Confirmed with Link: Eakins Fired; MacT Transitional HC; Nelson Interim HC | Eakins Presser @ 10:00AM (II)

[Nunymare]

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[McShogun99]

Although Eakins was a poor coach I still feel bad for the guy. It's never good seeing someone get fired. It's to bad that they never went with the original plan of having Eakins as Kruger's assistant. Hopefully the 10am press conferance is more then just the stereo typical speech.

 

[Philly85*]

I don't feel bad for Eakins at all. He was an arrogant ***** from day one and came in here with his chest puffed out acting like ha was going to turn the ship around no problem. Worst coach in Oiler history regardless of how bad the roster is. Good riddance. He's getting his money.

 

[gwiz999]

It's been reported by several sources that MacT wants to get a feel of what's going on in the dressing room and to have "eye ball to eye ball chats with the core group". I hope he is also going to have those same type of chats with guys like Boyd Gordon and Matt Hendricks. Those two guys work hard every shift, play a simple game and IMO have shown what it takes every game to play at this level... unlike the "core group". The input of veteran players like Gordon, Hendricks et al should be valued as much, if not more, than the core. IMO

 

[mpolo]

There should be negotiations with Murray in Buffalo to ship Ted Nolan to Edmonton somehow. There is a guy who won't let his players tank. (And I bet Tim Murray is silently cursing him the whole while)

 

[coffeyland]

Sorry but Eakins had nearly two years to turn this thing around and at least become more consistent. We are still terrible and many would argue that we've regressed under his coaching tenure here. Not a bad hire but it's obvious this team needs a character veteran coach in the room. We haven't had that for some time!

My 10 steps of the FIX IT Process

1. Hire a coach. No more AHL rookies or fly by night Hockey Canada coaches. We need a veteran NHL coach with a decent winning record on a team that played solid G, D and F but never had resources. This coach MUST stress defence first. No more of these BS defencemen who can move the puck up ice. Their first and only role should be defence and playing to stop the puck from our net. There are a few names that come to mind but most are former MTL Canadiens and NJ Devils. I'll let this arena ask those questions.

2. As for the team, it needs not an overhaul with an axe but trades with scalpel precision. The new GM should recognize that Draisatl, RNH, Hall should be safe from trade rumors and they should insist they are going no where. They are our core. The rest of this team is up for bidding. All trades should require that our return ALL BE draft selections in 2015, 2016. I'll explain why. We need veteran leadership and trading away Eberle for someone else's problems make no sense. Look at the garbage we got back for Cogliano, Penner, Gagner ... I could go on. We can get vets in FA like Ference, Fayne, etc. We need more vets not less. They need to run this team not rookies. Then we need to start building for five years down the road with our newly acquired picks. We need to think both short and long term.

3. Move the damn OKA City team to Canada. This is nuts to keep an AHL team in the middle of nowhere where it's impossible to get them in the lineup. Who the heck chose this spot? Heck, at least move them closer like Vegas or Seattle.

4. Fire all coaches associated with the AHL team. They have done nothing to get anything out of acquired first, second or any round picks.

5. Fire all the draft staff. They haven't hit anywhere in the second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth rounds! That deserves a pink slip.

6. You need a CEO to run this team - Messier. Period. He knew how to win, he's been in classy organizations in EDM, VCR and NYC.

7. It's time to give back to the fans. They don't want to hear rebuild or any of that garbage. Get a real PR person to run this show and encourage fans to return. Gretzky and alumni golf trips, whatever.

8. Drop any player who doesn't want to be here or can't play a full 60 minutes. If that is Hall, etc - then their times as an Oiler should be limited.

9. Fans can not blindly support this team in their current format.

10. This team will finish last. Draft Connor and let's start to plan the winning now for next year. I don't want to waste this year and the offseason looking to make the changes we can make now.

My top 10 - let's give that ahole MacT some ideas. It's obvious he has no one really probing for answers.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Well there's that

On a the Pressor note, I wondering what Eakins is going to say, I'm curious if he's gracious and say nothing, or he if will throw all the people he can under the bus.

