Tag Archives: Todd McLellan

Around the Oilogosphere, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Podcast, Rumors, Trades

Around the Oilogosphere – April 24th Edition – Mikko Koskinen, Oilers/Hurricanes Trade Proposal, and Rumblings on the Oilers Coaching Front!

Click the pic above to check out our merch!

It looks like the Oilers are going to have some openings in their top 13 as latest reports (unconfirmed) have one of their better penalty-killers heading and one of their more promising youngsters heading to the KHL for next season.

I’m sad to see both players moving on (if the reports are indeed true) but I understand why the club would prefer to. Pakarinen was an excellent foot soldier and worked his ass off on the PK but his AHL offense didn’t translate to the NHL often enough. I always wondered why they wouldn’t use him on that left-wall during the PP. He had a cannon of a shot.

Same goes for Anton Slepyshev. He could blast the biscuit when given the chance but he never was given it. I think in Slepy’s case, he was so inconsistent too. He’d show you what he had every 6 or 7 games but only flashes in the others. I imagine he’s another player who feels let down by the coaching staff after performing so well with Draisaitl and Lucic during the playoffs in 2017.

But the players have to take some responsibility for this past season’s performance and this is one way the GM keeps the team accountable I guess. It also gives him the ability to bring in some new blood to spice things up.

I wonder if the Columbus Blue Jackets will look to shake the roster up a bit this off-season. Maybe a player like Boone Jenner becomes available.

Speaking of shaking loose, the Anaheim Ducks let go long-time assistant coach Trent Yawney. A bit of a shocker but something had to happen in Anaheim after their 1st round bowing out to the San Jose Sharks.

Yawney had been with the Ducks for 7 years and it was in the last 4 years he was in charge of their defense and penalty killing. In that time the Anaheim Ducks had THE BEST penalty kill in the NHL. Numero uno! The Oilers had the 27th best.

He also oversaw the development of key dmen like Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen, Josh Manson, Brandon Montour, and to a lesser extent Shea Theodore.

Bob’s right. Yawney does check off a lot of boxes. I hope the Oilers do indeed go after Trent Yawney as an assistant coach to replace Jim Johnson.

Will Jay Woodcroft get replaced is the next question though? It was his PP that ate shite all year whereas the PK improved after McLellan took over. People on the Twitter machine have been throwing out Glen Gulutzan’s name to replace Woody but I’m not for that. Calgary’s PP was pretty horrid in his two seasons with the club but John Shannon said on Oilers Now today that he’d be a good fit for the Oilers and is an excellent communicator.

Either way, the Oilers should bring in someone new to run their PP. Over the last four seasons, it’s ranked 22nd in the NHL and that’s not good enough with the playing personnel on hand.

If that means bringing in Manny Viveiros from Swift Current of the WHL, so be it. If that means overpaying Todd Nelson to come back, so be it. Lastly, IF that means backing up a Brinks truck to Pascal Vincent’s house to get him to leave the Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets AHL affiliate), so be it.

Get. Er. Done Boys!

Just a quick one on Mikko Koskinen.

Jason Gregor and Bob Stauffer are saying that the reported $2.5M per year for two years number that was thrown out by KHL insider and Hockeybuzz writer Aivis Kalniņš is incorrect.

I agree that the number sounds way too high. I’d heard he was making like 1.3M Euros per year but I can’t confirm that. I guess the conversion would make that close to $2M CDN. But anything over $2M would be very risky in my opinion.

This is all predicated on the Finnish goalie signing in Edmonton of course but we don’t know how Koskinen will perform on the smaller ice. He hasn’t played on it since his days in the Islanders organization… So Edmonton should treat lightly here.

I wrote about Koskinen yesterday here.

OILERS NEWS

Who are Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan considering for the new Edmonton Oilers bench coach positions

Mikko Koskinen: Good signing or Overpayment?

Four-year Oiler Iiro Pakarinen reported heading for KHL

Oilers & Hurricanes Could Be Perfect Trade Partners

Oilers’ Forward Options for the Draft

Oilers Defense Options for the Draft

2018-19 Oilers: Piecing Together Roster

RFA Profile: Drake Caggiula is still carving out a niche

After heavy hockey sinks like a stone in Pacific, Peter Chiarelli looks to salvage the good ship Oilers

How much more development can Edmonton Oilers expect from Tyler Benson?

