Coach get fired on (enter date here)

[GameChanger]

I read some Finnish articles about Kotkaniemi, who started in Montreal straight after the draft.

After the first game: They didn't put Kotkaniemi's line to start in the own area even once. Out of the 10 faceoffs 4 were in the offensive zone and 6 in the neutral zone. Kotkaniemi was the only player who had zero starts from his own zone. Julien didn't have the right to make the last line changes, but as an experienced coach he managed to do the best he could to protect Kotkaniemi.

And the 2nd game: The Penguins tried to put the Russian star Jevgeni Malkin against Kotkaniemi in the faceoffs, but Julien did his best to avoid that situation. Kotkaniemi ended up winning six out of the nine faceoffs.

Sounds like there's been some serious linematching. It'd be so nice to see what the Oilers could do with a coach that would excel in linematching and with special teams. There are some holes in the lineup, but a good coach would be able to use the pieces we have to make the problem smaller. If you have McDavid, Drai, Nuge, Puljujarvi and some reasonable options for a defender the PP should be one of the best in the NHL, no less than that.

 

[Aerchon]

I believe McLellan has instilled a solid 2 way system that worked well in the nhl 2+years ago.

Gulutz is actually a similar coach to McLellan but seems to have "better" match up recognition. Under the circumstances I believe Gulutz will be better than McLellan. I think he did more with a worse roster with even worse habits in Calgary.

However I don't understand why everyone has him penciled in to replace McLellan. Sure it's extremely likely. But imo there's no reason the organization doesnt intend to replace the head coach position while leaving the assistants intact. Especially in ghost situation where nepotism is rampant. I could easily see some x Oiler alumni getting the call.

While I hate the nepotism, right now I'm disgusted enough to have Mark Messier come in as our new head coach and at least give him more of a chance than I would have 2 months ago.

I am a fantasy hockey guy that loves nhl hockey. I personally think those who blame Chiarelli for creating a bad team are those that don't generally follow other teams. While we don't have a power house team like I thought we could. On paper we have an average team. On paper we have a better team than the Devils anyway. Both now and future imo. The issues as I see them fall far more on coaching than the GM.

Thanks McLellan for giving our team some general knowledge of how to play two way hockey. Now get lost so we can bring in a guy who can get this team playing well consistent in today's faster nhl. Someone able to motivate and inspire our guys to be better than our opponents.

 

[Ck1]

Well the question is if your firing TMac who are you replacing him with thats a solid upgrade?

Darryl sutter

 

[TheRebuild]

So if the Oilers win the next game 5-1, do we start talking contract extensions for TMac?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I read some Finnish articles about Kotkaniemi, who started in Montreal straight after the draft.

After the first game: They didn't put Kotkaniemi's line to start in the own area even once. Out of the 10 faceoffs 4 were in the offensive zone and 6 in the neutral zone. Kotkaniemi was the only player who had zero starts from his own zone. Julien didn't have the right to make the last line changes, but as an experienced coach he managed to do the best he could to protect Kotkaniemi.

And the 2nd game: The Penguins tried to put the Russian star Jevgeni Malkin against Kotkaniemi in the faceoffs, but Julien did his best to avoid that situation. Kotkaniemi ended up winning six out of the nine faceoffs.

Sounds like there's been some serious linematching. It'd be so nice to see what the Oilers could do with a coach that would excel in linematching and with special teams. There are some holes in the lineup, but a good coach would be able to use the pieces we have to make the problem smaller. If you have McDavid, Drai, Nuge, Puljujarvi and some reasonable options for a defender the PP should be one of the best in the NHL, no less than that.

At some point Chia will have to axe him if things don't turn around and Chia is still the GM at that point. If we have a repeat of last season then the head coach, GM, Lowe, MacT, Nicholson, etc should all be out on their asses.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

So if the Oilers win the next game 5-1, do we start talking contract extensions for TMac?

Hell no, if he takes us to the Cup Finals or something then maybe.

 

[GameChanger]

At some point Chia will have to axe him if things don't turn around and Chia is still the GM at that point. If we have a repeat of last season then the head coach, GM, Lowe, MacT, Nicholson, etc should all be out on their asses.

