[News] Eakins fired. MacTavish interim head coach. Presser 11:45am

[Badgers Nose]

Meh. Eakins presser wil be him falling on the sword. He needs to work again and it's at Rexall.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Jacks

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.

I guess what I was saying is I understanding keeping McT as a place holder or fodder once you find a new management group. But any more changes beyond player movement really should have spelled the end of Lowe, and came hand in hand with the announcement of a search for someone new to lead the organization. Its really the only move they had to make that would have had any credibility.

So I am unsure if you I should be disappoint they canned an inept coach, or happy they still are not smart enough to do the right thing.

[calf]

It'll be a great day when Gene Princepe tweets that Todd Nelson has been told to find a permanent residence.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Five-hole

Why do you think that? I'm not saying I disagree but I'm wondering about your rationale.

Beyond the fact that the league has absolutely no authority to unilaterally punish teams for sucking?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by browna

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.

Yeah, nothing is going to happen at this PC. Eakins won't badmouth the Oilers or anything along those lines as he surely hopes to work in the NHL again some day.

That said, this new habit of media availabilities for dismissed coaches is interesting.

[Cobra Jet]

I think every team that misses the playoffs should have an equal chance at drafting No.1 overall. It would eliminate sand bagging and make it fair for all teams that need help.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

I think every team that misses the playoffs should have an equal chance at drafting No.1 overall. It would eliminate sand bagging and make it fair for all teams that need help.

Some teams need help more than others.

[browna]

Snet's 2 second clip showing Eakins as a player, is in a Horsehead jersey.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

I think every team that misses the playoffs should have an equal chance at drafting No.1 overall. It would eliminate sand bagging and make it fair for all teams that need help.

The entire purpose of the draft is to offer the most help to the worst teams. Screwing everybody because Edmonton really sucks isn't a good thing for the league.

[Dion]

Rod Phillips
@oilvoice37

Hall and eberley are talking about how bad they feel about eakins being fired. Maybe they should think about playing better

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Dion

Rod Phillips
@oilvoice37

Hall and eberley are talking about how bad they feel about eakins being fired. Maybe they should think about playing better

Chicken and egg problem. The oilers made the right move canning him. They'd surely get fleeced even moving a cancer like Hall (see Phaneuf) and keeping Eakins until season end. I'm not overly worried though, since they are going to put Nelson behind the bench.

I'd rather they didn't fire Eakins at all and honored his contract to the end like the Flames unfortunately did with Brent.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Beyond the fact that the league has absolutely no authority to unilaterally punish teams for sucking?

So there is no chance the 1985 draft was rigged for the Knicks to get Ewing?

What about when Stern vetoed the Chris Paul trade?

Of course you'll say something like it's a different league, but it's naive to think that politics don't happen behind closed doors in all the leagues...

[crapshoot]

I'm gonna miss Dallas Eakins.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by crapshoot

I'm gonna miss Dallas Eakins.

Miss Dallas Eakins sorta sounds like a great Drag Queen name...

I am weirdly wondering if Lowe will demand Eakins pay back part of the salary...

I'm also weirdly excited to see what happens with MacT behind the bench. We need to get ready for Coach MacT gifs!

[Calgary4LIfe]

What 'should have happened' was Katz cleaning house.

Lowe, MacTavish and Eakins turfed. Nicholson named interim GM. Nicholson then names an experienced interim coach (like Paul Maurice last year with the Jets) as a probationary try-out. In the off-season, Nicholson would do an exhaustive search for a GM, and then help the GM with an exhaustive search for an experienced coach. After the draft, totally rebuild that drafting and development program (neither which seem any good at all), and while they are at it, probably replace their entire medical team as they just don't know when a player is injured!

However, this move was actually a step in the right direction. Why?

If you look back at Darryl Sutter's years, I think his best days were when he was both the GM and the Coach. He had a great read on that team, and every single move seemed to add positively to the room, to the identity and to the performance of the team. Hindsight might point a different picture, but to me he was simply an amazing GM/Coach. When he released himself from coaching to focus more on this GM duties, every year the team 'lost something'. I do think he acquired more talent, but the identity got diluted and it became increasingly apparent he lost the pulse of the team. Led into some terrible coaching and personnel decisions, which led into some knee-jerk moves to try correct imbalances, and then cost him his job.

I do think that GMs don't have the level of access to a locker room as a coach does. They don't have that 'pulse' of the team as much as the coach does. I think in a dysfunctional Edmonton team, this is actually a good move for them. He will gain firsthand knowledge of who is really not buying into what, what that room really needs, who needs to be shipped out for the greater good, who is a cancer, etc. Sometimes a coach and a player do not get along, sometimes coaches play favorites, etc. I also do think that Lowe/MacTavish probably put restrictions on which players should play where in the lineup (as Renney alluded to a few weeks ago). Well, now MacTavish can see firsthand exactly what is wrong with this team, and try and make the adjustments necessary. I actually do think that this is a positive move under these conditions.

Also, we haven't seen a GM/Coach combo for a long time. However, I do think it is somewhat making a comeback. Roy was hired as a coach and 'sort of' GM - forget what his exact title is, but he has the ability to make personnel decisions including trades. Babcock is rumored to be looking for much in the same way in authority. I do think an EXPERIENCED and TALENTED coach can be a huge positive when given the ability to manage the team as well.

I also absolutely think that the problems go much further than Eakins. However, I do absolutely think that Eakins was a huge problem. Even in their 'tank years' for RNH and Yakupov, that team played with more heart and did a better job defensively. Sure, there were screw-ups, but OMG are they ever a laughingstock of the entire NHL now. It has been trending down with Eakins. Before the season started, most people thought Edmonton would get out of the basement - though I don't think anyone thought 'playoffs'. They should have at least been better defensively. They don't look like an NHL team right now. There is no semblance of any systems. Whether Eakins and his 'swarm' was simply a bad system, or the players never bought-in, or whether Eakins was simply unable to teach, Eakins simply didn't get the job done and the team actually regressed under him. A bottom of the league team regressing under a coach should ALWAYS fire the coach unless they are entering a rebuild.

