Oilers expected to add Gulutzan to staff
McLellan expected to add ex-Flames head coach to staff amid retooling
Familiarity does breed comfort, certainly with head coaches and assistants.
It also helps that they’re good at their jobs, of course.
But there’s always a certain symmetry between head coach and assistant hires, which is why Trent Yawney, Glen Gulutzan and Manny Viveiros will likely be announced Friday as Todd McLellan’s three new Wise Men after former assistants Jay Woodcroft, Jim Johnson and Ian Herbers moved on after three seasons.
It’s not known how long the new contracts will be, but McLellan has two years left on his five-year, $15-million deal.
Yawney, who played junior with McLellan in Saskatoon and later was on his San Jose Sharks’ staff for three years, interviewed for the Anaheim head-coaching job in 2016 but lost out to Randy Carlyle when Bruce Boudreau was fired. He stayed on Carlyle’s staff for two years, looking after the defence and penalty kill, until his contract wasn’t renewed and they brought up farm assistant Marty Wilford.
Yawney did a nice job with Cam Fowler and Josh Manson on defence and the Ducks PK was fifth, perhaps skewed a bit because they had great face-off guys.
Gulutzan, who could take over the Oilers forwards here, the same job he had as Willie Desjardins’ right-hand man with the Vancouver Canucks, knocked heads with McLellan during the Battle of Alberta as Calgary Flames’ head man for two seasons.
Gulutzan had a good relationship with the kids in Vancouver, striking up a friendship with Brock Boeser at development camp, and also related well to Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary.
The Swift Current Broncos head coach, Viveiros, is the outlier.
He’s an NHL newbie at 52, but somebody who dazzled in the WHL in Prince Albert against McLellan and Yawney in the early ’80s. He racked up 289 points as a small puck-moving defenceman over a three-year span, which saw him get drafted by the Oilers in 1984. He could look after the baffling Oilers power play that went from 11th (22.9 per cent) to 31st (14.8 per cent) last season, something Woodcroft looked after before moving to Bakersfield.
The two former NHL head coaches (Yawney in Chicago and Gulutzan) will help McLellan bounce things off. They are two guys who know the pressure of being the guy in charge.
“Trent left me in San Jose because he wanted to be a head coach again (Syracuse and Norfolk in AHL),” said McLellan shortly after his Oilers staff was disbanded at season’s end.
And the third Oilers hire Viveiros, who has a house in St. Albert?
He’s been dealing with kids in junior so it shouldn’t be an adjustment to come to the NHL with players in their early 20s.
“Great guy. Players’ coach,” said Tri-City Americans long-time GM Bob Tory. “He was a highly skilled D-man and highly respected on our Memorial Cup team in Prince Albert in 1985 with coach Terry Simpson. He spent time in Europe refining and has done a good job in Swift.”
MACTAVISH AT MEMORIAL CUP
Oilers VP of hockey ops Craig MacTavish watched the roundrobin part of the Memorial Cup in Regina and was highly impressed with Acadie-Bathurst draft prospect, right-shot defenceman Noah Dobson and Regina Pats captain Sam Steel, the Sherwood Park centre, who belongs to Anaheim.
On Dobson, whom they would love to take but who probably won’t be there when the Oilers pick 10th at the draft: “He’s very good, moves really well, there’s a very good package there.”
On Steel, who leads the Memorial Cup in points: Dynamic guy who is producing at the most critical times, a huge attribute. He’s got high-speed skill and is trying to be a difference-maker, a good quality.”
On Oilers’ free-agent signing, Regina Pats winger Cameron Hebig, who’ll play in Bakersfield: There’s things to fine-tune going to the pro game but he’s productive playing on the line with Steel and (Nick) Henry. He’s got a very valuable aspect, he can put the puck in the net.”
Oilers draft pick, goalie Stuart Skinner, who got Swift Current to the Memorial Cup, also impresses MacTavish.
“They had two seven-game series and two sixes and that’s 26 games with lots of overtimes. I think the whole team ran out of gas. Stuart was a one-man wrecking machine in the 2-1 loss to Hamilton, keeping his team in it. His hands are improving, he’s catching more pucks, getting his blocker on them more than I’ve seen.”
Oilers free-agent signing, defenceman Joel Persson, is staying in Sweden after signing a one-year contract.
“I think he wants to flow seamlessly into the NHL so I think another year over there will help,’’ said MacTavish. “He’ll mature and get stronger. It worked really well last season with (William) Lagesson when he played over there in Djurgardens.”
This ’n’ that: Persson may not come over to the prospects camp after the NHL draft because it’s for juniors, not pros, but he could be at main camp in September for a while before returning to Vaxjo.