Members of the Oilers' BOD "are banding together to
deal with" the resignation of team President & GM Glen
Sather, according to Andrea Wiebe of the EDMONTON SUN.
While some members spoke out against the Board's handling of
the Sather situation, Board Chair Cal Nichols said after a
board meeting, "You never keep everybody happy. But in this
instance the vast majority are on the same page." Oilers
co-Owner Todd McFarlane said that differences between Board
members is common: "I don't think we should be concerned
about disagreement. I think we should be concerned about
those people who can't take that they don't get their way
all the time" (EDMONTON SUN, 5/24). Also in Edmonton,
Robert Tychkowski writes that the Oilers "swallowed hard and
asked [Sather] for one last favour: come back and help tie
up some urgent personnel matters." Tychkowski: "It's really
a magnanimous gesture on Sather's part [to return to the
team], since he was really under no obligation to offer the
club a helping hand." Sather, on his decision: "I didn't
want to see the franchise hurt because of a transition
period. I didn't want to hurt the investments of [co-Owner]
Bruce Saville and [Gov.] Jim Hole" (EDMONTON SUN, 5/24).
A GUSHER? Season-ticket commitments for the Oilers'
2000-01 season stand at 11,693 with slightly more than one
week left to reach the 13,000 required to qualify for the
NHL Canadian Assistance Plan (Oilers).
