Stan Bowman has just been controversially hired by the Edmonton Oilers to be their general manager, and he answered a question that rubbed many the wrong way.

Bowman held an introductory press conference today and he was asked a very serious question. This particular question rubbed people the wrong way when Bowman provided his answer. Bowman revealed that he does currently have a good relationship with Kyle Beach, despite the 2010 incident. Bowman was then asked if he had reached out to “John Doe 2”, which was the high school player that was s**ually a**aulted in 2010 by Brad Aldrich after he left the Chicago Blackhawks. His response stirred the pot even more than it already was.

TSN’s Rick Westhead reported that Bowman didn’t answer directly and said: “Anyone negatively impacted, I feel for them and I certainly wish they don’t go through it.”

As Westhead reminds us, “John Doe 2 doesn’t have the freedom to share his perspective and story publicly unless and until the Blackhawks release him from a non-disclosure agreement he had to sign when the NHL team settled his lawsuit.”

Bowman will need to likely reach out to “John Doe 2” to improve their relationship if he wants to stand any chance of getting on the good side of Oilers fans. He was able to improve things with Beach, so hopefully he can do the same here too. In the meantime, Bowman will need to deal with an online petition circulating that is asking for his immediate firing as GM of the team. The petition already has thousands of signatures and is growing.

A petition started by Oilers fans to keep Stan Bowman out has reached 3.2k signatures and rising.

Credit HockeyFeed: