Edmonton Oilers GM Calls Out Fans for Treatment of Players Online

Stan Bowman has been in charge in Edmonton for a year, and in that time, he's learned how frustrating fans can be, calling them out for their online behaviour.

It's been known for quite some time that in Canada, fans of the National Hockey League are much, much more intense than in the United States, and while that's mostly a blessing, sometimes it can be a curse.

That is something that Edmonton Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman recently addressed, as he has opened up on how sometimes,

Bowman felt much the same way as many do, as he appreciates the passion and the love that fans have for the Oilers, but sometimes, it just goes way too far, and that can weigh on players and people in the organization.

'There's so much emotion, and there's so much passion, but there's also sometimes just so much noise out there. And I think whereas 20 years ago there was just as much emotion and noise, but there was really no platform for these people to connect with other people that sort of felt similarly wound up. They just were sort of yelling out their window and nobody was connecting to it.

Now, when someone yells out their window and they can connect to millions of people at one time, and even if they have no credibility and don't know what they're talking about, there's a lot of other people and that's the world we have to live with. So we can't sit here and say it's bad because there's tons of great sides to it. But I think that is the downside, which is the passion and the emotion of the fans and the media has allowed some of this stuff to probably get out of hand. And we didn't really have that, say, 20 years ago.'

It's very easy to see why this can get frustrating, as fans can sometimes make players feel like there's no escape from the criticism, and that can often drive them to smaller markets to help them escape.

Ultimately though, most fans are good with their loyalty to the team and the organization, but when some get vocal, it's definitely something that can get to the players much more than those fans may expect.