MCLELLAN PAYS PRICE FOR OILERS’ STRUGGLES
Fans already show signs of embracing decision to hire local hero Hitchcock
Todd McLellan coached the Edmonton Oilers to a 8-1-1 record just a couple of weeks ago. Now he’s gone. Fired.
There are all sorts of reasons to be upset with this, not the least of which is that the bullet should have had general manager Peter Chiarelli’s name on it.
But there is genius in the move, too.
Replacing him with Edmonton native Ken Hitchcock, the third-winningest coach in NHL history, is brilliant.
There is reason to feel sorry for McLellan, forced to coach a roster that is worse today than it was two years ago when he coached the team to a 103-point season and went to Game 7 of the division final.
And there is the human side of it, too, having him fly with the team to San Jose where he had such a long run as coach, and firing him the morning of a game against the Sharks.
So McLellan joins the list, that includes Pat Quinn, Tom Renney, Ralph Kruger, Dallas Eakins and Todd Nelson, of coaches who got fired, most of them for the wrong reasons. Those firings didn’t solve much.
That should probably be the focus of this column. But the move to bring Hitchcock out of retirement to coach the team he always dreamed of one day coaching, makes it easy for the town to turn the page.
Indeed, before Hitchcock had even landed in San Jose Tuesday, there was a huge Welcome Home Hitch sign outside United Cycle, where he used to sharpen skates and sell hockey equipment back in the days when he coached the Sherwood Park Chain Gang in midget AAA. And go to the University of Alberta to watch Clare Drake run his Golden Bears practices.
The popularity of Hitchcock in this city is unquestioned. The genius of the move is that Oilers fans will embrace the hire and be excited by the prospects of watching “Hitch” write a new ending to his brilliant career in his hometown.
McLellan got fired because his team lost six of its last seven. And the Oilers lost those because goaltender Cam Talbot reverted to last year’s form and was back in the toilet. And because Chiarelli, in addition to other areas, failed to fix a defence that came unravelled, along with the lack of developed talent and depth on the wings.
The question is, “Did owner Daryl Katz hand him the gun? Did Oilers Entertainment Group vice-chairman and CEO Bob Nicholson put the bullet into the chamber?”
I asked that question in the conference call Tuesday morning, and Chiarelli insisted he acted alone.
“This is my decision,” Chiarelli emphasized. “When you are a manager you speak to the people around you and you gather opinions around you, but this is my decision.”
When asked to define the reasons involved, Chiarelli pointed to a few factors.
“We are moving into American Thanksgiving, which is a bit of a template for making the playoffs — and I felt I was seeing some things I thought I saw last year after not seeing them for quite a fair bit this year. I wanted to nip it in the bud,” Chiarelli said, of the date where history reveals teams that are position in the playoffs end up in the playoffs.
“Defence coverage, at times, lack of compete and the broad swings within games. When I see them after having a very strong stretch, the antenna goes up,” he said.
Obviously the Oilers, although they sit on the cusp of a playoff position, were prepared to panic as they contemplated missing the playoffs for a 12th year of the last 13 and the second straight year of Connor McDavid’s dominance as the best player in the game.
McLellan and Chiarelli, I wrote at the start of the season, were both coaching and general managing from the edge of the cliff this year.
Chiarelli pushed McLellan off the cliff after 20 games. And he’s likely moved a few feet closer to the edge of that cliff, too, with Hitchcock here for the short term.
Barring Hitchcock writing a story for the ages, you have to figure Chiarelli to be gone at the end of the season for the moves he made that reduced McLellan’s chances of succeeding.
“To what extent do you see yourself being on the hot seat now?” was a question I also asked on the conference call.
“Hot seat or whatever term you use, I feel like I’ve been under scrutiny, and justifiably so, prior to this.
“And if this makes me under scrutiny more, then I understand,” he responded.
“In doing this, I’m not absolving myself of any responsibility with regards to the team or its current performance.”