News Article: Spector: Oilers held hostage by their past

[MoontoScott]

Fair enough. I just find myself sooooo frustrated with Katz that I am inclined to blame him for everything.

All organizations are a reflection of the guy at the very top of the food chain.

 

[McDNicks17]

so a coach in a professional hockey league is supposed to be part time?

Considering almost no other NHL team has a "skills development coach", I'm not sure why Spector would assume it's a traditional coaching position or why it would work closely with the head coach and assistants.

 

[nightfighter]

Did I miss something? Is COffey not on staff anymore?

 

[McTonyBrar]

Considering almost no other NHL team has a "skills development coach", I'm not sure why Spector would assume it's a traditional coaching position or why it would work closely with the head coach and assistants.

I don't understand what "skills" he was giving when he spent all of his time in the press box with Gretzky.. He didn't even show up at the practices. He also considered coaching his sons team more important than his NHL job.

 

[McDNicks17]

I don't understand what "skills" he was giving when he spent all of his time in the press box with Gretzky.. He didn't even show up at the practices. He also considered coaching his sons team more important than his NHL job.

Did you even read the post you're responding to?

You're doing the exact same thing Spector did.

 

[Staghorn]

One word...
Spector.

One word. Katz. He’s the owner of this team and basically does it to hang around with the OBC... if the OBC told him to jump off a bridge, he would... it’s pathetic but as long as he lets the OBC yank his chain, this is what we can expect. Katz likes the Red Wine club and hanging with “Legends” more than he cares about winning hockey. He knows Edmonton will foot the bill.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Did you even read the post you're responding to?

You're doing the exact same thing Spector did.

So you're saying that hiring Paul Coffey was a good move?

 

[McDNicks17]

I also still find it a bit mind boggling that people think that hiring a former player with little to no coaching experience for a development coach role is unheard of and can only be explained by the Old Boys pulling strings.

I'm going through the teams alphabetically. I'm up to Buffalo(aka four teams in) and there's eight former players with basically no prior experience currently employed as a "Development Coach".

Would you rather Alex Henry or Mike Komisarek in Coffey's spot?

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I also still find it a bit mind boggling that people think that hiring a former player with little to no coaching experience for a development coach role is unheard of and can only be explained by the Old Boys pulling strings.

I'm going through the teams alphabetically. I'm up to Buffalo(aka four teams in) and there's eight former players with basically no prior experience currently employed as a "Development Coach".

Would you rather Alex Henry or Mike Komisarek in Coffey's spot?

You don’t find it odd it’s always a former Oiler? Why should we trust Katz to hire the right people on the first place?

 

[McDNicks17]

You don’t find it odd it’s always a former Oiler? Why should we trust Katz to hire the right people on the first place?

Teams almost always hire their former players for these roles.

You don't see Flames fans up in arms over Brian McGrattan of all people being their Development Coach.

Niedermayer and Marchant in Anaheim, Adam Mair in Buffalo, Glen Wesley and Sergei Samsonov in Carolina, Greg Campbell and Chris Clark in Columbus. The list goes on.

 

[guymez]

Teams almost always hire their former players for these roles.

You don't see Flames fans up in arms over Brian McGrattan of all people being their Development Coach.

There is some truth in this for sure. The dynamics with this team is a little different though because of the owner.
For me if Katz didnt have the history he has with coveting ex Oilers I would have less of a problem with hires like Coffey. Its difficult to be sure just how far Katz is willing to go with this. I mean based on the history there appears to be a strong possibility that Coffey may become a strong voice at the Management table at some point.

I dont know about you but I find that possibility very troubling.

 

[McDNicks17]

It's actually funny how many former Oilers are Directors of Player Development or Development Coaches on NHL teams.

Marchant, Samsonov, Henry, Cleary, Horcoff, Stoll, Reasoner, etc.

I guess they got the crash course on what not to do haha.

 

[TB12]

He's not blaming Coffey for the mess.

He's saying that there is something wrong with the fact that he was hired in the first place. Which there was. It's a disgrace that we hired some guy who had been out of the league for most of the past 20 years. The fact that Coffey allegedly seemingly had no interest or intent to actually do anything is double concerning.