NHL RUMORS

NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers and the St. Louis Blues

NHL Rumors: Anaheim Ducks – Need To Get Younger, Faster … Do They Look To Trade Corey Perry?

NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers

NHL Rumors: The Montreal Canadiens Need At Center

Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel! We’re on the hunt for 1000 amazing subscribers!

CHECK UPSTAIRS w/ Color! Click the pic to see this design and more!
Welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL in style! Click the image above to pick up this sweet t-shirt!
Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.
Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Friedman Says the Oilers are the Front Runners for Giant Finnish Goalie Mikko Koskinen

Click the pic above to check out our merch!

You probably have heard either via the Twitter or from Hockey Night in Canada Elliotte Friedman say that the Oilers are in on Finnish goaltender Mikko Koskinen. This new shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody. There are changes afoot in the KHL and a ton of talent is looking to come to the NHL. And if you’ve been listening to Bob Stauffer recently you’d know he asked both Todd McLellan AND Peter Chiarelli during their year-end avails questions as to procuring a goalie out of “non-traditional markets”…

Buyer Beware

Mikko Koskinen has played the last 5 seasons for Vladimir Putin’s team SKA in the KHL. He’s had the luxury of playing behind the best team money can buy over in Russia but that being said, he still has to play well to stay on said team and he has.

The 6’6″ 200lb Mikko Koskinen was once a blue-chip goaltending prospect in the New York Islanders system after being drafted as a 2o year old in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft 31st overall. Basically a first round pick.

But for whatever reason things didn’t pan out in that organization and his numbers were simply unacceptable, as you can see above, in his three seasons as a goalie in North America.

This from Islanders blog, Lighthouse Hockey:

While in the Islanders organization, he had basically one full season in AHL Bridgeport with an ugly .892 save percentage, though it was on a(nother) weak team. A hip problem clearly interfered with his performance during his entry level contract playing for the Islanders, Sound Tigers, and their then-ECHL affiliate Utah Grizzlies.

A couple of things working in his advantage are his size and I believe his age. Koskinen is 30 now and we know that goaltenders can be fickle when it comes to development but this fella has put up consistently good numbers since moving to Europe.

If the Oilers are looking at signing Mikko Koskinen to be their backup in 2018, are they aiming high enough? What I mean is that last season was lost due to “hoping” the kids would step up. Are the Oilers back to that “hoping” model again? Or are his numbers and the scouting reports out of Russia/Finland telling the Oilers that this guy can play 25-30 games next season?

Is Mikko Koskinen the next Viktor Fasth/Anders Nilsson or is he Chiarelli’s next Tim Thomas?

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/987879721902977026

MY THOUGHTS

I’m divided. He doesn’t have a good history in North America but he’s older now and there are plenty of examples of goalies who flourish in the later years. The optimist in me says the Oilers should go for it because he’s a big netminder and he’s put up fantastic numbers in the KHL but then the pessimist says he’s a slow netminder and the KHL isn’t the NHL.

https://twitter.com/AdamsOnHockey/status/987886984931639297

Should the Oilers go this route and it fails, they’ll probably still have Montoya as the no.3 who could come up but if they do sign the Finn and he succeeds, how high is the ceiling here? Are we talking Pekka Rinne high? Kiprusoff?

What is a realistic expectation of a 3o-year old goalie coming to the NHL from the KHL with his size and his stats?

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/987880255053447168

Are we overthinking this? For the love of Pete, this is the backup goalie we’re talking about here…

Here are some scouting reports of the big guy:

He takes up a ton of net and he is difficult to beat when he has time to square up to the shooter. Predictably, he struggles a bit with his mobility and regularly ends up scrambling. However, he is extremely flexible for a man his size. That combined with his long limbs helps Koskinen make up for whatever deficiencies exist in his lateral movement. Brent Craswell (link)

Koskinen’s greatest asset is his size, which he uses to seemingly fill the entire net and he covers a lot of space in the butterfly. He is inexperienced in terms of the number of games played and has not had a lot of international experience – excelling in the SM-Liiga where he ordinarily does not see the booming slapshots or accurate snipers more common in North America.  Still learning as a goaltender, he must work to improve his quickness and foot speed. Very good at anticipating chances and setting himself to limit scoring opportunities.  Quality teammate who has earned the respect of the veteran players in Espoo. (link)

CHECK UPSTAIRS! Click the pic to grab one for yourself or a loved one!
Around the Oilogosphere, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors

Around the Oilogosphere – April 21st Edition – Oilers Coaching Rumors, 2018 NHL Draft Coverage, and Is Drew Doughty Available?

