Bill Scott has always had the goal of reaching the NHL.
That dream came to fruition on Monday morning as the Edmonton Oilers announced that Scott would become the team’s new Assistant General Manager, replacing Ricky Olczyk.
"I would like to welcome Bill and his family to Edmonton,” Oilers General Manager Craig MacTavish said in a press release following the announcement. “Bill has done an exceptional job managing all facets of the Barons day-to-day operations and has played a large part in their success over the past four years."
Scott started as a student manager with the Spartans hockey team at Michigan State University, where he graduated with a degree in Business Management. He interned under Predators Executive Vice President and General Manager David Poile in Nashville and then moved on to work in the ECHL, then served as Director of Hockey Operations for the American Hockey League. He has since spent the past four seasons as the general manager of the Oilers’ farm team in the AHL, the Oklahoma City Barons.
It has been a long and yet quick journey to the Oilers front office for Scott. At just 33 years-old, Scott makes the jump from the AHL to the NHL in a prominent position with an organization that knows him well. Scott says he’s been the beneficiary of some well-placed and well-timed career moves and opportunities thus far in his career, all along the path that has led to Edmonton.
The Unionville, Ontario native now returns to his home country to further his career, an exciting time for the man who has spent the past four years tending the farm for the Oilers.
Scott replaces Olczyk, whom the Oilers say was offered a position within the organization but has ‘respectfully declined the offer at this time’. In Scott, the Oilers get someone who has familiarity with the organization and has worked closely with the management staff over the last few years.
By adding Scott to the mix, MacTavish is also gaining someone with a similar vision for the direction of the organization. Scott says he and MacTavish hit it off right away and see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues surrounding the club.
Scott’s main duties in Oklahoma City revolved around maintaining contact with MacTavish and the rest of the Oilers decision makers. He provided updates on prospects, their performance, development, health and talent on a daily basis. He provided assessment and information on who might be the best fit for call ups and he mined the ECHL for talent while assessing other team’s players in the AHL as well.
With Edmonton, Scott’s responsibilities will include contract negotiations for players and staff, scheduling, salary arbitration, salary cap management and other administrative duties. These responsibilities are all too familiar to Scott from his time in Oklahoma City.
Scott will also serve as the Oilers’ liaison to the NHL for matters pertaining to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
During Scott’s time with the Barons, the team has made the playoffs for four straight seasons, there have been developmental successes in players like Martin Marincin and the organization did well with an ECHL acquisition of Mark Arcobello. Scott says there have been positives and successes but it’s not on the general manager alone to take the credit. He also says the atmosphere created in Oklahoma City, in resurrecting a development program for the Oilers, was the biggest success to date for the Barons.
That atmosphere created in Oklahoma City is something Scott says reflects his own management style. He hopes to bring those qualities along with hard work and success to the big club.
Scott will remain with the Barons throughout their playoff run before making the move to Edmonton. The goal is still to win a Calder Cup as a general manager at that level. However, Scott will begin work right away to transition to his new post as the off-season will begin to heat up very quickly.