Exactly. Anyway I believe there's a lot of pressure towards Chia so if things don't go well he's gonna have to do something early enough to save the season. At least I sure hope so.

I agree with many others, this was just one game, but the real worrying fact was that there didn't seem to be changes from last season in critical areas. Right now there just isn't many reasons to believe TM will be able to bring the results we expect, but I do expect some ups as well. That's because there are enough good players to have some good periods anyway, but without a great coach it probably won't be permanent.

 

[McJadeddog]

May 1st 2019.

Agree. They will give him the full season. When we don't make the playoffs, he'll be let go at the start of the off-season.

 

[Throttlehead]

Agree. They will give him the full season. When we don't make the playoffs, he'll be let go at the start of the off-season.

If we are way out looking in at playoffs around the 40 game mark, he'll be gone. There is no way he can survive another year like last year, the pressure will be too much.

 

[McFlash97]

The fact were sitting here discussing McLellan's interim replacement in Gulutzan just speaks volumes about how poorly this franchise is run. You think McLellan is bad..Gulutzan is on a whole another level of bad. Where is Todd Nelson when you need him.

Frankly speaking, this team is built by Chiarelli. There are massive holes at almost every position 4 years into his tenure. Weak defense, weak backup goaltending, question marks on the wings, mismanagement of Puljujarvi, handing out terrible contracts, losing trades. Its a comedy of errors... There is absolutely no way a team with Benning, Bouchard, Russell, Bear, Garrison will be close to 500 after 10 games looking at our schedule. Its hideous.

That backend against teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, Winnipeg, Nashville etc is going to be eaten alive. Jerseys forwards toyed with them all night and Bear and Garrison weren't even in the lineup ... lol

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I've changed my mind.

I give Mclellan this road trip. I'm already anticipating a multi-goal loss against Boston as it'll be a jet lagged, first game in a week, uninspired effort of a game. I'm predicting a 4-1 loss.

New York plays San Jose next and the Oilers after. They'll likely be 0-4 when they play the Oilers. This is the game that decides Mclellan's fate upon returning to Edmonton. If they lose, he's done whether or not they play well against Winnipeg.

If they come home 0-4, they have to fire him and get a new voice in-the earlier the better as they can't wait until Halloween this year. As another poster said, this roster is built for Daryl Sutter hockey. I bet they hire him on the condition he keeps the assistants for the length of their contracts as they're new hires.

 

[McShogun99]

I give TM the entire season. He’s a respected, veteran coach. Plus there really isn’t a visible replacement available if he got fired mid season. His main problem is that he’s stubborn for change and keeps the young players on to short of a leash until they earn his trust.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I give TM the entire season. He’s a respected, veteran coach. Plus there really isn’t a visible replacement available if he got fired mid season. His main problem is that he’s stubborn for change and keeps the young players on to short of a leash until they earn his trust.

I disagree, Mclellan will be lucky to survive October if they have another shit-show start.

These new assistants are his last chance to get this team to hit the ground running after last season and he's already not utilizing at least one of them for what he was supposedly brought in to assist with.

 

[PulYou]

It is not so long ago that Chiarelli said he was expecting Oilers to be in the playoffs this year. I hope he is ready to do the necessary to fulfil his promise. Even if it means correcting the earlier mistakes in coaching decisions.

 

[nabob]

I read some Finnish articles about Kotkaniemi, who started in Montreal straight after the draft.

After the first game: They didn't put Kotkaniemi's line to start in the own area even once. Out of the 10 faceoffs 4 were in the offensive zone and 6 in the neutral zone. Kotkaniemi was the only player who had zero starts from his own zone. Julien didn't have the right to make the last line changes, but as an experienced coach he managed to do the best he could to protect Kotkaniemi.

And the 2nd game: The Penguins tried to put the Russian star Jevgeni Malkin against Kotkaniemi in the faceoffs, but Julien did his best to avoid that situation. Kotkaniemi ended up winning six out of the nine faceoffs.

Sounds like there's been some serious linematching. It'd be so nice to see what the Oilers could do with a coach that would excel in linematching and with special teams. There are some holes in the lineup, but a good coach would be able to use the pieces we have to make the problem smaller. If you have McDavid, Drai, Nuge, Puljujarvi and some reasonable options for a defender the PP should be one of the best in the NHL, no less than that.