Click the pic above to check out our merch!

Now that Glen Gulatzan has been fired by the Calgary Flames, the Oilers can finally complete their NHL all-star team of coaches by adding him to Todd McLellan’s staff. Right? I mean depending on what Barry Trotz, Bruce Boudreau, Alain Vigneault, and Darryl Sutter are doing, the Oilers should probably pass on that potential and scoop up the uber-successful Glen Gulatzan before anything…

I know my boys at the Oilers Live Podcast through their support behind Bill Peters and I’m simply not convinced with him. I mean he hasn’t had a whole lot to work with in Carolina but I still feel like that roster should’ve performed better than it did but most likely it was sabotaged by shite goaltending and potentially a GM that was happy to sit on his hands more often than not.

Tell ya what. If Trotz and Boudreau lose their jobs then they should be immediately considered for the Head coaching position in Edmonton. They are two of the most successful regular season coaches in the history of the NHL. Not only that but if they hire Barry Trotz, that most likely means you get the goalie whisperer, Mitch Korn as well. And if they hire Filthy Bruce, it’s almost a certainty that the team will ascend to becoming a perennial playoff team. Albeit, Stanley Cup not guaranteed.

That said, those were probably the same feelings we had when the Oilers hired Todd McLellan because he had a helluva good history with the Sharks.

Another idea might be to hire Todd Nelson AND Rocky Thompson, two coaches who are probably not going to graduate to head coach in either of their organizations. Detroit in Nelson’s case and Las Vegas/St.Louis in Thompson’s.

Funny thing with those two is they worked together on the same coaching staff in Oklahoma City for the Oilers when they coached the Barons. Gerry Fleming was the other asst. coach.

But Thompson and Nelson are both lauded for their communication skills (something that Trotz has troubles with on the bench according to Alan May) and working with young players. Perhaps it’s time to go away from the experienced NHL coach and cash in on some of these blue-chip coaches that are just waiting for their chance to run an NHL squad.

Changes have to be made though, the disconnect between Todd McLellan and Peter Chiarelli couldn’t get any wider. The fact that McLellan couldn’t get a grip on his special teams and line combinations for nearly the entire season, that he possibly alienated his star players and goaltender 5 games into the year, and the exit meetings w/ players revealed “lack of commitment” on the ice.

If Jared Bednar can take his 40pt team, a team that is far less talented than the Oilers, to the playoffs and McLellan can’t figure out how to get a team’s PP out of the gutter with the best player in the league on his team…

He gone.

One last thing before we get to the links.

In your esteemed opinion, did Milan Lucic forget how to play hockey after Christmas or did the NHL somehow speed up on December 26th?

The reason I ask those two questions is that if you feel the answer to both or either of them is ‘Yes’, you might need to re-visit how you analyze players and you might want to ask yourself if your problem is more to do with Chiarelli and the Larsson trade than Lucic himself.

Cory Schneider, New Jersey’s $6M starting goaltender, went winless from Christmas until the 1st round of the playoffs this year… I feel like that’s a million times worse than the slump Milan Lucic went on but maybe the game simply passed Schneider by and lucky for the Devils they had Keith Kincaid to ride into the playoffs on.

OILERS NEWS

Coaching:

Cult of Hockey – Who are Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan considering for the new Edmonton Oilers bench coach positions – With Todd McLellan all but guaranteed to be back as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, in 2018-19, the task of the General Manager and his Head Coach now turns to the matter of who will flank Mclellan.

Cult of Hockey – Glen Gulutzan to the Edmonton Oilers as an assistant coach? – You can’t have enough strong coaches and it would be excellent for the Oilers to have a coach or two who was capable of leading an NHL team as an asst. coach on the team. So why not Gulutzan?

Edmonton Sun – Edmonton Oilers’ assistant coach likely returning to his former post at the University of Alberta – The ball’s in Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli’s court after end-of-season exit meetings with Herbers and the other assistant coaches as to whether any or all are rehired. If Chiarelli and McLellan want him back, he may choose to stay.

The Draft:

Oilersnation – Love the D – Would you rather have a veteran in their late twenties on the verge of passing through their prime or an 18-year old that you could have under control for close to a decade?

