Oilers hand Woodcroft keys to team's future
After years of coaching shuffles in the wake of disappointment on the ice, the Edmonton Oilers believe they have finally found stability in Jay Woodcroft. Time will tell, and Woodcroft just bought himself three years of it after signing a three-year extension Tuesday.
Woodcroft is the 17th coach in franchise history and the 10th in the last 13 years, not counting Craig Mactavish's two-week interim stint in 2014-15.
It was a tense time in Oilers history when the 45-year-old arrived on the scene in Edmonton — a frustrated team with two of the best players in the world was in real danger of a humiliating pratfall.
The Oilers had just fired Dave Tippett after back-to-back 4-0 and 4-1 home ice losses dropped them to 10th place in the Western Conference. They were in a 7-13-3 malaise and it looked very much like Connor Mcdavid and Leon Draisaitl would be going another season without a playoff run.
Who knows what the ramifications would have been if the Oilers continued their slide but, fortunately for the organization, they will never know. The team responded under Woodcroft immediately, going 26-9-3 down the stretch, the third best record in the NHL over that span, and going three rounds deep in the playoffs, farther than any Oilers team since 2006.
So, Woodcroft going from interim coach to getting a contract to be the head guy was a forgone conclusion, but the extension was never going to come during the season. Neither side wanted the distraction of a contract negotiation in the middle of a stretch drive and general manager Ken Holland wanted to view the picture in its entirety before deciding how to proceed.
Part of the discussion during Holland's exit meetings with players was hearing their input on Woodcroft's half-season at the helm and the reviews were clearly positive. At his end of the season media availability, goaltender Mike Smith reiterated what the players had been saying since February — the new coach made a big difference.
“I said it all along, I think he painted a picture for our group that allowed us to really excel and play up to our potential,” said Smith.
“I thought he did an unbelievable job to give us a plan and then it was on the players to go execute it. I think that's all you can ask from a coach.
“He took us from being out of the playoffs to being a playoff team to being one of the last four teams playing in the NHL. He deserves a ton of credit, for sure.”
At his own end of the year availability, Woodcroft said he wanted to come in and provide a sense of focus and belief and feels he accomplished both goals. There's no arguing that, by the end of the season and through the playoffs, the Oilers were a driven and well-prepared team that truly believed in itself.
“It's the job of a head coach to define what's most important, to provide a sense of true north and a sense of hope and spirit of optimism at that time, when the team was out of the playoff picture,” he said.
“My mandate was to get this team into the playoffs. We made the playoffs, we won two rounds and made it into the third round.
“I don't profess to say that I made every right decision or our coaching staff made every right decision, but we played hockey in June.”
While he's been in hockey forever, Woodcroft is still just a rookie head coach who, if the trajectory continues, should only get better with experience. And now he will have an entire summer to prepare, he will get to select his own team (to the extent that contracts allow) and he won't have to be looking over his shoulder wondering if he's only filling in until they find someone else. It's fully his team now.
“I felt ready for this opportunity in February based on my preparations over 17 years in professional hockey,” he said. “I felt ready heading into the playoffs because I had been part of a lot of playoff games in different fashions and with difference job titles.
“It wasn't my first time in this league getting ready for a playoff series. But where you work your way through you do learn different lessons along the way.”