Dallas Eakins fired, Nelson named HC, MacTavish named interim

[Atas2000]

#firenelson

 

[Volica]

I almost feel bad for the Oilers. Seriously.
Remember two years ago, when everyone pegged them as the next Canadian team to win the Cup. Oddly enough, since that time they're more likely to win the draft lotto again than a playoff round.

So, it turns out you can't just stockpile first overalls and think everything will be okay. I mean, who needs a blueline, goaltending, a two-way second line, and a bottom 6 anyways.

 

[SLarmer28*]

Is Craig McTavish the worst executive in hockey?

Nope!

But Kevin "6 Rings" Lowe is.

 

[SLarmer28*]

I almost feel bad for the Oilers. Seriously.
Remember two years ago, when everyone pegged them as the next Canadian team to win the Cup. Oddly enough, since that time they're more likely to win the draft lotto again than a playoff round.

So, it turns out you can't just stockpile first overalls and think everything will be okay. I mean, who needs a blueline, goaltending, a two-way second line, and a bottom 6 anyways.

It starts at the top.

The Edmonton Oilers need a new owner, new executives, new management.

 

[LGB51]

Huge mistake, Eakins was the perfect scapegoat. Now when the team inevitably does just as bad or worse (I don't think getting better is an option), people will realize the issues are trickling down from the top.

Who in the world are these people you're referring to that don't already know this?!? If you follow hockey, you knew the problem for awhile now.

 

[LGB51]

i don't get why oilers fans just start boycotting the games until mactavish and lowe are fired?

it's pretty simple. this whole thing is such a mess it's completely mindblowing

I asked the same question last week, (or something to the affect, think it was more like why wont their owner do anything about this mess) the response I got was for the fear of the ****** bag owner moving the team to another city. Katz apparently his the fans of the team by the balls, and he's enough of a a hole to try to move them if the fans stop showing.

It's a awful case of taking advantage of peoples love of something and extorting the ever loving **** out of them. It's disgraceful, and the people of Edmonton deserve better. The NHL should hold a owners vote to force Katz to sell the team to someone(s) with the money that actually cares about the team. If something like that is even possible

 

[oobga]

Huge mistake, Eakins was the perfect scapegoat. Now when the team inevitably does just as bad or worse (I don't think getting better is an option), people will realize the issues are trickling down from the top.

I would agree if it was any of our previous coaches, but MacT let Eakins go on to prove he is without a doubt a garbage coach and it was no longer an option to just let him ride the year out in a tank. The regression of our top players, the terrible game plan he was forcing into their heads and all the bad habits he was sitting back and letting develop would need a couple more years to recover from if they let him keep coaching this team to the end of the season.

He's just so awful it's unbelievable. No respectable franchise would have let him coach past the first couple months of last season. It was so obvious so quickly how in over his head he was and nothing but MacT's stubbornness and refusal to admit he made a mistake allowed Eakins to be an NHL coach beyond that. Eakins badly needed to just take an assistant or associate coaching job (what MacT was supposed to offer before he fell in love with him) to work his way into the NHL slowly.

Of course none of this excuses how terrible MacT is at his job (and the whole Lowe and Friends crew), but Eakins was legitimately terrible, like a lot of the other people MacT has brought into this org as GM. The team is not a playoff team for sure, but for Eakins to have gotten nothing out of basically anyone on the team can't be ignored.

 

[The Panther]

Okay, we have a 30+ page thread to lay into the Oilers organization again for being incompetent... enlightening.

Anyway, I'm not sure I agree with this mid-season Eakins firing. Here's why:

As a weak/young team in 2013, what the Oilers needed was either: (a) a veteran NHL coach with loads of experience and clout, or (b) a promoted minor league coach who knew the franchise's system and prospects inside and out. (Or they could have kept Ralph Kruger.)

