Hitchcock to take over Oilers

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Ken Hitchcock knows the routine well by now as he begins his tenure as new coach of the Edmonton Oilers. For the fourth time in his long coaching career, Hitchcock has been tasked with taking over a struggling team in the middle of the season.

Hitchcock was hired Tuesday as coach of his hometown Oilers after the team fired Todd McLellan with the team languishing in sixth place in the Pacific Division.

“It’s not going to change overnight, but we can start taking some steps,” said Hitchcock, who led St. Louis to a first-place finish in 2011-12 after taking over as coach one month into the season. “I told the players today I can take them to a place personally that they can’t get to themselves, but they’ve got to buy into that, and it’s not going to be comfortable at times.” The Edmonton Oilers have fired coach Todd McLellan and replaced him with Ken Hitchcock with the team languishing in sixth place in the Pacific Division.

The Oilers have lost six of seven games, getting outscored 27-11 in those losses, in a rough start to McLellan’s fourth season behind the bench.

The team missed the playoffs in two of his previous three seasons despite having superstar Connor McDavid on its roster and the Oilers were just 9- 10- 1 entering their game Tuesday night at San Jose.

The 66-year-old Hitchcock announced his retirement in April after a 22-year coaching career, which included a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999.

He had two stints in Dallas as well as head coaching stops in Philadelphia (20022006), the Blue Jackets (2006-2010) and St. Louis (2011-2017).

Veteran Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and is expected to miss four to six weeks. He has a goal and an assist in 10 games this season. He hasn’t played since Oct. 27 and was placed on long-term injured reserve on Nov. 9.