MacTavish is taking over behind the bench, with Todd Nelson brought in and transitioned to interim coach.
Holy hell. . . . I'm not sure they could have more thoroughly undermined Todd Nelson's authority if they tried. Slapping the interim title on him ("Don't worry, he won't be here long"), then starting his interim tenure with MacT "visually" evidencing his authority over Nelson in the dressing room by having MacT holding his hand and walking him around when he first arrives.
MacTavish is taking over behind the bench, with Todd Nelson brought in and transitioned to interim coach.
Holy hell. . . . I'm not sure they could have more thoroughly undermined Todd Nelson's authority if they tried. Slapping the interim title on him ("Don't worry, he won't be here long"), then starting his interim tenure with MacT "visually" evidencing his authority over Nelson in the dressing room by having MacT holding his hand and walking him around when he first arrives.
What a joke of an organization.
Eh, to be fair, it's more of that six month "probationary" period that many employees or contractors go through in many work environments. I doubt Todd Nelson has too much problem with this, especially as he has no place to negotiate on NHL experience. If it works out well for the Oilers, there is no reason to suggest he wouldn't stay. But that's a big stretch when it comes to that organization.
I am on the fence if this is a good thing as a Flames fan.
While its a sad day that thee Oilers have lost canned a coach who was obviously incapable of leading this team in any way.
But on the other had I am encouraged that this management team has enough rope to make these changes still, yet are still not addressing the on ice structural issues with this team. Lowe for Life, don't really care which Oil alum croonie he has under him.
Is a scary day if I'm reading it right. Think about why MacT isn't just taking over or hiring someone. He wasn't given the authority to.
Nicholson wasn't brought in to be a figurehead. Lowe is gone, MacT is gone and the rest are gone. Core will be blown up. The fans are restless so MacT was told to face the fans. That didn't work so they sacrifice the coach who was going to be fired anyways. Why did MacT call a presser he was not prepared for? Why is he suddenly avoiding the previous regime? None of this makes sense if he's actually secure in his job.
Eh, to be fair, it's more of that six month "probationary" period that many employees or contractors go through in many work environments. I doubt Todd Nelson has too much problem with this, especially as he has no place to negotiate on NHL experience. If it works out well for the Oilers, there is no reason to suggest he wouldn't stay. But that's a big stretch when it comes to that organization.
The only way someone is getting anything out of this roster is if he grabs it by the scruff of the neck and thrashes it around until he has their attention.
Rookie Interim Coach Todd McNoAuthority has little chance of doing that.
“I don’t want to answer that question until I get a hands-on understanding of exactly what’s happening in (the dressing room). I want to have … eyeball to eyeball conversations with the core group … before I am wiling to do anything.”
The Mac has been the GM this long and doesn't have an understanding of that room. Absolutely brilliant.
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What if the real reason MacT is going behind the bench is to assess the individual attitudes of players and see where the cancer in the locker room is? Is there any chance this could be part of the "forensic investigation" and they used his mentor title as a red herring?
Now this implies that someone would have to be smart enough to orchestrate it all, and I believe Nicholson might be.
If he was smart he'd talk to the whole group, including the guy that left for Europe, to get a whole picture. Not just the core group because they're probably part of the problem.
Is a scary day if I'm reading it right. Think about why MacT isn't just taking over or hiring someone. He wasn't given the authority to.
Nicholson wasn't brought in to be a figurehead. Lowe is gone, MacT is gone and the rest are gone. Core will be blown up. The fans are restless so MacT was told to face the fans. That didn't work so they sacrifice the coach who was going to be fired anyways. Why did MacT call a presser he was not prepared for? Why is he suddenly avoiding the previous regime? None of this makes sense if he's actually secure in his job.
That scares me
At this point, with so many coaches in such a short time, a coach the current GM hired, the 3rd GM under the current regime, why would they fire the coach before Lowe? that doesn't make sense to me.
Even letting them fire the coach feels like the have no plans to move Lowe out, otherwise they would have fired him today too. I understand keeping McT right now but anyone getting fired before Lowe tells me his head is further from the chopping block than it really should be.