Instead of doing either of these two logical things, MacTavish decided to make his mark on the organization and go with a "gut" hire of a coach who (a) didn't have NHL experience or clout and (b) didn't know the franchise and its prospects inside and out. It was a gutsy move by MacT, and it failed spectacularly.

It seems to be that now, at the end of 2014, the team's needs for a coach are the same as they were in mid-2013. Since the season is already a write-off in terms of making the playoffs, I wonder if it is wise to have two "interim" coaches behind the bench? While supplying some necessary catharsis for suffering fans (which is likely why this has happened now), it's not going to solve the larger problem -- unless Nelson ends up being the real coach of the future (a possibility). But if he is going to be the man, why cal him "interim"? Obviously management doesn't foresee him being their guy now. So, in effect, we have two interims to finish off this lost season.

Thus, by firing Eakins, they don't solve their coaching need, and they add TWO more short-term coaches into the mix -- precisely what developing young players don't need.

Hard to bear as the losing was, I do wonder if it might have been better to just leave Eakins in for the span of this season, take another top draft pick, and then hire the 'real' coach (meeting the criteria in my third paragraph, above) in summer? At least that way, the younger players are spared another +2 coaches to confuse them during their development.
_______________________________

Looking at it more positively, in the (still very) short time MacT has been GM, the albatross of his reign has been Eakins. And that albatross is now dead. So that might be good, at least mentally.

(Not sure about "visually"...)

 

[Hank Plank]

Remember two years ago, when everyone pegged them as the next Canadian team to win the Cup.

No I actually don't were these people drunk?

 

[LGB51]

Yes!!!



Eakins was a horrible coach. Nearly every player regressed under his watch.

MacT as the interim coach is perfect. You can't slack off when your boss is behind you on the bench.

You can if you want to be traded off of that sinking ship.

 

[RABBIT]

Today? Probably... Arguably could get Maloney and Nonis in there. Just my opinion though.

One of these things is not like the other.

 

[Lobstertainment]

Here comes the dirt.

Derek Van Diest ‏@SUNdvandiest
Eakins offended some players with letter warning them to be in shape when they came to camp in first year. Got off on wrong foot... #Oilers

Is... Is that not an industry norm? I remember seeing a Leafs one before(granted from the 60's) that said gave them goals to reach before camp opened and other requirements. But that just seems like a normal thing to do in any industry. A quick letter touching base with everyone so they know what to expect coming into camp.

I'm going to assume that the young guns got so spoiled these past years that they're now ruined forever.

 

[oobga]

Is... Is that not an industry norm? I remember seeing a Leafs one before(granted from the 60's) that said gave them goals to reach before camp opened and other requirements. But that just seems like a normal thing to do in any industry. A quick letter touching base with everyone so they know what to expect coming into camp.

I'm going to assume that the young guns got so spoiled these past years that they're now ruined forever.

Have you seen how smug Eakins is, especially about fitness/diet stuff? I imagine this letter had a smug tone and was written with the assumption that the players were not in good shape to start with, at least not near his lofty standards (before he even coached 1 NHL game he said he was going to get the players in such a condition they could play 30 mins a night). The letter probably also came with a list of foods they should restrict themselves to, a meal plan and a list is exercises they should focus on, lol.

 

[Cbbq3]

needs to be retweeted as much as possible

Except it's not entirely correct - in 2009 when MacT ceased being the Edmonton head coach he was not fired, he quit. If you think about it, in a way that is even more amusing.

 

[oobga]

Except it's not entirely correct - in 2009 when MacT ceased being the Edmonton head coach he was not fired, he quit. If you think about it, in a way that is even more amusing.

Yup, suggest MacT was fired anywhere near Kevin Lowe and he will make sure to correct you that his BFF stepped down.

 

[Bandit]

Have you seen how smug Eakins is, especially about fitness/diet stuff? I imagine this letter had a smug tone and was written with the assumption that the players were not in good shape to start with, at least not near his lofty standards (before he even coached 1 NHL game he said he was going to get the players in such a condition they could play 30 mins a night). The letter probably also came with a list of foods they should restrict themselves to, a meal plan and a list is exercises they should focus on, lol.

