POLE: 3 choices; Who should be hired after Tippett is fired/not renewed

[elmeroil]

Unless the other Coach is a good goalie as well, I don't see much changing.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Why are so many people voting for Woodcroft, weren’t we screaming for him to get fired when he was an assistant coach. Also it’s not like Bakersfield is good this year, the teams .500, what make them think he can take an NHL team out of the gutter.

I do not get the love for Woody either. Not at all.

 

[Paralyzer008]

I voted Woodcroft + other. Ready to get downvoted to explain my other but...

I want to do a full coaching search at the end of the season. Actually go out and interview 10-15 names, pick the best candidate based on plan.

Would Bob Nicholson do that? No probably not.

I don't want to sacrifice Jay Woodcroft to the wolves as an interim head coach mid-season.

So who would be a fun option? A veteran coach who may be able to step in as an interim and understands he may not get a job out of it after?

Well, Calgary brought back Darryl Sutter and it worked.

So how about Craig MacTavish heads the bench with Glen Gulutzan and Jim Playfair and we see what happens? MacT with actual superstar talent is interesting, nevermind I think he preaches a more puck possession style.

If it works? Great. If it doesn't? This roster sucks too much anyways in my eyes, and MacT is a much easier sacrificial lamb you can just bump back into the broadcast booth, and you then hire a real coach once you see ALL of the options on the table once Edmonton kicks the bucket.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I'd wanna see Julien or Alain Vigneault first.
I wouldn't mind Torts (I'm one of the jackasses who voted for him).

But just wanna point out.. have any of you guys seen the Tampa Bay Lightning record the past couple years with and without Vasilevskiy in net?

Cuz goaltending is really hella important and we don't got it.

If it works? Great. If it doesn't? This roster sucks too much anyways in my eyes, and MacT is a much easier sacrificial lamb you can just bump back into the broadcast booth, and you then hire a real coach once you see ALL of the options on the table once Edmonton kicks the bucket.

It's not that easy from marketing and branding.

Sutter is associated with a cup-finalist team, and cup winning teams in LA.
MacTavish is is associated with the worst era for any team in the history of hockey as both a coach and a manager, and the Oilers have had a rough time shaking off that image of being an old-boys club.

He's not a sacrificial lamb he would be an OBC re-tread.

 

[Skar]

I didn't vote since I'm not an Oilers fan, but I hope for the sake of your team that Babcock as an option was a joke.

We have a joke of a management team who can't be bothered to interview real candidates. I would not at all be surprised if Babcock is the one and only coach who will be contacted by Holland

 

[CycloneSweep]

Why are so many people voting for Woodcroft, weren’t we screaming for him to get fired when he was an assistant coach. Also it’s not like Bakersfield is good this year, the teams .500, what make them think he can take an NHL team out of the gutter.

1. We wanted him gone because his role here was PP (almost always an assistants job).
2. Bakersfield being a 0.500 team is an absolute miracle. They are missing 2/3 of their top line from last year, we took like half of their best defenders for a few weeks and their starting goalie for a ton of it. And STILL. Most nights they are outplaying, outshooting, outpossessing the other team but GOALTENDING has been letting them down.
3. Simply the roster down there isn't very good right now due to guys graduating + the Oilers injury situation yet the team is competitive nightly. They can't score to save their lives either but thats not surprising with the much lesser roster down there this year.

Woodcrofts ability and likeability as a coach is this really.
1. He has a very strong ability to learn what makes a player tick. He is very good at figuring out what a player is and what they require to succeed and putting them into that position.
2. Players absolutely love playing for Woodcroft win or lose. He is a very likable coach and the players fight and throw the effort in to try and make him proud.
3. Him and his staff have taken prospects and elevated their games and gotten a ton of out guys that may not normally be that good.
4. He treats the players equally and fairly and doesn't play favorites.

He is everything you really want from an up and coming coach. The winning record isn't ALWAYS there but that has a lot to do with the amount of players we are sending to the team because we are actually graduating a ton from Bakersfield. And until we have a more steady stream of players going to the team, it will have an up and down overall record.

 

[Zerotonine]

For what ever reason, I'm liking the thought if Maurice, and tbh wouldn't mind Crawford based on his past HC positions.

I would b gone with woodcraft tho, eso if he was promised the opportunity if he took thr Condors HV position

 

[CycloneSweep]

I voted Woodcroft + other. Ready to get downvoted to explain my other but...

I want to do a full coaching search at the end of the season. Actually go out and interview 10-15 names, pick the best candidate based on plan.

Would Bob Nicholson do that? No probably not.

I don't want to sacrifice Jay Woodcroft to the wolves as an interim head coach mid-season.