The Hockey Writers – Oilers Options at the 2018 NHL Draft – The NHL Draft Lottery takes place a little over a week from now and the Edmonton Oilers have the ninth-best odds (five percent) of winning the thing. For argument’s sake, let’s say the Oilers are picking ninth. Do they trade the pick? Do they keep it and add a piece for the future? What should the Oilers do with their 2018 first round pick?

NHL RUMORS

Friedman eyes potential offseason NHL changes

McKenzie | Carlson has been bargain for Capitals

NHL Rumors: Los Angeles Kings – Muzzin, Doughty and the Need for Offense and Speed

NHL Rumors: Coaches – Rangers, Stars, Flames, and Hurricanes

NHL Rumors: Dallas Stars and the New York Rangers

NHL Rumors: Vancouver Canucks – Ben Hutton and Sven Baertschi

Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel! We’re on the hunt for 1000 amazing subscribers! You’ll find comedy, tragedy, optimism, pessimism, interviews, highlights, top 10 lists, and hilarious shootout videos.

CHECK UPSTAIRS w/ Color! Click the pic to see this design and more!
Click the image above and get your shirt today!
Welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL in style! Click the image above to pick up this sweet t-shirt!

Edmonton Oilers, NHL, The Dirtbag

Plan C

Click the pic above to check out our merch!

Last week was an interesting yet boring one in the land of the Edmonton Oilers. We sat through 3 excruciating press conferences which provided very little new information other than “still evaluating” and the promise of unveiling “a plan”.

Let’s take a look at things…

In 2016-17 the heavily favoured Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Nashville Predators in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Pekka Rinne shutout the Hawks twice in a row en route to a 4-0 sweep. Questions were asked. Are the Hawks done? What can they do to change this and get back to Cup contenders who can go deep in the playoffs?

They did a few things. The Panarin trade was a disaster and made the Columbus Blue Jackets a serious threat in the east. Another thing they did (and what I’ll focus on) was fire assistant coach Mike Kitchen. Kitchen had worked with head coach Joel Quenneville for about 10 years total. From 1998-2003 with St. Louis (Pronger and MacInnis years), and from 2012-2017 with the Blackhawks. Reportedly Quenneville was PISSED that they fired his top assistant coach and good friend. Kitchen primarily coached the defence and helped on the penalty kill. The Hawks proceeded to have their worst season in over 10 years and missed the playoffs by nearly 20 points.

Now how does this relate to our Oilers? This organization is a mess, and a lot of what will follow is a reflection of said mess.

Last Thursday night, TSN 1260 host Dean Millard broke some “news?” that a “former NHL executive” direct messaged him on twitter saying that Oilers head coach Todd McLellan is staying but was told he has to fire one assistant coach and Todd said Jim Johnson would be the one to go.

This information is sketchy at best, personally, I don’t buy it, but its worth an analysis. It really does make sense in a way, though. If McLellan was given such an ultimatum, would he choose close confidante and friend Jay Woodcroft (who he’s been working with since 2005), or Johnson who was brought in by Doug Wilson to San Jose (along with NHL Hall of Famer Larry Robinson) in 2012?

Jim Johnson was a tough as nails stay-at-home defenceman when he played in the NHL. Notably for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Unfortunately, he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars the same year the Penguins beat the Stars to win their first Stanley Cup. Johnson’s coaching career started with stints under Rick Tocchet in Tampa Bay and Bruce Boudreau in Washington before being hired by San Jose in 2012.

When McLellan was hired by the Oilers he brought both assistants from his time in San Jose. The special teams there often struggled, especially in the last year when they missed the playoffs and all three were fired. Things weren’t much better here in 2015-16, but in 2016-17 the Oilers had a great powerplay at about 22% and a slightly below average penalty kill. But also in 2016-17, some great strides were made with our overall defensive play. Matt Benning became a name. Eric Gryba could shut things down sometimes. It just worked.

2017-18 was a different story. While Darnell Nurse took a huge step forward, Oscar Klefbom took a few steps backward. The penalty kill was historically bad. The question is can we pin this on one guy? Is Jim Johnson the scapegoat?

