ANOTHER HITCH IN THE OILERS’ STEP
Veteran coach latest to take over sad-sack Edmonton franchise after McLellan’s firing
We interrupt the opening of the Grand National Drunk to bring you a coach hiring.
And not just any coach hiring. The great Ken Hitchcock is coming home. Peter Chiarelli is still employed as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers, but probably not for long. And Grey Cup week just got one day shorter.
The party will begin Wednesday. There was a hockey game in San Jose to play Tuesday night. If the rather lackadaisical Oilers players weren’t worried about their lot in life, they should be today, considering Hitchcock’s history.
The media loves Hitchcock and what’s not to love. He’s smart and funny and successful and interesting and always has a story or an analogy or a piece of wisdom to share. And now he gets this shot to coach the team he grew up enamoured by. He used to sharpen skates around here, coach the kids playing triple-A, be one of those hockey figures we see in every Canadian town: the guy in the rinks with the team jacket on.
Back then his team was the Oilers of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr. And now his team has Connor McDavid, the greatest talent in hockey, proving far too often how much this isn’t a one-man sport.
And Grey Cup week, the party of all parties, got pushed aside just a little bit because there’s a hockey game to watch Tuesday night. And NHL trumps CFL on every sporting day. That’s just the way it is. Hitchcock was to arrive in San Jose Tuesday in midafternoon, get to the rink, spend some time with the assistant coaches he knows and doesn’t know and be behind the bench of the most fascinating, disappointing, occasionally terrible, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-the-crash team in the NHL. Hitchcock is here for the year, partly because he was available and others of his quality were not. But mostly because no one of his history would consider taking a job like this one without any assurance beyond this season.
Joel Quenneville wouldn’t consider coaching the Oilers without some kind of long-term commitment. Same for Alain Vigneault. Hitch keeps on retiring. He told me wouldn’t coach again after St. Louis. He told me he wouldn’t coach again after Dallas. He’s a lot like old boxers. When the bell rings, he answers and it’s time to go back to work again.
Todd McLellan is a nice man and is historically a solid coach, one that failed to make the Oilers better. The best coaches put their stamps on teams, bring their identity, sharpen up teams in the areas needed most. McLellan never really did that. This team was lousy defensively when he got here, lousy as he leaves. This team’s special teams were near the bottom of the league upon his arrival, got worse last season and this year have barely been so-so. There is nothing wrong with the timing of the dismissal. It was time.
What’s wrong is that Chiarelli is still in charge, having manipulated a roster of high draft picks and quality players into a roster with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and a lot of players who have yet to become what they may one day be.
The one thing Hitchcock has managed almost everywhere he has been is to play sound defensive hockey. And that makes his goaltenders look so much better than they really are. Pascal Leclaire once had nine shutouts in a season playing for Hitchcock in Columbus. He had none the rest of his career after that. Roman Cechmanek once had a 1.83 goals-against average playing for Hitch in Philadelphia. He was out of the NHL two years later. Brian Elliott once had a 1.56 goals-against average with a .940 save percentage playing for Hitch in St. Louis. He has been nowhere near there in Calgary and Philadelphia.
Cam Talbot has looked lost this season in the Oilers’ goal. Maybe Hitchcock can find a way to bring him back to average or above that. The Oilers’ penalty killing has been rather dreadful under McLellan and the goalie has to be the best of your penalty killers. Maybe that can change now. Or at 66 years old, having not had his usual success in Dallas, has Hitchcock seen his best days? Is he the right voice for hockey millennials?
The desperate Oilers are gambling he has this year left in him to do some magic, maybe more. If he doesn’t do it, then he’ll be pushed aside, Chiarelli will be fired and it will be start-all-over time in Edmonton, again. The Oilers have their seventh coach in 10 years and the best player in hockey and probably still aren’t good enough to be a playoff team. It’s back to football now and we’ll wake up early Wednesday morning all prepared to talk about important things, like CFL players having sex during Grey Cup week. Around here, considering the state of the hockey team, we could all use a good, traditional laugh.