So who would be a fun option? A veteran coach who may be able to step in as an interim and understands he may not get a job out of it after?

Well, Calgary brought back Darryl Sutter and it worked.

So how about Craig MacTavish heads the bench with Glen Gulutzan and Jim Playfair and we see what happens? MacT with actual superstar talent is interesting, nevermind I think he preaches a more puck possession style.

If it works? Great. If it doesn't? This roster sucks too much anyways in my eyes, and MacT is a much easier sacrificial lamb you can just bump back into the broadcast booth, and you then hire a real coach once you see ALL of the options on the table once Edmonton kicks the bucket.

The issue with a "full coaching search" is thats how you get a guy like Tippett.

The guys doing the searching like their friends and other old balls guys.

 

[russ99]

I do not get the love for Woody either. Not at all.

Same with all those other AHL coaches. Give me someone who has experience or the rest of the McD/Drai window is used to build up. Goes double for GM.

Seems obvious to me that our fans are over-enamored with shot metrics and prospects, hence the AHL focus. Blowing it all up to focus on that seems silly where we are now. We're not that far away from a team that can get to conference championships, and it's a crapshoot from there, and frankly to stop and do another rebuild now is asking too much.

The full cleanout and rebuild using new people, ideas and methods happens after Connor and or Leon leave.

 

[Paralyzer008]

The issue with a "full coaching search" is thats how you get a guy like Tippett.

The guys doing the searching like their friends and other old balls guys.

Well as I said - Bob Nicholson wouldn't do that because he's a stooge.

 

[Oilhawks]

1. We wanted him gone because his role here was PP (almost always an assistants job).
2. Bakersfield being a 0.500 team is an absolute miracle. They are missing 2/3 of their top line from last year, we took like half of their best defenders for a few weeks and their starting goalie for a ton of it. And STILL. Most nights they are outplaying, outshooting, outpossessing the other team but GOALTENDING has been letting them down.
3. Simply the roster down there isn't very good right now due to guys graduating + the Oilers injury situation yet the team is competitive nightly. They can't score to save their lives either but thats not surprising with the much lesser roster down there this year.

Woodcrofts ability and likeability as a coach is this really.
1. He has a very strong ability to learn what makes a player tick. He is very good at figuring out what a player is and what they require to succeed and putting them into that position.
2. Players absolutely love playing for Woodcroft win or lose. He is a very likable coach and the players fight and throw the effort in to try and make him proud.
3. Him and his staff have taken prospects and elevated their games and gotten a ton of out guys that may not normally be that good.
4. He treats the players equally and fairly and doesn't play favorites.

He is everything you really want from an up and coming coach. The winning record isn't ALWAYS there but that has a lot to do with the amount of players we are sending to the team because we are actually graduating a ton from Bakersfield. And until we have a more steady stream of players going to the team, it will have an up and down overall record.

Nail on the head. Woody will go on to have success elsewhere if he doesn’t here, IMO

 

[Sweetpotato]

Woodcroft or Gulutzan get the rest of the year.

Babs or Dineen come in after.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Woodcroft or Gulutzan get the rest of the year.

Babs or Dineen come in after.

Ahh yes more terrible washed up coaches. That'll help.

 

[Sweetpotato]

Ahh yes more terrible washed up coaches. That'll help.

Maurice is the only other option and he's not coming back to the game for a while.

Who would you choose?

 

[CycloneSweep]

Maurice is the only other option and he's not coming back to the game for a while.

Who would you choose?

Woodcroft or Maurice. Babcock coming here would be the end of the McDrai era. Dudes a shit coach.

 

[Sweetpotato]

Woodcroft or Maurice. Babcock coming here would be the end of the McDrai era. Dudes a shit coach.

Babs is a good coach that has made some ignorant decisions in the past and was run out of a city because of it.

I don't trust Holland to make the decision but I would hope he'd be able to figure out whether Babs learned anything from getting tarred and feathered or whether he's going to be playing dinosaur mind games.

Maurice isn't coming back until the pandemic is over, he left because of it. So Woodcroft. I think Woodcroft has earned a shot in the NHL, but I would hope we'd hire a coach with some history as a head coach.

 

[Stoneman89]

Gulutzan is the only coach on the Oilers bench actually doing their job, lol.

He has set up the best PP in the league, and it wasn't always that way because it was terrible under Woodcroft before Gully got here.

If I was Gulutzan and the team promoted some inexperienced rookie coach ahead of me, I'd peace out and leave.

And yet that incredible PP is now crashing back down to earth, as teams continue to study film and make more and more adjustments against the "Barrie...over to McDavid.....over to Draisiatl for the one timer." Has become incredibly predictable, they don't seem to be able to adjust.

