The turmoil surrounding the Edmonton Oilers resulted in several jerseys being thrown on the ice after a 6-0 defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers. As silly as it sounds, jersey tosses have often come just ahead of a coach’s dismissal, as Ron Wilson and Travis Green can attest. The situation with Dave Tippett in Edmonton is an evolving one, as Ryan Rishaug of TSN explains that though a change isn’t imminent, it is a “day-to-day process” at the moment and suggests that a poor result against the Calgary Flames tomorrow night would likely leave no choice for general manager Ken Holland.
With Tippett’s future unclear, some have suggested that Mike Babock, a long-time colleague of Holland’s with the Detroit Red Wings, could be a potential answer in Edmonton. Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that Babcock has no intention of coaching in the NHL this season and will be staying with the University of Saskatchewan through March. Babcock is technically still under contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, meaning hiring him would come along with buying out at least a portion of the remaining money owed. The eight-year contract he signed in 2015 paid him $6.25MM each season through 2022-23.
Another name, Paul Maurice, has also been thrown into the mix after he resigned as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets earlier this season. Similarly, Dreger reports that Maurice will not be coaching in the NHL for the rest of this season. Maurice is certainly a candidate for the Oilers or another NHL team moving forward, but is taking some time away from the game to refocus.
In terms of candidates for Edmonton then should they move on from Tippett, Rishaug explains that assistant coach Glen Gulutzan would be the most likely on an interim basis. Bakersfield Condors head coach Jay Woodcroft, who previously served as a video assistant under Babcock and Holland in Detroit, would be a candidate for the full-time job but Rishaug doesn’t expect the team would want to commit a multi-year contract to him midseason when the candidate list is so short.
Of course, any change in regard to the Oilers’ head coaching position is speculative at this point and obviously dependent on how the team plays moving forward.
Tippett has been a good coach for a long time. He didn’t suddenly become a bad coach because the Oilers have no forward depth, no D and no goalies.
Glen Gulutzun has never been a good coach.
So, obviously the move is to fire the good coach and hire the bad coach in the hopes that he can make a bad roster into a good roster.
Get a ****ing goalie, FFS. Start there.
Scotty Bowman in his prime with IBM’s Watson at his side still couldn’t coach this dumpter fire.
I laughed so hard when I read who Tippett’s possible replacement will be. He was so bad in Calgary.
Dare I say it
Trade Draisaitl for a package that includes
top 2 D
top 6 FW
starting caliber goalie
Not many teams come to mind…maybe the Rangers, Flyers, Stars…uh…Kings maybe
Niko mikkola, Bennington, sundquist for nugent hopkins.. the money would be pretty close. Blues get more scoring punch, oilers get a good young d, a starting goalie and a guy that does a little of everything and can move up and down lines.
Nuge isn’t worth anything much do to that new contract of his. Widely penned as a bad extension when he signed it like 6 months ago
why would the blues do that they have scoring depth what they need is a shut down d man to pair with colt. i don’t see how trading a d with upside and a f with some grit for a player that doesn’t make us better
Ken Holland is bad news and Mike Babcock is bad news. Edmonton ownership should have steered clear of both of them. Holland was and incompetent hasbeen seven years ago and Babcock is an angry tool that mistreats young players. Edmonton will never win squat with Holland at the helm.
I don’t think Mike Babcock needs to concern himself with again becoming an NHL coach.