Team takes the blame for McLellan’s firing
‘This isn’t on Todd, it’s on us as players,’ says McDavid. ‘We have to wake up here’
The Edmonton Oilers were hurt and embarrassed, but not entirely surprised when Todd McLellan became the latest casualty in the organization’s revolving door of fired coaches.
While it’s a bit unusual to see somebody get his pink slip on the morning of a game, the players knew before they even got on the plane to California that somebody would be taking the fall if they didn’t start winning, and soon.
Turns out soon wasn’t soon enough for general manager Peter Chiarelli. After back-to-back weekend losses to Calgary and Las Vegas extended their slump to six losses in the last seven games, McLellan took the bullet that could have been fired just about anywhere in this middling, hapless organization.
“Its tough to pinpoint what we need,” said team captain Connor McDavid, who is on the verge of watching another year of his career wasted in Edmonton. “We’re all to blame here. This isn’t on Todd, it’s on us as players. We have to wake up here.”
And, short of a major trade, which isn’t really much of an option given that there isn’t much to trade, this is the only wake-up call they can make in the middle of a season. Fire McLellan and bring in hardliner Ken Hitchcock to lay down the new law.
“Good,” said Zack Kassian. “Listen, we’ve lost a lot of games here and it’s unacceptable. Hitch is going to be Hitch. We have to control the room and get the most out of every individual in here. As a group, we need to take responsibility and get out of this thing.
“All of us are on the hot seat. Yes, Todd got fired, but all of us need to pick up our games and collectively start winning. It just sucks because we didn’t play the way we could have. It’s sad to see him go. It falls on us in here.”
Chiarelli, addressing the media in San Jose, said he didn’t want to wait until during or after this three-game road trip to pull the trigger because while a five-point deficit is manageable, anything much deeper than that will be very difficult to crawl out of. And after watching them against Calgary and Las Vegas, he’d seen enough anyway.
“I saw some things (from last year) that were resurfacing,” he said. “We had a really good stretch (8-2-1) and I don’t think we overachieved. I just saw some reversion back.
“This isn’t scientific, there’s a sense and a feel. I saw levels of flatness, levels of non-response and when that happens the radar goes up.”
The players didn’t see themselves sagging or tuning out the coach, but they do know that it wasn’t working, and they are largely to blame for that.
“I thought Todd was a great coach, he improved this team a lot,” said Leon Draisaitl. “We want to make clear this is not on him, this is on us as players. He was preaching the right things and doing the best he could do to get us to play the right way. Mostly, this is on us players.”
“It’s sad to see a coach like that go,” added defenceman Adam Larsson. “We’re the ones who perform on the ice and we haven’t done that.
“We just have to get back on the winning track. Losses bring a bad mood to the room, it doesn’t matter what coach you have. But (Hitchcock) has been on a winning track for his whole career. I think it will be a good fit.”
Hitchcock is a stern taskmaster who stresses defence, responsibility and teamwork above all else. Turn the puck over, cheat for offence, play soft along the boards and there will be nowhere to hide.
“He’s hard on guys,” said Kyle Brodziak, who played under Hitchcock in St Louis. “When you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing you can expect to hear it. He’s tough, he’s demanding on the details and playing a certain way. He’ll be tough on guys. You have to have thick skin.
“Turnovers are a definite no-no. He does like creativity if you’re doing it the right way and doing it smart. Defensively, he demands that you play it hard and there are details that we’re going to have to work on and get better at … or we’ll hear about it.”
Maybe this is what they need, and have needed, for a long time.
“I hope it will be a good wake up call for us because as a group I think everyone feels that we’re definitely underachieving,” said Brodziak. “It’s a bad reflection on us when a coach gets fired. Now it’s how we respond. Maybe it is a little bit of what we need right now.”