 

[K1984]

And yet that incredible PP is now crashing back down to earth, as teams continue to study film and make more and more adjustments against the "Barrie...over to McDavid.....over to Draisiatl for the one timer." Has become incredibly predictable, they don't seem to be able to adjust.

There's no movement anymore. They just stand around and when the pass to Leon isn't there they just try and force it after a while.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Stoneman89]

I feel like the lunatics run the asylum here. It's why the same god damn shit happens all the time no matter who is coach or who the secondary or tertiary players are. I feel like I took a time machine back to 18-19 this year. Outside of the insanely hot start we had this year the December swoon is identical.

- Give up the first goal, often on the first shot of the game an almost statistically impossible amount
- Horrid, awful PK
- Floundering PP
- McDavid and Drai playing like complete ass
- Horrific, I mean horrific, sub-NHL embarrassing defensive hockey

They did all of the above in December 19-20 as well before the Yamamto magic sparked the team somehow and it all fixed itself.

So we are now in 21-22 and the only players that remains from that roster that are in the lineup each night are McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Nuge, Kassian. So we have a new head coach, a new goalie f***ing up (Talbot was the victim of the first shot in in those days), new systems, new depth players that on paper are hands down better than the shit we had in 18-19, yet here we are. The exact same thing. Might even be worse than 18-19.

Is it the city? Is it the logo that is cursed? That isn't it. It's because the culture of the team - not the coach, the organization, the on ice team is poison somehow. Do I think it's fair to blame the core identified above as a culprit? No, not in a vacuum, but they really need to take a long look in the mirror themselves and think about what they are doing that repeatedly results in this outcome for the team. There seems to just be an acceptance in the room of "well, this is how it is." It's bullshit. We are THE only team in the NHL that does this and it extends far beyond coach or GM.

Compare the roster from 18-19 to now, there isn't a soul on earth that wouldn't say our roster now is better probably across the board other than net (although Talbot sucked then so it's really probably a wash). Holland leaves a lot to ask for, but the roster is better. Why are we in the same spot?

We need a coach that will demand accountability from everyone and set the tone, even if it might make McDavid and Drai a little mad. There is something wrong with that room and we need a big character to fix it. It honestly pisses me off when the media and fans go "LOSING WITH MCDAVID AND DRAI LOL!!!!!" At this point how does someone not look at this team and wonder if something they are doing is part of the issue. They are the only constants.

Good post, and I'll chime in, if I may.

Obviously Drai and McDavid are incredible players, but mostly on the offensive side, I think we can all agree. They still need more grooming on the 200 ft game, but I don't think we've had a coach big enough to put the clamps down and live to tell about it. It spreads like a disease to the other guys and away we go. Now, I am in no way shape or form, saying the dynamic duo is a big puddle of mud defensively, but I still think they have a way to go. Draisiatl continues to make plays in the neutral zone or worse when there there is about a 5 % chance it will work and a large chance it goes the other way big time. McDavid has a tendency to leave his man unattended, waiting for that chip up the boards to go on the attack. And both of them are very guilty of taking shifts that are too long for even Aquaman. It probably comes across as trying to help the team win, but it's beginning to come across as some individual selfishness. They need a loud voice to straighten this out. I remember Eberle and Hall used to run roughshod all over the place, and they were gods because of their talent and pedigree compared to the rest of the slugs. Even Stevie Y and Brett Hull had to be cut down a notch or 2 to become even greater players. We'll see where this goes, but I think there has to be one hell of a lot more buy in. By everybody.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Good post, and I'll chime in, if I may.

Obviously Drai and McDavid are incredible players, but mostly on the offensive side, I think we can all agree. They still need more grooming on the 200 ft game, but I don't think we've had a coach big enough to put the clamps down and live to tell about it. It spreads like a disease to the other guys and away we go. Now, I am in no way shape or form, saying the dynamic duo is a big puddle of mud defensively, but I still think they have a way to go. Draisiatl continues to make plays in the neutral zone or worse when there there is about a 5 % chance it will work and a large chance it goes the other way big time. McDavid has a tendency to leave his man unattended, waiting for that chip up the boards to go on the attack. And both of them are very guilty of taking shifts that are too long for even Aquaman. It probably comes across as trying to help the team win, but it's beginning to come across as some individual selfishness. They need a loud voice to straighten this out. I remember Eberle and Hall used to run roughshod all over the place, and they were gods because of their talent and pedigree compared to the rest of the slugs. Even Stevie Y and Brett Hull had to be cut down a notch or 2 to become even greater players. We'll see where this goes, but I think there has to be one hell of a lot more buy in. By everybody.

