[News] Oilers hire Gulutzan and Yawney as Assistant Coaches UPD: Viveiros hired as well

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by rain_e

I'm actually kind of jealous with this move. Oilers now have two former head coaches as assistants who can focus on key areas and most likely be successful...

Those "key areas" being:

· Teach Milan Lucic how to skate, and turn him back into a 50-point player
· Make a second-line winger out of Ryan Strome
· Figure a way to enable Kris Russell to win a puck battle
· Create a system of shot suppression without a bonafide top-pairing defenceman
· Induce speed within one of the slowest groups of skaters in the entire league
· Inject Cam Talbot with the Mutant Gene™, and reinforce his skeleton with Adamantium™ allowing him to play all 82 games

Yeah, that seems doable.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Those "key areas" being:

· Teach Milan Lucic how to skate, and turn him back into a 50-point player
· Make a second-line winger out of Ryan Strome
· Figure a way to enable Kris Russell to win a puck battle
· Create a system of shot suppression without a bonafide top-pairing defenceman
· Induce speed within one of the slowest groups of skaters in the entire league
· Inject Cam Talbot with the Mutant Gene™, and reinforce his skeleton with Adamantium™ allowing him to play all 82 games

Yeah, that seems doable.

No one can help the Edmonton Oilers.

Not Glen Gulutzan. Not Trent Yawney.

No one.

[pepper24]

Just confirms that Gulutzan is a career assistant coach. Bad hire by the Flames and should never be a head coach again.

Flames messed up by not getting Boudreau.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by pepper24

Just confirms that Gulutzan is a career assistant coach. Bad hire by the Flames and should never be a head coach again.

Flames messed up by not getting Boudreau.

Bruce Boudreau's Minnesota Wild have won two more playoff games than Glen Gulutzan's Flames. He was never the answer here.

[Phaneufenstein]

Gully's dead to me

[81MC]

This is incredible.

[pepper24]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Bruce Boudreau's Minnesota Wild have won two more playoff games than Glen Gulutzan's Flames. He was never the answer here.

IMO, upgrade over Gulutzan and Peters. We're a playoff team last season with him as coach and positioned better for this season. The coaching carousel is bad for the team.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Hopefully the Flames watch out for the ring around the boards / bump pass zone exit. If they're not picking that off every time I want Peters fired.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Thoughts and prayers.

[dustygoon]

Kassian bumped to PP1?

[BigErnSalute_16]

It's pretty interesting that both Yawney and Gulutzan are from the same hometown

[Robbob]

I blame that gif of Eakins turning into Gulutzan for all the woes last year.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Oilers actually made a shrewd hire today... Yawney should actually be able to help them where they need it most - how to play defence.


Gulutzan on the other hand...



I disagree with a number of posters so far. I don't think Gulutzan is a good coach - head coach OR as an assistant. What body of work leads anyone to conclude this? He failed in Dallas. He failed in Vancouver. He failed in Calgary. Maybe at the ECHL or perhaps the AHL level he is competent, but he sure seems very slow to adapt to situations, and doesn't seem to have a clue about individual players strengths, much less team strengths and weaknesses. I just don't see him as competent.


Yawney really interested me for Calgary, however. It seems he was exactly what the Flames needed for their defence. I think the last two seasons that we have all seen a very good defensive corps make crucial mistake after crucial mistake in the defensive zone. I don't think it is the personnel. I think that for the most part, it has been a lack of strong defensive coaching here.



Over the last two seasons, the only consistently strong defenders have been Giordano (once again, incredibly underrated league-wide) and probably Engelland (who I think the Flames miss on the backend). Hamilton's defensive deficiencies I think are overblown, but they exist. Brodie all season has been fricken amazing in his own zone, and then makes a series of blunders. Hamonic was slow to adapt, but I think was fairly strong in the second half of the season. Stone has been spotty - strong some nights, while others he has been walked around. Kulak is still developing, so I can't fault him (though I have to say that his poise gives me reason to believe he is on the fast-track to becoming a top 4 defender).



I hope Peters hires a guy with a strong track-record of getting the defence playing well in their own zone. We know this group can move the puck up very well (and I hope that Peters' system takes that into account!), but they need to tighten up defensively. This should be a juggernaut of a defensive corps, but it hasn't been - offensively or defensively.


Knowing the Oiles, Yawney will be in charge of the offence, and Gulutzan the defence. That would make me laugh.

[Locke]

I wasnt aware that Glen Gulutzan was an Oiler in the 1980s.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Gulutzan has been in the playoffs twice in the NHL. The unsustainable Flames easily dispatched his Canucks in 2015 and his Flames got swept. Other than that he has been coaching teams that book tee times in April. Nothing to be jealous about.

It's not like Treliving brought someone in who improves on this for us. What has Peters done as an NHL coach?

[tvp2003]

This reeks of us hiring Dave Cameron as an assistant coach, fresh after two years of doing nothing as HC for the Senators save for a miraculous run that got them into the playoffs in year 1.

Hope Gulutzan is as successful for the Oil (and their powerplay) as Cameron was for us...

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

It's not like Treliving brought someone in who improves on this for us. What has Peters done as an NHL coach?

What does this have to do with Gulutzan?

I am not a fan of the Peters hire either. At least Peter’s was an assistant for Canada at the World Cup and an assistant on a team that won a round in the playoffs

At the end of the day I plan to ask Treliving about Peters lack of success and the Canes fans similar complaints to ours about their team last year when I attend the ticket holders meeting in a week and a half

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Not sure what it was about his tenure as an assistant in Vancouver that makes people think he'll do much better in Edmonton.

I mean, I get that he's a smart guy but wasn't a good head coach but really that doesn't mean he'll be some great assistant especially considering you know, he wasn't.

Pretty much the only argument I've seen offered to explain why Gulutzan was a 'good' assistant in Vancouver is "the players liked him". So, okay. If his role is to be the good cop, then score. But if his role is to run a power play or organize transition, the Oilers are more screwed than they realize.

[midniteowl]

May be his job is to baby sit McWhatever since all the players seemed to like him.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

· Make a second-line winger out of Ryan Strome

According to my knowledgeable Oiler friend Strome looks much better at centre and therefore is likely to be their 3rd line centre going forward.