Yes, god forbid a coach come in and tell this sad bunch to shape up. Well, at least Edmonton will have another 2-4 years of a puppet HC to look forward to I guess...

 

[Atomos2]

Oilers have gotten worse. Eakins wasn't the problem. They just needed someone to blame.

 

[oobga]

Yes, god forbid a coach come in and tell this sad bunch to shape up. Well, at least Edmonton will have another 2-4 years of a puppet HC to look forward to I guess...

No problem with a coach doing that if he can back it up with actual coaching ability. Eakins was all talk and zero substance, a lot like MacT since he took over as GM. Renney shouldn't have been let go (he was because he wouldn't let Lowe and gang micromanage his coaching decisions and match kids against top lines to try to fast track their development). Krueger shouldn't have been fired either (he was because MacT fell in love with Eakins). Hiring Eakins was a huge mistake and he should have been fired 2 months into last season. He was very obviously a dud very early on in his NHL coaching career.

 

[Bandit]

No problem with a coach doing that if he can back it up with actual coaching ability. Eakins was all talk and zero substance, a lot like MacT since he took over as GM. Renney shouldn't have been fired. Krueger shouldn't have been fired, but hiring Eakins was a huge mistake and he should have been fired 2 months into last season. He was very obviously a dud very early on in his NHL coaching career.

Exactly, I just don't get why the players get some sort of free pass in all of this. If the coach/GM/President told them all to come into camp the best shape of their lives, wearing pink tutus, considering their what? .225 winning percentage over the last five years, there isn't a single player on that roster that has the right to be upset about anything.

 

[dahrougem2]

You can if you want to be traded off of that sinking ship.

And it honestly wouldn't shock me if that's what some of these young players wanted, just to get the hell out of Edmonton

 

[oobga]

Exactly, I just don't get why the players get some sort of free pass in all of this. If the coach/GM/President told them all to come into camp the best shape of their lives, wearing pink tutus, considering their what? .225 winning percentage over the last five years, there isn't a single player on that roster that has the right to be upset about anything.

A coach with zero NHL game experience can't just do whatever he wants though, can he? Just because the team missed the playoffs (although 12-13 was their best season out of the last 5 by far) this new smug AHL guy can come in not really knowing any of the players and accuse them all of being out of shape physically when they probably are all in good shape (being professional athletes and all)?

Being on a poorly built NHL team that can't make the playoffs doesn't mean it should be OK to be accused of not being committed to your off-season training by some newb coach that went on to prove he doesn't have a clue what he's doing at this level. Kypreos said it best, Eakins went in to the 13-14 season acting like he was a 10 year veteran coach with the big talk and all the swagger. It completely blew up his is face when when he and everyone else started to realize he was in completely over his head.

 

[Sean Garrity]

#itsnothecoachitstheculture

 

[oobga]

#itsnothecoachitstheculture

I know it's hard for people to believe beacuse the Oilers have been so bad for so long, but it was definitely both. Management is terrible, team is badly built, but Eakins was not an NHL coach. I would have been happy to see him stay to finish the tank season if he wasn't doing more and more damage with his terrible decision making and pushing bad systems as time went on. Should still have Renney and Krueger coaching this team in tandem. MacT took a non-playoff team and turned it into one of the worst teams ever with his Eakins hiring. It's just a shame that Lowe and MacT are once again in charge of the replacement.

 

[Del Preston]

Oilers have gotten worse. Eakins wasn't the problem. They just needed someone to blame.

He was most definitely one of the problems. In way over his head from day one. Lowe and MacTavish should also be gone but finally firing the massive mistake that was Eakins is a start.

 

[Didactic*]

Hey, on the bright side his hair is safe now.