some of those fears. If the announcement of MacTavish's departure was a positive sign for those concerned however, the announcement that is now expected to come from the Oilers will likely have the opposite impact. 

The aforementioned Bob Nicholson has quickly become an extremely unpopular figure in the city of Edmonton following a series of major screw ups in his role. First the appointment of general manager Peter Chiarelli was nothing short of catastrophic and the blame for that decision should be laid directly at the feet of Nicholson, the man who made the hire. Nicholson could have skated by on that one however, at least I believe he would have, but comments he made following another failed season regarding Oilers journeyman forward Tobias Rieder. Nicholson effectively tossed Rieder under the bus and put the blame for a poor season on his shoulders, comments he would later be forced to apologize for under tremendous public pressure from the Oilers fan base. Needless to say the last thing fans want to hear is an announcement in which Nicholson gets a promotion....

Well according to a report from TSN insider Darren Dreger on Monday morning, his sources have informed him that there is now an expectation that Nicholson will be named the Chairman of Edmonton Oilers Hockey, a move that will be necessitated by the fact that the Oilers are bringing in veteran executive Tom Anselmi. Anselmi is of course the former president of both the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs organizations and boasts a wealth of experience on the business side of sports. Although the announcement of his hire will no doubt be well received, the promotion of Nicholson that is expected to accompany that announcement will no doubt overshadow it.