Someone else made a good point. McDavid and Draisaitl CAN be better defensively. You know when that is? When the team doesn't overplay them in a game and the other lines are allowed to contribute.
When the team is behind constantly and McDavid and Draisaitl are pretty much told its up to them to win the game, they go pure offense mode.
Watch games where we get an early goal and watch how different they play. They are still able to produce offensive but because they aren't as desperate, their defensive game is much better.
Usage is a huge thing for that.

When even star players are trying to force things, tons of mistakes happen. When they are over thinking and not just playing their games, the defensive game falls apart. When a player has to think before he makes a move cause he is scared of allowing a goal against, that extra second leads to a chance against.

 

[K1984]

Good post, and I'll chime in, if I may.

Obviously Drai and McDavid are incredible players, but mostly on the offensive side, I think we can all agree. They still need more grooming on the 200 ft game, but I don't think we've had a coach big enough to put the clamps down and live to tell about it. It spreads like a disease to the other guys and away we go. Now, I am in no way shape or form, saying the dynamic duo is a big puddle of mud defensively, but I still think they have a way to go. Draisiatl continues to make plays in the neutral zone or worse when there there is about a 5 % chance it will work and a large chance it goes the other way big time. McDavid has a tendency to leave his man unattended, waiting for that chip up the boards to go on the attack. And both of them are very guilty of taking shifts that are too long for even Aquaman. It probably comes across as trying to help the team win, but it's beginning to come across as some individual selfishness. They need a loud voice to straighten this out. I remember Eberle and Hall used to run roughshod all over the place, and they were gods because of their talent and pedigree compared to the rest of the slugs. Even Stevie Y and Brett Hull had to be cut down a notch or 2 to become even greater players. We'll see where this goes, but I think there has to be one hell of a lot more buy in. By everybody.

I'm with you. Often with McDavid and Leon the more frustrated they are the worse they get in terms of lazy/reckless play with and without the puck. There is no "stay the course, we'll get over it" with this team, because the group, including the leadership group, is incredibly fragile. When the leaders are as loose and reckless as anyone else, why would anyone on the roster be interested in tightening up? When these problems pop up it just snowballs every time.

They are like a group of alcoholics, but instead of alcohol the fix is playing like you're in the OHL again. It's like the type of play we are seeing now is always there, always lurking in the background, just waiting for the addict (the Oilers) to have something bad happen before they relapse and start playing the easy way again, damage to themselves be damned.

They need a hard coach that reminds them the second the scent of this type of game emerges and stops it. I thought that Tippett was taking this approach this year after he ripped the team in pre-season when they were playing like idiots, but it's clear he can't control them.

 

[Stoneman89]

Someone else made a good point. McDavid and Draisaitl CAN be better defensively. You know when that is? When the team doesn't overplay them in a game and the other lines are allowed to contribute.
When the team is behind constantly and McDavid and Draisaitl are pretty much told its up to them to win the game, they go pure offense mode.
Watch games where we get an early goal and watch how different they play. They are still able to produce offensive but because they aren't as desperate, their defensive game is much better.
Usage is a huge thing for that.

When even star players are trying to force things, tons of mistakes happen. When they are over thinking and not just playing their games, the defensive game falls apart. When a player has to think before he makes a move cause he is scared of allowing a goal against, that extra second leads to a chance against.

Yes, playing from behind can definitely mess with you. But this is where the steady oar comes into place. If you're down 1-0, that's not great at all. But to start changing your game 3 minutes in, in a reckless style does no one any good.

 

[Oilers90]

Any chance of Kris knoblauch?

 

[Soundwave]

Hypothetically if they do hire Babcock are they allowed to work out a deal where they pay part of Babcock's remaining contract with the Leafs?

Or does that contract have to be entirely axed for them to sign him?

 

[SaltNPeca]

Pretty obvious that McDrai & Nurse coach themselves,given their length of shifts,so new coach only required to coach the other 18.

100%
Need a coach who can rein in the stars and <insert idiom> (get the whole team buying into a system where each player knows the system and their role in it at nearly all times with the core leading the way)

Unless the other Coach is a good goalie as well, I don't see much changing.

NYR had the better goalie in the last game no doubt. Also Trouba was better than Nurse. Still you saw McDavid, Draisaitl, and Hyman overextending themselves. Long shifts, trying to do it alone, trying to beat 4 guys (yes Connor can pull that off, but didn't in this game), overhandling the puck, etc. Didn't see Zibanejad nor Breadman try any of this.
NYR played a pretty simple game. Good work ethic. Dump & chase, puck recovery from effort, & blocking shots. It's not like any of their players made even 1 spectacular play.
Arguably if they also have Koskinen they still win that game vs. that Oilers team. If they play their starter Shesterkin it's likely a shutout.