Thoughts on Woodcroft as Oilers HC in 2019/2020?

[Hopelesslucicfan]

So I'm just curious to see where the boards stand on this matter.

Woodcroft has had a ton of success this year with our pretty limited prospect pool in the AHL, even with our multiple callups of our higher end guys in yam and jones.

The condors are sitting at 15th in PK% and 9th in PP%.

They're also 15th in goals for, and third in goals against despite 3/4 goalies they've dressed having god awful numbers, and the one that is having the most success being a rookie who seemingly came out of nowhere.

He's also doing something many of us have wanted forever out of our AHL club, and that is playing our prospects in key roles as opposed to relying soley on his vets to win games.


I can't find his contact length, but I assume it was 5 years like Tmac, so he's a free man after next season I believe.

This all makes me wonder whether he'll stick around, or of he'll end up following Todd if he gets hired somewhere, or perhaps signing on somewhere else altogether in an attempt to get a HC gig.


Which brings me to my question, what would you think if the oilers made him the new head coach come this summer?

I can't really decide how I'd feel about it, but I think i could live with it.

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[MikeGrier99]

Not really excited by the idea. Could do worse. Could do a lot better too.

 

[SourOil]

Honestly did not see this as a possibility ever 2yrs ago.

 

[snipes]

Keep him with Bakersfield. He’s doing a great job with the players and it seems like a good fit for him.

 

[I am the Liquor]

What does Markstrietppguyomgrofl think?

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

Keep him with Bakersfield. He’s doing a great job with the players and it seems like a good fit for him.

I agree, that would be ideal. How long would he be willing to stick around though with Todd gone? Especially if Todd gets another job and comes calling?

You may have to give him some incentive to stay.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

Honestly did not see this as a possibility ever 2yrs ago.

You're telling me. I was ready to shoot him into the sun, but here we are now with an equally bad pp, and he's killing it on the farm.

 

[Kolja]

Seems like a likable guy. Taking a personal interest in every player. Good communicator.

On the flip side, traces of Koala.

 

[Del Preston]

I think it would be too early.

 

[Cloned]

Keep him with Bakersfield. He’s doing a great job with the players and it seems like a good fit for him.

Make him the highest paid AHL coach. Maybe even on par with some NHL coaches. That should keep him happy there.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

I think it would be too early.

Assuming he's signed for another year, we're kind of in a bad spot though.

We sign a coach, woodcroft walks next offseason. We sign hitch as a stopgap for another year, it sends a bad message to the fans imo. I feel like this offseason is when we have to decide whether he deserves a chance or if they're going to let him go.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

Make him the highest paid AHL coach. Maybe even on par with some NHL coaches. That should keep him happy there.

Any idea what AHL head coaches make compared to NHL assistant coaches? He may already be the highest paid AHL coach based on his NHL salary

 

[Cloned]

Any idea what AHL head coaches make compared to NHL assistant coaches? He may already be the highest paid AHL coach based on his NHL salary

I’d imagine Eakins gets paid a lot.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

I’d imagine Eakins gets paid a lot.

That's possible. I'm not sure how salaries work with AHL coaches, and I can't find any information with numbers.

 

[T-Funk]

What does Markstrietppguyomgrofl think?

Good lord he's not still around is he?

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Assuming we arent being lied to and the team brings in a solid outside guy as GM, I'd be fine if he interviewed a bunch of coaches and decides Woodcroft is the guy.

If it's someone else, let Woodcroft keep developing our kids. If it leads to an NHL job somewhere else for him, so be it. Other coaches would be happy to come in for that same opportunity.

 

[Aerrol]

I wouldn't hate it but it'd feel like a lazy choice. Seems like it'd be too rushed for Woodcroft and I'd prefer a wider ranging search. He has done an excellent job though.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

I wouldn't hate it but it'd feel like a lazy choice. Seems like it'd be too rushed for Woodcroft and I'd prefer a wider ranging search. He has done an excellent job though.

I don't see a ton of good options out there right now though even if we did conduct interviews.