It’s important to remember the NHL isn’t the NFL. There’s 23 man rosters, not 53. There’s no such thing as an offensive coordinator or a defensive coordinator. The head coach controls the systems. The assistants assist. However, often times the “defence coach” will for all intents and purposes have major coaching control over defencemen and even (for some teams) choose matchups and send out defence pairings from the bench. (Not sure if Johnson does/did this with the Oilers).

McLellan appears to have a lot of power at this point in time. The fact he wasn’t fired after game 82 (or even during the season as some thought he should including yours truly), means he’s most likely staying as Oilers head coach for the beginning of the 2018-19 NHL season.

But… Will he get to choose his assistants? Someone needs to be fired for this disaster of a season. Jay Woodcroft and the 31st ranked NHL powerplay will be back, he’s been attached with super glue to McLellan since 2005. But what would happen with Jim Johnson and who would replace him? I mean who in the Oilers organization would be a good candidate to coach the Oilers young defenceman? It’s not like there’s a Hall of Famer top all-time NHL defenceman recently hired by the Oilers is there?…

BAH GAWD!!! IS THAT??.. IT IS!!!… THAT’S PAUL COFFEY’S MUSIC!!!!

All kidding aside, that most likely wouldn’t be McLellan’s choice as defensive assistant coach. And as much as I love Paul Coffey (one of my top 3 favourite all-time players), I don’t want anything forced upon McLellan if he stays on here. The Oilers are the definition of organizational dysfunction, and the last thing we need is it to be directly behind the bench (although we have it already, but I digress).

Is McLellan really willing or able to find the best and brightest to be an assistant coach at the most important position? One that might have a different vision and philosophy as he does? One that could possibly take over as head coach if we get off to another slow start next year? One that could take his job and get the team in a better direction, thus making him look more incompetent that he looks now? Yeah, I doubt it…

If we’re going to keep McLellan, we might as well keep the other underachievers too. There’s no assistant knight in shining armor to save the day. If Todd is the coach then it’s his team and his assistants. No more dysfunction, please. It’s brutal. Learn from Chicago.

It should be simple: Either fire the mall or keep the mall.

Plan A: Fire all of them (makes way too much sense)
Plan B: Fire an assistant coach (creates more problems)
Plan C: Stay the course (nobody wants it, but it’s better than plan B)

The Dirtbag

CHECK UPSTAIRS w/ Color! Click the pic to see this design and more!
Welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL in style! Click the image above to pick up this sweet t-shirt!
Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.
Around the Oilogosphere, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Around the Oilogosphere – April 15th Edition – Rattie Signs! 10 Things to Watch This Summer, Who’s Calling the Shots with the Oilers? NHL Rumors galore!

Click the pic above to check out our merch!

Have you been enjoying these Oilers-less playoffs so far? I know that it’s hard to watch this year when our team is out of it but I’ve been impressed with the Vegas/Los Angeles series so far and I’ve been having a helluva time watching Tampa manhandle Hall’s devils.

Now, if you read my tweets you’d probably think I hate Taylor Hall. I don’t. I think that he’s a supreme talent and very entertaining to watch, I just don’t want to see his teams win. And I think that goes the same for Jordan Eberle and the Isles even though they could possibly be the most exciting team in the league to watch (for now). It’s great that they are having individual success but I simply won’t be cheering for them to win and why should I?

See, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s less about the players and their teams and it’s more about the Oilers fans who bitch and moan every single day about the Oilers trading away Hall and Eberle and sh*t on their own team that they apparently love. I simply don’t get the crying over spilled milk aspect of Oilers fandom.

If Taylor Hall does win the Hart this year I hope he gives Devils’ goalie Keith Kincaid the majority of the credit because without Kincaid’s ridiculously good performances at the end of the regular season, Hall could’ve scored twice as much and the Devils wouldn’t have made it into the playoffs.

Did Todd Have a Hand in The Trades? 

What if Todd McLellan had more to do with trading Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle that you think? Think about it. It wasn’t Chiarelli that moved Hall, Eberle, Yakupov, etc off of McDavid’s wing…

If that indeed was the case, that McLellan gave the green light on trading those players, would you still view him as the good ‘ol western Canada boy that takes responsibility for his team’s record?

*Side note: Just because you say you’re sorry and take responsibility for something doesn’t make it any less bad that it happened. We heard McLellan take responsibility so many times during the year that, for me at least, it lost its luster. That being said, I think he can pull things back together and I’m willing to give him that chance.

