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

[JackIsBack]

Omg.... start shinning the cup up for them, the Oilers are back. (or so my Oilers friends are telling me - they also tell me that Hitchcock is from Edmonton).


I know it's better if the Oilers beat the Sharks tonight, so we stay in first,but I just don't want and Oilers/Hitchcock bounce here.

[Scorch]

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Locke

Well. Then this was just a gigantic dick move by the Oilers then.

Do the Oilers pay for his flight home, or just stuff him in the back of the team plane for an awkward trip back?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by JackIsBack

Omg.... start shinning the cup up for them, the Oilers are back. (or so my Oilers friends are telling me - they also tell me that Hitchcock is from Edmonton).


I know it's better if the Oilers beat the Sharks tonight, so we stay in first,but I just don't want and Oilers/Hitchcock bounce here.

Why not? At the end of the day this is the same crappy ass team.

I want them to rocket up the standings because it makes the inevitable impending crash all the sweeter.

Look at them right now! They still think they're the same team that almost won the Cup (by not being anywhere close) by getting to the second round of the playoffs.

And the crash after that was fantastic!

Sad people being sad is not fun. Sad people becoming ecstatically happy only for Lucy to pull the football away again and then find a new depth of sadness in the end is glorious!

[Dajazz]

Thoughts and prayers to the Hitchcock family.

[Sylvanfan]

This will be the Pat Quinn experiment all over again.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Do the Oilers pay for his flight home, or just stuff him in the back of the team plane for an awkward trip back?

I'd imagine McLellan is going to be sipping on some drinks pool side in San Jose while having his first stress free night away from Edmonton and the stink of the team.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Otto-matic

I'd imagine McLellan is going to be sipping on some drinks pool side in San Jose while having his first stress free night away from Edmonton and the stink of the team.

Screw that, if I were McLellan I'm buying tickets to that game and getting nice and liquored.

I would love to enjoy a nice drink while cashing my millions and watching the group of pathetic losers that didnt want me anymore continue to suck in my absence.

Chiadenfreude indeed. Take pleasure in the failure of others.

[Locke]

I love that this caller thinks that 'motivation' is the Oilers' problem.

Yeah. Yeah.....no.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by troutman

Canucks have lost 6 straight.

..and it still is a better situation than Edmonton.

[Huntingwhale]

If the Oilers had a decent roster I might actually think it's a good hire. But I just can't see this roster trying to lock down 1-0, 2-1 games for the rest of the season. Then again, it can't hurt to try given that their offence in completely overrated because of McDavid. If you can't outscore 'em, might as well try to not let the other team score 'em.

I'd expect a boost to the Oilers, followed by a return to the norm within a month or 2. It will look even funnier when Hitch is gone by the end of the season anyways, and the carousel continues.

[browna]

The best part to me is that this confirms that Lowe is back in power.

Lowe telling Katz needing to be changes after Lowe's nemesis in Calgary makes the Oilers looks stupid on the weekend, and doors blown of by Vegas to boot. Katz agrees.
Nicholson takes 5 minutes from staring at the list of Hockey Canada accomplishments long enough to do some actual work and calls Hitchcock.

Chia left in the dark because Lowe is back to his former throne of power, just a bit deeper in the shadows then before he got bumped back to those shadows.

A quick "scoop" to Spector and the other media lackies to get the right spin on this, and away they go.

Not the same as the Quinn thing, recall it was Quinn and Renney as the hybrid and best of both worlds coaching arrangement. Quinn left after one and Renney left bitterly famously after one or two more.

Never mined McLellan as a coach or as a guy, he was very good in SJ. Like others got sold a bill of sale that the Oilers organization was in the up and up, until getting there and realizing its a few petty men in the upper executive thinking they are smarter then most of the rest of the hockey world and stuck in their memories and motivational tactics and player development ways from when they won a bunch of games 30 years ago. Just a terrible, meddling environment. You could tell halfway through his first year he was fed up with the arrangement and the way the players seemed to be getting mixed message and had zero confidence.

McLellan will be a coach somewhere next year, without doubt.

[CaptainCrunch]

Wishful thinking for Hitch to show up tonight in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, flip flops and a straw hat and spend the game sipping on a drink in a coconut shell while taking selfies for his travel blog

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by Otto-matic

I'd imagine McLellan is going to be sipping on some drinks pool side in San Jose while having his first stress free night away from Edmonton and the stink of the team.

Yes, as others have said, there are few things in life as sweet as being paid $4.5M to NOT coach the Oilers. It's not a firing, it's a promotion!

[Ozy_Flame]

Eighth Coach in 10 years.

Hey Hitch, hope you know how to use Skype

[FlamesFanFromBC]

[Cecil Terwilliger]

how old is Hitch? How’s his health? He’s a strict defence first general. His heart/head may explode before Xmas when he enters that room, runs a practice or coaches his first game and realizes what a tire fire that Oiler’s roster is.

[puffnstuff]

How long before Hitchcocks head explodes watching his new teams play in their defensive zone? Second period?

[CSharp]

Wow, wonder if Hitchcock will make McDavid into another Nash!

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Locke

Ahahahaha!!!!

Oh man. This is gonna be good. Say goodbye to your sweet, sweet stats Connor! You're going to have to backcheck and actually try and win faceoffs now!