I also get the feeling McT as bad as he has been, he had his hands tied to some extent. The guy came in talking about big changes, and has done nothing but make piece moves. Eberle, Hall, RNH, Yak, Shultz, none of these guys were brought in because of McT, he has nothing to prove by grasping on to them so tightly. I don't think the next guy will be allowed to make real structural changes to the team while Lowe is still there.
What if the real reason MacT is going behind the bench is to assess the individual attitudes of players and see where the cancer in the locker room is? Is there any chance this could be part of the "forensic investigation" and they used his mentor title as a red herring?
Now this implies that someone would have to be smart enough to orchestrate it all, and I believe Nicholson might be.
I don't think they want to pay another coach. Would still be paying Krueger, and Eakins and a new guy. Mctavish gets the tap from Lowe. Looking at some of his comments today, looks like the new coach had some of Lowe's words verbatim, mixed with his own clumsy delivery.
I await a "further clarification" video tomorrow on the Oilers website.
Also, timing completely reeks of Papa Sather rolling into town this past weekend and basically Lowe begging Slats to tell him what to do.
At this point, with so many coaches in such a short time, a coach the current GM hired, the 3rd GM under the current regime, why would they fire the coach before Lowe? that doesn't make sense to me.
Even letting them fire the coach feels like the have no plans to move Lowe out, otherwise they would have fired him today too. I understand keeping McT right now but anyone getting fired before Lowe tells me his head is further from the chopping block than it really should be.
I also get the feeling McT as bad as he has been, he had his hands tied to some extent. The guy came in talking about big changes, and has done nothing but make piece moves. Eberle, Hall, RNH, Yak, Shultz, none of these guys were brought in because of McT, he has nothing to prove by grasping on to them so tightly. I don't think the next guy will be allowed to make real structural changes to the team while Lowe is still there.
I disagree. The season is lost. Firing Lowe, MacT and Howson during the season where there's less available talent is silly. Lowe and company are pigs to the slaughter at this point. Waiting it out.
You can't do nothing when you've lost 15 of 16. They've tried to deflect with a hasty superfluous press conference and it kept getting worse. Now they've sacrificed the coach to appease the fans, but you can't how another coach now, that happens this summer
Eakins has to tow the line one more time, read from Lowe's script, and, make sure he takes the appropriate amount of blame, to ensure he satisfies the initial conditions of his payout.
Last edited by browna; 12-15-2014 at 07:58 PM.
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I disagree. The season is lost. Firing Lowe, MacT and Howson during the season where there's less available talent is silly. Lowe and company are pigs to the slaughter at this point. Waiting it out.
You can't do nothing when you've lost 15 of 16. They've tried to deflect with a hasty superfluous press conference and it kept getting worse. Now they've sacrificed the coach to appease the fans, but you can't how another coach now, that happens this summer
I guess that's where we are not on the same page. If it were me, whoever you are going to bring in you want to give time to see the inner workings of your organization in action if possible.
Even if they want to wait for the off season, they should have cut the management group down to Nicholson, McT & Nelson, and publicly stated they will be looking to add someone else at the Pres/VP level to review the entire organization. That is the only move that would have made any sense, firing a coach again reeks of more of the same.
Even worse, this organization has gotten so bad, fans of their greatest rival sit around brainstorming how easy it would have been to make more impactful moves to improve the organization.
I understand keeping McT right now but anyone getting fired before Lowe tells me his head is further from the chopping block than it really should be.
I also get the feeling McT as bad as he has been, he had his hands tied to some extent. The guy came in talking about big changes, and has done nothing but make piece moves. Eberle, Hall, RNH, Yak, Shultz, none of these guys were brought in because of McT, he has nothing to prove by grasping on to them so tightly. I don't think the next guy will be allowed to make real structural changes to the team while Lowe is still there.
MacT has remade most of the roster since he took over as GM, he also hired the coach, they are getting worse under him not better. I agree that Lowe should be gone but so should MacT.