Agreed. He's saying Coffey is the symptom, not the disease.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Teams almost always hire their former players for these roles.

You don't see Flames fans up in arms over Brian McGrattan of all people being their Development Coach.

Niedermayer and Marchant in Anaheim, Adam Mair in Buffalo, Glen Wesley and Sergei Samsonov in Carolina, Greg Campbell and Chris Clark in Columbus. The list goes on.

Do these teams hire a group of players from one specific era? Do the Islanders have Mike Bossey and co running the team? Do the Penguins have Lemieux, Barrasso, Mullen, Murphy?

If our former player list working within the organisation was Jason Smith, Ryan Smyth, Steve Staios, Vincent Damphousse, Bernie Nicholls would the optics change?

I think it would.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Teams almost always hire their former players for these roles.

You don't see Flames fans up in arms over Brian McGrattan of all people being their Development Coach.

Niedermayer and Marchant in Anaheim, Adam Mair in Buffalo, Glen Wesley and Sergei Samsonov in Carolina, Greg Campbell and Chris Clark in Columbus. The list goes on.

When have you seen Paul Coffey doing any coaching with any of our players this year?

 

[McDNicks17]

When have you seen Paul Coffey doing any coaching with any of our players this year?

Considering it sounds like his role is more of an Adam Oates-esque 1 on 1 coaching type of role with the team's prospects, I'm not sure you're going to run into too many people who have had access to that.

 

[SomeDudeOTI]

One word. Katz. He’s the owner of this team and basically does it to hang around with the OBC... if the OBC told him to jump off a bridge, he would... it’s pathetic but as long as he lets the OBC yank his chain, this is what we can expect. Katz likes the Red Wine club and hanging with “Legends” more than he cares about winning hockey. He knows Edmonton will foot the bill.

And Spector wrote yet another clickbaity trash article. If he wanted to make that point, he should have made that point. Instead he spewed out another steaming pile of sensationalist garbage to get clicks. It's what he does.

Meanwhile, if the RedWineClub was trying to get Todd fired... maybe they are the ones that should be listened to.

 

[McDNicks17]

Do these teams hire a group of players from one specific era? Do the Islanders have Mike Bossey and co running the team? Do the Penguins have Lemieux, Barrasso, Mullen, Murphy?

If our former player list working within the organisation was Jason Smith, Ryan Smyth, Steve Staios, Vincent Damphousse, Bernie Nicholls would the optics change?

I think it would.

I think a few bad apples in important positions spoiled the bunch.

If Lowe wasn't the ringleader for so long, I think people would actually appreciate a guy like Coffey in a small role like he's in.

 

[Del Preston]

Did I miss something? Is COffey not on staff anymore?

His role is being evaluated by Chiarelli and/or Nicholson.

 

[McVirginOil]

I think the OBC itself is split between Chia and “we won more cups than he did so we gotta run it!”

 

[oobga]

Loving this article. I don't think Nicholson and Chia are the answer, but oh my god, if we can get rid of the OBC, what a huge step forward it would be for the Oilers. Guys like Nicholson and Chia would be much easier to throw in the trash than the OBC leeches. Hope all oilers media get on this bandwagon.

 

[Faelko]

Refuse to read anything that hack writes

 

[BlackDogg]

His role is being evaluated by Chiarelli and/or Nicholson.

 

[oobga]

Why can’t we have a normal management team for once?

I’m envious of teams with no past glory now.

It's the cyclical nature of the game, as MacT said.

Start of the cycle: win a bunch for 10 years.
Middle of the cycle: All the guys on that great team run the team into the ground, and a fanboy of those glory years buys the team and enables them
End of the cycle: All of the glory days players and owner die of old age

If someone invents a way for rich guys to live forever though, holy crap are we all screwed.

 

[rboomercat90]

Considering almost no other NHL team has a "skills development coach", I'm not sure why Spector would assume it's a traditional coaching position or why it would work closely with the head coach and assistants.

Why wouldn’t it? He’s supposed to be working with the players isn’t he? Why would that not include working with the other coaches?