With the firing of Todd McLellan yesterday, the Edmonton Oilers moved on with Ken Hitchcock on an interim basis. Did they make the right move?
Edmonton Oilers: With a recent record of 1-6 in their last seven games, everyone saw the firing of Todd McLellan coming from a mile away. The hiring of Ken Hitchcock, however, was a shock, to say the least. Many are wondering why the Oilers decided to go with a coach that has been deemed by many to be part of an old-school club who’s style isn’t suited for the new age NHL.
And it’s not like the Oilers didn’t have a shortage of quality candidates to choose from, ever hear of a guy named Joel Quenneville? Or Assistant Coach Glen Gulutzan who appeared to be hired last summer into a position to take over following a bad start by the Oilers. So that leaves us asking, why Ken?
What’s the plan here?
Hitchcock is very interesting hire. Is a stop gap more than long term answer. If things don’t improve this makes it easier to fire GM change in summer and new then GM can pick his head coach. #Oilers
— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) November 20, 2018
Coming to the conclusion that management was likely to be firing Todd in the coming days if there wasn’t any improvement, there were a few coaches I had on my radar of potentially taking over as the new bench boss. Ken Hitchcock never even crossed my mind. As I genuinely thought Dallas was his last kick at the can.
However, after looking into it, there are a few dots that connect as to why Hitchcock was the guy management decided to go with. A move like this pretty much solidifies that Peter Chiarelli has been told he will be out of a job if the Oilers miss the postseason this year.
If he had any longer of a leash, I believe the hire would have been either Quenville or Gulutzan. Ken Hitchcock, while not known as a “players coach,” has a reputation of getting the most out of his players over a short period of time. He’s going to hold every single player accountable on this roster and expect each of them to step up.
There will be no passengers on this Ken Hitchcock ran bench; how the players will react to this style of coaching, however, is something we are going to find out fairly quickly. This is the ultimate hail mary hire by Chiarelli, if it doesn’t work, he and Hitchcock will both be looking for jobs this offseason.
Don’t count Gulutzan out as a potential Oilers bench boss. As long as he is kept on in an assistant role, he is still very much in the picture. If things don’t work out with Ken Hitchcock, and the players like him, it’d make sense that he would have a chance of being promoted this summer.