 

[frag2]

It's been reported by several sources that MacT wants to get a feel of what's going on in the dressing room and to have "eye ball to eye ball chats with the core group". I hope he is also going to have those same type of chats with guys like Boyd Gordon and Matt Hendricks. Those two guys work hard every shift, play a simple game and IMO have shown what it takes every game to play at this level... unlike the "core group". The input of veteran players like Gordon, Hendricks et al should be valued as much, if not more, than the core. IMO

This eye ball to eye ball chat stuff makes me wonder...

If MacT doesn't have a feel for the room/roster, WTF does he do on a day to day basis?

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

This eye ball to eye ball chat stuff makes me wonder...

If MacT doesn't have a feel for the room/roster, WTF does he do on a day to day basis?

I assume manage the rest of the team's operations, there are probably quite a few things he oversees.

That said, he's not very good, there's no arguing that.

 

[CupofOil]

Why is Eakins having a presser lol? At Rexall place too?

I can't recall one time when a recently fired coach held his own press conference on the premises of the place where they got fired. Very odd.

Unless he's being kept in the organization in another capacity, which honestly wouldn't shock me considering that MacT's love of him and because it's the Oilers, holding a presser to discuss his own firing makes no sense.

 

[Soundwave]

Why is Eakins having a presser lol? At Rexall place too?

I can't recall one time when a recently fired coach held his own press conference on the premises of the place where they got fired. Very odd.

Unless he's being kept in the organization in another capacity, which honestly wouldn't shock me considering that MacT's love of him and because it's the Oilers, holding a presser to discuss his own firing makes no sense.

He's going to be given his chance to put his "spin" on his time here, with the hopes that his NHL coaching career isn't totally turfed.

It is unusual but Eakins probably sees it as better for his career going forward if he can get ahead of this thing and put his stamp on it rather than fading into obscurity.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Why is Eakins having a presser lol? At Rexall place too?

I can't recall one time when a recently fired coach held his own press conference on the premises of the place where they got fired. Very odd.

Unless he's being kept in the organization in another capacity, which honestly wouldn't shock me considering that MacT's love of him and because it's the Oilers, holding a presser to discuss his own firing makes no sense.

Well they "did" that with Pat Quinn, but if he is being "kept" in another capacity, everyone should be fire immediately.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

He's going to be given his chance to put his "spin" on his time here, with the hopes that his NHL coaching career isn't totally turfed.

Makes me wonder if Mac-T's "new friends" down East convinced him to let Eakins do this.

 

[Soundwave]

This eye ball to eye ball chat stuff makes me wonder...

If MacT doesn't have a feel for the room/roster, WTF does he do on a day to day basis?

Exactly

"I only like manage the team, how am I supposed to know what's going on in the room?"

 

[Beerfish]

What a total load of bull. MacT and Eakins were joined at the hip this eyeball to eyeball, get a feel for the dressing room is total garbage.

MacT is stepping in so that he can tell Nelson how to coach the team, he loved Eakins, loved everything that Eakins did and saw no flaws in Eakins game plan. Now poor Nelson is going to get the MacT Coles notes 101 coaching lesson.

Nelson will be the head coach of this team next season, his interim tag will be removed just after the year and no formal coaching search will occur and I'll gladly make an avatar bet with anyone that Nelson is the coach next year.

This team is so bad in every single category that it can't help but improve from now until the end of the year. The Oilers will manage to end up 3rd or 4th last, their pp will improve a bit, their 'advanced stats' will improve a bit and the fan base will get sucked in by the end of the year 'We now have turned the corner' press conference.

These guys will actually be patted on the back at the end of the year after moving up a few spots from the bottom.

 

[CupofOil]

He's going to be given his chance to put his "spin" on his time here, with the hopes that his NHL coaching career isn't totally turfed.

It is unusual but Eakins probably sees it as better for his career going forward if he can get ahead of this thing and put his stamp on it rather than fading into obscurity.

But does anybody really need to hear his spin?

Everybody knows why he was fired, I don't see why he feels the need to rehash what everybody already knows unless he just starts hurling people under the bus and places the blame elsewhere. Otherwise, who cares? Seems like an ego driven thing.

