[News] Todd McLellan relieved of duties. Ken Hitchcock named Oilers head coach

[Hackey]

Being an Oiler fan has to be the worst. After a decade of being a disaster and trying to rebuild you're still nowhere close. Now you have the best player in the game and are basically in no mans land. You traded away all your assets and depth and basically have to build through the draft again. Except now you're likely just good enough to stay out of the top picks. Obviously it would likely never happen but I wonder what a package for McDavid would look like right now.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

8 coaches in 10 years for the Oilers.

What's the definition of insanity?

[joejoe3]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

8 coaches in 10 years for the Oilers.

They need to pump those numbers up

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

8 coaches in 10 years for the Oilers.

[Boreal]

This would have been a decent hire for the Hall:Hopkins rebuild... but last time I checked Hitch isn’t a scout either way.

Their problems are in the collection of talent not in the composition.

[chummer]

Originally Posted by Sutter_in_law

First we got Coach Q fired, now TMac. Who's next??

Hitchcock, I doubt he makes it through the road trip.

[Table 5]

They might as well have hired Alfred. Coaching was not the issue with that team. But hey, go nuts.

[MisterJoji]

Hitchcock couldn’t get Dallas, with a roster superior to the Oilers, to the playoffs last year. The Oilers also don’t have the personnel to play the type of system Hitch likes. I don’t see how this will be a substantial improvement.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Table 5

They might as well have hired Alfred. Coaching was not the issue with that team. But hey, go nuts.

Just to confirm, that's the Canadian Tire kid and not Batman's butler right?

/Not to nitpick, but wasn't his name Albert?

[trumpethead]

Craig MacTavish 2000–01 to 2008–09
Pat Quinn 2009–10
Tom Renney 2010–11 to 2011–12
Ralph Krueger 2012–13
Dallas Eakins 2013–14 to 2014–15[F]
Todd Nelson 2014–15
Todd McLellan 2015–16 to 2018

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

8 coaches in 10 years for the Oilers.

I just don't get the hire. Hitchcock is a stop gap, so it will probably be 9 in 11 years. If they expect him to come in and change the culture, he isn't going to do squat since the issues trickle down from above him. This is nothing more than a top up retirement plan. Probably signed for a couple years so he can walk away and get paid next year.

[Locke]

Well.

This has all of the Hallmarks of being a 'the Smartest Guys in the Room' move.

Instead of solving an actual problem they just dragged one of Nicholson's buddies out of retirement.

Oh! So theres an 'Old Boys' connection there as well because surely Lowe was also tight with Hitch.

Oh yeah. This cant miss. This is going to be fun. Because Hitch has absolutely nothing to lose.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Just to confirm, that's the Canadian Tire kid and not Batman's butler right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock

[Resolute 14]

Waiting until the morning of a game to do the deed rather than firing McLellan right after the Vegas loss so the new coach could get at least one day in for practice or introductions is such an Oilers thing to do.

It suggests that they spent yesterday scrambling to find *someone* to take over. And the fact that it is Hitchcock further suggests that, as already noted, the Hockey Canada association meant Nicholson had to call in a favour.

[getbak]

Why would Hitch do this to himself? Enjoy your retirement.

[GioforPM]

Hitch has had a bunch of feuds with players. Steen, Bishop, Tarasenko, Filatov, Hull.

Hull said Hitchcock told him and the rest of the team "goals don't matter". After being shut out by expansion Columbus. The story around every time Hitch was fired is that he lost the room.

McDavid is going to hate him.

[Hockeyguy15]

Seems odd to me that they would just up and hire Hitchcock. Wouldn't you want to give someone the interim tag and maybe think about who you want to hire?

Oilers gonna Oil.

[CliffFletcher]

Hitchcock will just be a caretaker coach. When Chiarelli is fired in the off-season, the new GM will bring in his own guy.

Hitchcock is a smart guy, and his teams usually see a short-term bump. But it won't be enough to make the Oilers a playoff team.

[Enoch Root]

So wait...

They flew McLellan to SJ, his former team, and then canned him there, in SJ, before the game?

Oh God, I love the Oilers!

[howard_the_duck]

Hilarious hire.

Hitch couldn't get the offensive minded Stars to listen to him. Now he's tasked with doing the same in Edmonton.

A backwards move if anything. Oil gonna Oil.