One day after Oilers President & GM Glen Sather
resigned from the team, Oilers co-Owner Bruce Saville "quit"
the team's BOD Saturday, according to Davis Sheremata of the
EDMONTON SUN, who wrote that Saville was "angry over an
ownership rift that led to the resignation" of Sather.
Saville, who said that he is "hoping for a mutiny" at the
board's annual meeting next week: "I think a good [BOD]
should make certain decisions, but it should be limited to
governance issues. Governance is setting policy and setting
rules. It's steering the boat, not rowing it. Management
should row it." Saville, who is the team's largest
investor, "was an outspoken supporter" of former BOD Chair
Jim Hole, who had a "hands-off policy and let Sather run the
team." But in March, Hole was "voted out" and replaced by
Cal Nichols, "who wanted more information to be shared among
the team's 37 investors." The Oilers' board is made up of
12 of the team's investors (EDMONTON SUN, 5/21). Saville:
"My complaints are business complaints. This is a business
issue, a business story, not a hockey story. It's
governance. It's about the authority of the chairman
perhaps being abused" (EDMONTON SUN, 5/21). Sather, who had
been with the team for 25 years, said that he was "upset
leaks were coming from the ownership group." Sather:
"Everything that happens in the boardroom should stay there"
(EDMONTON SUN, 5/20). Saville disagrees with the way
Nichols wants to run the team: "I have strong feelings about
this and I felt forced to resign. And I have major problems
with confidential stuff and personal stuff, stuff from board
meetings being made public" (EDMONTON SUN, 5/22). But
Sheremata writes that several Oilers owners said yesterday
that "they won't be a part of an attempt to overthrow"
Nichols and that he should be "given more time to make his
mark." Oilers co-Owner Neal Allen, on Sather: "Setting
personalities aside with Cal or anybody else, it's obvious
we couldn't support (Sather) with the resources necessary
for him to go out as a winner" (EDMONTON SUN, 5/22).
THE HOLE STORY: Meanwhile, Hole said that he is now
"considering resigning his position" as Oilers Gov. after
the events over the weekend. Hole, on Sather: "[He] was one
of our major assets. He was a significant portion of the
value of the franchise. ... Without [him], I don't think
we'd have been able to get NHL approval or the support of
the Scotia bank [for the investment group]" (EDMONTON SUN,
5/20). In Toronto, Ken Fidlin called Sather's departure
"yet another blow to anyone who is concerned about the de-
Canadianization of the NHL" (TORONTO SUN, 5/20).