I think a big part of it that makes me want to consider it is that I still feel we lost out big time by not appointing Nelson our head coach before and would hate to repeat that mistake.

We're counting on some of these young guys to be impact players for us down the road, I wonder if giving woodcroft the HC job will help some of them transition to the NHL.

 

[rboomercat90]

Let him over ripen in Bakersfield for a few years first. I think it would be a mistake to name him as the next coach but if he has a few more years like this one then perhaps the one after that.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I don't think Woodcroft would leave to follow Todd. It's clear he wants to be a head coach and he can't do that if he is just constantly bring Todd's buddy. Let him build a resume down there, don't fix what's not broken right now.

His team is the best thing OEG has going for them right now, don't break it.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

I don't think Woodcroft would leave to follow Todd. It's clear he wants to be a head coach and he can't do that if he is just constantly bring Todd's buddy. Let him build a resume down there, don't fix what's not broken right now.

His team is the best thing OEG has going for them right now, don't break it.

I just can't see a scenerio where we hire a new coach, and somehow convince woodcroft to stick around after next season. If he does want to be a head coach, he'd be better off going to an organization that didn't just hire a new guy.

Ideally if he keeps this up, we can convince him to stay on the farm, I just don't know how realistic that is right now.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Good lord he's not still around is he?

I had the pleasure of running into his wonderful posts around 3 days ago. Anyways I voted no. If he has another stellar season next year then I would put some thought into it.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Bring back Ralph

 

[rboomercat90]

I just can't see a scenerio where we hire a new coach, and somehow convince woodcroft to stick around after next season. If he does want to be a head coach, he'd be better off going to an organization that didn't just hire a new guy.

Ideally if he keeps this up, we can convince him to stay on the farm, I just don't know how realistic that is right now.

Why not? He’s got less than one season of being a professional Head Coach in the AHL. Nobody parlays that into an NHL Head Coaching gig. He’s in a good situation right now where he’s showing what he can do on his own merit and he’s doing a good job. Why would he leave that because he doesn’t get a job nobody would have thought he was remotely qualified for just a couple months ago? He’s not even close to being in the same situation Todd Nelson was in here. Nelson had proven for years that he was a good AHL coach that deserved a shot in the NHL. Even with that resume, he still hasn’t gotten a shot.

I don’t think the Oilers will have any problems convincing him to stay in Bakersfield unless he’s angry about Mclellan being fired the way he did and that’s a different issue. I also don’t see why he’d leave to go be an assistant with Mclellan somewhere else. He got all out of that scenario that he was going to get. You could argue it was starting to hurt his own reputation towards the end. The path forward for him now is on his own and the situation he’s in seems to be a good one for him. A lateral move might not be and at this point that’s all that would be available for him.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

Why not? He’s got less than one season of being a professional Head Coach in the AHL. Nobody parlays that into an NHL Head Coaching gig. He’s in a good situation right now where he’s showing what he can do on his own merit and he’s doing a good job. Why would he leave that because he doesn’t get a job nobody would have thought he was remotely qualified for just a couple months ago? He’s not even close to being in the same situation Todd Nelson was in here. Nelson had proven for years that he was a good AHL coach that deserved a shot in the NHL. Even with that resume, he still hasn’t gotten a shot.

I don’t think the Oilers will have any problems convincing him to stay in Bakersfield unless he’s angry about Mclellan being fired the way he did and that’s a different issue. I also don’t see why he’d leave to go be an assistant with Mclellan somewhere else. He got all out of that scenario that he was going to get. You could argue it was starting to hurt his own reputation towards the end. The path forward for him now is on his own and the situation he’s in seems to be a good one for him. A lateral move might not be and at this point that’s all that would be available for him.

I just see him as already having years of experience in an NHL assistant coach role, which appears to be how most coaches transition to NHL head coach, and that AHL head coach almost seems like a backwards step.

It seems to me based on my very limited knowledge, that once you break the barrier of AHL to NHL, going back in any sense seems like a demotion. It seems easier to go from assistant to head coach, rather than AHL head coach to NHL head coach.