EDMONTON - With four teams operating in four leagues, the Edmonton Oilers management team was stretched to the point where it only made sense to add depth.

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Steve Tambellini, left, talks to the media after being named the Edmonton Oilers new general manager at Rexall Place in Edmonton on July 31, 2008.

Photograph by : Rick MacWilliam/Edmonton Journal

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New owner Daryl Katz offered no argument - and Steve Tambellini offered no resistance.

After 17 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, he will succeed Kevin Lowe as general manager of the Oilers. Lowe becomes the president of hockey operations while Kevin Prendergast has been named assistant general manager.

"We just can't do the things we want to do if we don't have more people," said Patrick LaForge, who stays put as the president and CEO of the hockey club. "Everybody is beefing up, adding skill, knowledge, strength, strategic thinking. Then Steve's window came open and you have to react. We did. Real quickly."

It is not a coincidence that the new management team now bears a striking resemblance to the structure employed by the Detroit Red Wings, or that their announcement came the same day it was revealed that Scotty Bowman will serve as an advisor for the Chicago Blackhawks. The Oilers did need more depth with an American Hockey League team in Springfield, a junior team in the Edmonton Oil Kings, and players who will stock their East Coast Hockey League affiliate in Stockton.

There are also plans afoot for the construction of a new arena.

What sped up the restructuring was Tambellini's contractual escape clause, allowing him to move on if a general manager's position did come up.

"I promised myself and my family that when I did move, it was going to be the right one. This is the right one," Tambellini said.

Tambellini, 50, has worked alongside Lowe on Team Canada's management team. That and his four-year contract lured him from Vancouver where he had served as vice-president and assistant general manager for the past three seasons.

He was twice passed over for the Canucks GM's post, the first time when Dave Nonis got the job, then most recently when Mike Gillis stepped in. Now, he'll handle the day-to-day operations of the Oilers while Lowe takes on a more distant role.

Rather than sitting up in the press box, watching his players, Lowe will likely be taking in more games at other venues. He will still have the final say in any trades and player moves.

"We are going to get the job done as a team but somebody at the end of the day still has to make the final decision. It is a very complicated, competitive business now," Lowe said. "The management of NHL hockey isn't what it was five years ago.

"There are more and more demands in this business at this level and in order to get the job done, you need many people doing it. It's really as simple as that."

This will also allow Lowe the chance to catch his breath. Named general manager in 2000, he has seen the team through the lockout, an ownership change and a run to the Stanley Cup, which was promptly followed by the controversial departure of Chris Pronger.

"There's been a lot of all-hands-on-deck," Lowe said.

"To a large extent," said LaForge, "Kevin's abilities and skills have been stretched in terms of the hours available to do anything beyond the day-to-day operating of a hockey club. You just can't go on like that. We have players all over the world and we have to provide Kevin the ability to direct traffic in our hockey development otherwise we're just never going to capitalize. The organization needs to grow."

Tambellini, meanwhile, has watched the roster changes from afar and is anxious to see how it all plays out in training camp. He watched the likes of Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano burst onto the scene last season, saw the evolution of Robert Nilsson, and knows first hand about the experience Shawn Horcoff and Steve Staios bring having worked with both players at past world championships.

"I'm probably going to wait till camp and see how we come out of the gate but I do know there is a tremendous amount of potential," said the new GM. "There are some highly skilled young players here and some character veterans . . . this is an exciting team. The upside is high."

"We've had a good friendly rivalry for a lot of years between the Canucks and the Oilers," Lowe said, "and they took it too us pretty good for a couple of years. I always resented him a little bit for that. Now I'm looking forward to him bringing some of that savvy to our organization."

Edmonton Journal

jireland@thejournal.canwest.com