I don't think any GM is going to look at his press conference and say, "That's our man", "He really held his head up high in the face of adversity". They will remember him for making an impossibly bad situation even worse.

I can understand if he called into TSN or talked on the radio about it but a presser? Who does that?

 

[Beerfish]

But does anybody really need to hear his spin?

Everybody knows why he was fired, I don't see why he feels the need to rehash what everybody already knows unless he just starts hurling people under the bus and places the blame elsewhere. Otherwise, who cares? Seems like an ego driven thing.

I don't think any GM is going to look at his press conference and say, "That's our man", "He really held his head up high in the face of adversity". They will remember him for making an impossibly bad situation even worse.

I can understand if he called into TSN or talked on the radio about it but a presser? Who does that?

At least he has the balls to face the music and face some questions, unlike his mentor who ran and hid for a few months after being let go.

 

[Soundwave]

But does anybody really need to hear his spin?

Everybody knows why he was fired, I don't see why he feels the need to rehash what everybody already knows unless he just starts hurling people under the bus and places the blame elsewhere. Otherwise, who cares? Seems like an ego driven thing.

I don't think any GM is going to look at his press conference and say, "That's our man", "He really held his head up high in the face of adversity". They will remember him for making an impossibly bad situation even worse.

I can understand if he called into TSN or talked on the radio about it but a presser? Who does that?

I agree. It's fairly selfish on his part especially on a game day. If they didn't have this stupid "transition period" I'd say it's incredibly disrespectful to Todd Nelson.

 

[oilers_guy_eddie]

I doubt this press conference will tell us anything worthwhile. But someday I hope to hear Eakins sit down with a reporter and do a tell-all about all the stuff that goes on behinds the scenes, because I bet there's a ton of stuff. I wonder if he can relate to comments from Tom Renney about upper management forcing minutes on players, and Sheldon Souray's accusation about forcing him to return from injury before he was ready. I'd also love to hear Eakins open up on stuff Andrew Ference was referencing when he went off on the team as well.

 

[CupofOil]

At least he has the balls to face the music and face some questions, unlike his mentor who ran and hid for a few months after being let go.

That's one way of looking at it but....

I agree. It's fairly selfish on his part especially on a game day. If they didn't have this stupid "transition period" I'd say it's incredibly disrespectful to Todd Nelson.

I think this is more plausible. It seems like a selfish "I need to get in the last word in front of the hockey world" type of thing and it upstages Nelson a bit.

I have no problem with Eakins getting a final say but to hold a presser to get his point across is awfully egotistical IMO.

 

[s7ark]

Although Eakins was a poor coach I still feel bad for the guy. It's never good seeing someone get fired. It's to bad that they never went with the original plan of having Eakins as Kruger's assistant. Hopefully the 10am press conferance is more then just the stereo typical speech.

He was arrogant and had no interest in being Krueger's assistant. It was the top job or nothing for Eakins. And MacT immediately fell in love with the guy and made the boneheaded decision to give him the team for 4 or 5 full years. I don't remember which tbh,

It's a shame for Eakins but he brought this all on himself. His unwillingness to even attempt to change anything with his vaunted "system" no matter the on ice results buried him.

 

[frag2]

Exactly

"I only like manage the team, how am I supposed to know what's going on in the room?"

I'm sure that quote will occur in the next presser

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I agree. It's fairly selfish on his part especially on a game day. If they didn't have this stupid "transition period" I'd say it's incredibly disrespectful to Todd Nelson.

Who really cares if it's game day? Those don't even exist anymore as far as most fans are concerned.

At least he's facing the media. We still don't know where Lowe and Tambellini are.

Despite his attitude I do feel sorry for Eakins. He was put in an impossible position by MacT and if anything he probably secretly exposed how bad this team really is.

 

[Beerfish]

Getting paid for the next 2 1/2 years to go jogging and biking in Greece or spain will sooth his soul I'm sure. Heck this team will probably have another couple of coaches coming and going before we stop paying Eakins.

 

[Beerfish]

Now here is a decent article on the whole situation.

http://m.espn.go.com/nhl/story?storyId=12034181&src=desktop&rand=ref~{%22ref%22%3A%22http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FVqNBKP6iVL%22}