Nah we have a coach that believes in ramming the square peg into the round hole until the hole becomes a busted mess that the square peg will fit through.

 

[lakai17]

Only game #1 and Lucic gets 19 minutes of ice time.

Should utilize Lucic with his size and stamina.

Euro ice exposes this team as a whole. Imagine if this team played on Euro ice for 82 games.

 

[nabob]

Only game #1 and Lucic gets 19 minutes of ice time.

Should utilize Lucic with his size and stamina.

Euro ice exposes this team as a whole. Imagine if this team played on Euro ice for 82 games.

He was their second best forward. And I’m pretty sure the rink was NHL size.

 

[McDrai]

It is not so long ago that Chiarelli said he was expecting Oilers to be in the playoffs this year. I hope he is ready to do the necessary to fulfil his promise. Even if it means correcting the earlier mistakes in coaching decisions.

I don't trust Chia with improving this roster via trade. I'll give him credit with the drafting as it appears to have improved greatly but his trading track record speaks for itself.
As for a coaching decision, I can definitely see Chiarelli canning McClellan if this team misses the playoffs again.

 

[rboomercat90]

It’s one game guys.

However. I do wish our media asked some questions that had some weight to it.

For example I would like to know what in game adjustments were made. Like second intermission.

If you’ve been following Mclellan’s coaching career like most of the rest on here, you’d know by now that he doesn’t make in game adjustments. He runs with what he has and just expects it to work. If it doesn’t, that’s it. That we saw the same systems and the same powerplay set ups that we saw fail so badly last year, even after hiring all new assistants to address those areas, is the reason for all the doom and gloom. Sure it’s only one game so far this year. Unfortunately, it was the same thing we saw all last year.

 

[Aerchon]

So if the Oilers win the next game 5-1, do we start talking contract extensions for TMac?

Its extremely tough.

I want him gone. He had all preseason to make changes and did not. Thats enough for me under the circumstances.

However, if the team turns around quickly and we somehow miraculously make the playoffs it will be hard to move on from him. A playoff berth this year and in 2016-2017 would be a massive improvement over the previous tenure.

After how similar this first loss was to last year. Even if we make the playoffs I can't see how I will ever truly support him moving forward.

 

[rboomercat90]

Its extremely tough.

I want him gone. He had all preseason to make changes and did not. Thats enough for me under the circumstances.

However, if the team turns around quickly and we somehow miraculously make the playoffs it will be hard to move on from him. A playoff berth this year and in 2016-2017 would be a massive improvement over the previous tenure.

After how similar this first loss was to last year. Even if we make the playoffs I can't see how I will ever truly support him moving forward.

If the team turns around quickly then he deserves to keep his job.

The problem though, is how much time do you give him to do it?That the team lost their first game isn’t the issue. How they lost it is. That the team looked as lifeless as it did most of last year is what makes it hard to believe he’ll turn it around quickly. He had all last year to turn them around and didn’t. If the changes made to the coaching staff don’t pay immediate dividends then there isn’t much point in sticking with what doesn’t work.

 

[PaPaDee]

May 1st 2019.

Agreed.

 

[yababy]

"1st post". Honestly, I think his job is safe this year. No matter how bad it gets I think management will stay the course. They are a stubborn bunch. Pathetic, really.

If Management stays the course it'll be a clean sweep of the house. Katz won't give them a year

 

[yababy]

I believe McLellan has instilled a solid 2 way system that worked well in the nhl 2+years ago.

Oilers were very lucky 2 years ago.
They caught teams off guard the first 10 games plus they picked up lots of points at the end of this year in garbage time. Add a vezina calibre season from Talbot.
You really think this scenario is reasonable to assess the teams fortunes on?

 

[Aerchon]

Oilers were very lucky 2 years ago.
They caught teams off guard the first 10 games plus they picked up lots of points at the end of this year in garbage time. Add a vezina calibre season from Talbot.
You really think this scenario is reasonable to assess the teams fortunes on?

I think 2016-2017 is a better year to assess this year's team than last year's.

If we had Sekera my expectations would be 100 points.