As a Flames' fan, I 100% agree with the moves. Nelson is a pretty good AHL coach. I have no idea if he is NHL-ready or not, but he does have some familiarity with the Oilers players. Even though MacTavish will be coaching for an indefinite amount of time (which I do believe is mostly to gauge the team and the room before making personnel decisions), it is still a good opportunity. Once MacTavish leaves to concentrate on his GM duties in a month (or two??), and the team trends up with Nelson in charge, then a lot of GMs might take notice. I think it is kind of a 'no-loss' move for Nelson - gets his ears wet in the NHL and has absolutely nothing to lose.

What I really hope is that this team trends up enough to make a case for keeping Lowe and MacTavish. I do think they will trend up for a while after a certain amount of time - as another poster said, MacTavish is probably not a great coach, but at the very least he should be able to develop and implement some semblance of a defensive system. My hope as a Flames' fan is that they trend up enough to get out of the bottom 4-5 picks (which is asking for a miracle, I know) so that they don't draft a McDavid/Eichel or even Hanifin or Strome - and just as importantly, give MacTavish and Lowe one more year at least

I do think the housecleaning happens this off-season, however. I do think Lowe and MacTavish are done unless they pull-off some miracle the likes of which have never been seen in the NHL before.

I do think today's move was the first positive step in the right direction - from what I understand, Chabot was a positive step as goalies seemed to regress under his coaching, and seemed to do better when they got out of the organization (re: Dubynk and Trotz's comments, and his performance now). It was just too small of a positive step. This is a big step, and I sincerely hope it is big enough not to make even more important steps happen!

[Caged Great]

The Oilers are in the same situation that Calgary was in a few years ago. They changed coaches, it didn't work. They changed their drafting, it didn't work. They changed their GM, it didn't work. They changed the secondary personnel, it didn't work. They traded off the leadership, it worked.

Edmonton has done step 1 and 4. They haven't tried step 2, 3 or 5.

Until they take steps 2, 3, and 5 until one of them works, then they are just cycling deck chairs on the titanic. It's still sinking.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The Oilers are in the same situation that Calgary was in a few years ago. They changed coaches, it didn't work. They changed their drafting, it didn't work. They changed their GM, it didn't work. They changed the secondary personnel, it didn't work. They traded off the leadership, it worked.

Edmonton has done step 1 and 4. They haven't tried step 2, 3 or 5.

Until they take steps 2, 3, and 5 until one of them works, then they are just cycling deck chairs on the titanic. It's still sinking.

Calgary changed coaches right before they traded their leadership though. Players like Bouwmeester topped their goal/point totals in a fraction of the games with a different bench boss. His 6 goals in 33 games under Hartley were more than any of his previous three seasons under Sutter (82 games each)

There was a ton of groaning around here about how Iginla outlasted yet another coach, etc.

However, anyone with a shred of eyesight could see a player like Butler didn't belong anywhere near top pairing minutes (thank you Hartley). Hell, that probably delayed Giordano's rise to a top d-man for an entire season.

Eakins makes these same types of mistakes. Doesn't know how to use his timeouts or rally his team. It's very similar to the old Flames in the sense that, once they were down by a goal it was game over.

They are going to have to trade their core pieces eventually for the long term success of the team, but I think they made the correct first move.

[Jets4Life]

n/m found thread in question...

[Calgary4LIfe]

^^ Agreed Metamusil

I do think that many people (fans and media alike) were rolling their eyes with the Flames in saying that "yet another coaching change will not help".

I do believe that Playfair was NOT ready to be an NHL head coach. I do believe that Keenan was semi-retired and didn't bring his 'tough love' approach at all to the team, nor did he even run practices at the level an NHL team should be run. I don't think Brent Sutter was able to ever get close to getting the most out of the entire team (and think that the Flames had better success and made some 'runs' while deviating from his system). I do think that Hartley is a good coach finally.

I think Eakins was everything bad as per above - he wasn't ready to be an NHL coach, he didn't run practices at an NHL level (not even close by what even Edmonton media types have been saying for the last month), he wasn't 'tough enough' on players (though that might have been because his hands were tied) and his 'system' (swarm) was a total failure (or the players never bought into it enough, which still comes down to the coach being the wrong fit in terms of motivator).

Sometimes you have to go through a few people before you finally find the right fit. The good news is that unless Nelson vastly exceeds expectations, the Oilers will have to make another coaching change this off-season, and it will be tough to fill with someone experienced enough as they may be committing career suicide if the current management team is in place.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The Oilers are in the same situation that Calgary was in a few years ago. They changed coaches, it didn't work. They changed their drafting, it didn't work. They changed their GM, it didn't work. They changed the secondary personnel, it didn't work. They traded off the leadership, it worked.

Edmonton has done step 1 and 4. They haven't tried step 2, 3 or 5.

Until they take steps 2, 3, and 5 until one of them works, then they are just cycling deck chairs on the titanic. It's still sinking.

I've been hesitant (because I know the apologists will be out in full force) of noting the similarities between Hall and Iginla at the end of his tenure with the Flames but it is what it is. Iginla felt the team had to play a certain way which clashed with the coaches. Nothing changed until he was traded as Hartley would have been fired last season if Iginla was still a Flame and this team would have been treading water with another new coach. Doesn't mean Iginla was a bad guy or cancer but he had become so engrained in the locker room culture that nothing could change until he moved on.