Front Office Clusterf*ck

I was listening to the Jason Gregor Show the other day and Jason Strudwick was talking about the recent Mark Spector article that ripped into the old Oilers and their “Red Wine Summits”. And he had a theory that that article was a message being sent by Peter Chiarelli to those above him to back off.

I can buy into what Strudwick is saying here. I think that in Boston Chiarelli had a huge problem with Neely, Sinden, and Sweeney trying to run his show which ultimately led to him dealing Tyler Seguin and I believe he tried to secure his power within the club by demanding he be the president of hockey operations and the general manager when he was brought on by the Oilers.

This will not end well, pro-Chiarelli and anti-Chiarelli fans can agree. If there is some sort of Royal Rumble going on within the power structure of the Oilers management/ownership/coaching staff, it’s only to get worse from here unless somebody goes because you can’t have a GM who’s been promised full autonomy in his contract being undermined by the coach and the cronies upstairs.

The Assistants

Speaking of coaches going places. Bob Stauffer pontificated recently on Jay Woodcroft being sent to Bakersfield to coach that team after they let Gerry Fleming go and there’s been lots of talk about Ian Herbers either going back to the University of Alberta to coach or to the AHL. Dean Millard, on Twitter, said that he got a DM from a man in the know that told him that Jim Johnson will be guy Todd McLellan chooses to sacrifice…

So that’s all three assistant coaches gone (possibly) which could lead the Oilers to hire a guy like Dave Tippett and/or Manny Viveiros and I think eventually that would allow the Oilers to move Tippett right into the head coaching role with Edmonton decided the time was right.

With Tippett, the Oilers would get a defense-first coach and that’s something I think the team needs. They’ve got to get away from trying to recreate the Oilers of the 80’s and create their own identity. And Manny Viveiros would run the PP (This past season he had the Swift Current Broncos PP running at a 29% clip).

There’s no guarantee that an excellent coach like Tippett would even consider an associate coaching position with the Oilers but we’ve seen it before with Lindy Ruff and Davis Payne.

This is a great article on Dave Tippett’s coaching style. Worthy of a few of your minutes in my opinion.

Oilers News

Edmonton Sun – Edmonton Oilers: 10 things to watch this off-season – What should we be watching up to the NHL draft, in free-agency and in training camp? Who’s going, who’s coming in? Here are 10 things to watch for before next season.

The Cult Of Hockey – Edmonton Oilers need a few value contracts, and they may have just signed one in Ty Rattie’s one-year extension -They are an essential aspect of the Salary Cap Era, where there are only so many “big dollars” to go around, and the cracks need to be filled with small ones.

The Cult Of Hockey – Coaching changes are imminent behind the Edmonton Oilers bench – I strongly believe that Todd McLellan will be back behind the bench, to begin 2018-19, but that the men standing in suits around him will look very different.

The Cult Of Hockey –  Palace intrigue at Oilers HQ grows over future of Todd McLellan and others – It looks like the Oilers will go down one of two roads, either getting rid of one or more assistant coaches or getting rid of Todd McLellan and all the asst. coaches presumably.

The Hockey Writers – Oilers Must Avoid Panic Move – Chiarelli’s trading track record is there for all to see and when we combine it with the pressure of the moment, the situation has “panic move” written all over it.

The Hockey Writers – Takeaways From Chiarelli’s Press Conference – Heading into the NHL Draft Lottery on Apr. 28, the Oilers hold the ninth-best odds and have a five percent chance of winning the lottery. Regardless, there are going to be fans clamoring for Chiarelli to be fired this summer. It’s not going to happen.

Oilersnation – Who is calling the shots? – We know that’s going to happen. What I’m wondering, regardless of who publicly pulls the trigger, is who is actually calling the shots?

NHL RUMORS

NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers – Chiarelli, Rattie, Nugent-Hopkins, Defensive Needs and Potential Targets

NHL Rumors: Dallas Stars and the Florida Panthers

NHL Rumors: Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres

NHL Rumors: Ilya Kovalchuk – No Agreement In Place With The Rangers, But He Could End Up There

Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel! We’re on the hunt for 1000 amazing subscribers! You’ll find comedy, tragedy, optimism, pessimism, interviews, highlights, top 10 lists, and Puljujarvi pizza eating videos.

CHECK UPSTAIRS w/ Color! Click the pic to see this design and more!
Click the image above and get your shirt today!
Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.