The Edmonton Oilers have made a few changes the past week or so. We’ll be addressing those changes in detail.
1. Edmonton Oilers fire Todd McLellan, bring in Ken Hitchcock as interim coach
Edmonton Oilers: Ken Hitchcock has a reputation for turning around a team in short order, which is precisely what Chiarelli needs right now if he wants to keep his job.
Some parts of the internet say the Oilers should’ve brought in Joel Quenneville right away. The thing with that is, Quenneville probably doesn’t want to come into a team where he knows the GM is on the hot seat after the current season.
After all, what’s the 1st thing a new GM does when he comes on board? Fires a lot of the current staff and brings in his people. Which means if Quenneville comes on board now he risks being only a temp in the organization – or at least more of a temp than average for a coach. Likely not an attractive proposition to him.
Quenneville will probably wait out the season before he picks a spot. Once the Oilers either commit further to Chiarelli or bring in a new GM, Edmonton will likely become a more attractive destination for him, but that’s still no guarantee as we won’t be the only team looking to replace its coach.