Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Oilers Rumors

Dave Tippett Reportedly Plans To Retire From Coaching Career

at CDT | by 4 Comments

PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan tweeted Saturday night that former NHL head coach Dave Tippett, who was let go by the Edmonton Oilers earlier in the season, plans to retire from his coaching career.

If true, that would conclude a 17-year NHL head coaching career for the now 60-year-old Tippett. He was fired by the Oilers after a 23-18-3 start to the season.

Tippett, a longtime NHL player as well, got his first crack as a head coach in the 2002-03 season with the Dallas Stars. After six seasons in Dallas, Tippett joined the Coyotes organization for the next eight years, serving as their head coach from 2009-2017. There, he guided the team to the 2012 Western Conference Finals and was the Jack Adams Award winner in 2010, his first year in Phoenix/Arizona. That year remains the only 50-win, 100-point season in franchise history.

Through 1,285 games as a head coach in the NHL, Tippett finishes with a 648-475-162 record. It’s an all-time points percentage of .567. In 82 playoff games, Tippett went 34-48.

 

Oilers Recall Colton Sceviour

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • The Oilers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Colton Sceviour from Bakersfield of the AHL.  The veteran had actually been handed a two-game suspension for a hit on Canucks prospect Jack Rathbone earlier this week but has yet to serve either of those games.  Sceviour has two goals and three assists in 30 games with Edmonton this season plus a pair of helpers in four AHL contests.

Jesse Puljujarvi Out Four Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Edmonton Oilers are starting to move in the right direction but they’ll have to do it without Jesse Puljujarvi for the next little while. Head coach Jay Woodcroft told reporters today that Puljujarvi’s lower-body injury will keep him out about four weeks.

Since Woodcroft took over four games ago, Puljujarvi already had three points before exiting last night’s match against the Anaheim Ducks early. The fourth-overall pick from 2016 was finally starting to come into his own this season, racking up 12 goals and 28 points through 46 games while playing a career-high in minutes. A frustrating case of mismanagement early in his career, it appears as though the Oilers and the young forward have finally figured out how to best use his rare blend of speed, size, and skill.

Losing him now will also throw a wrench in the lines for Edmonton, which had finally seemed like a cohesive four-unit group the last few games. Jason Gregor of TSN believes that Ryan McLeod might be bumped up the lineup, giving him a huge opportunity to establish himself further at the NHL level. The team also has Brendan Perlini, who hasn’t played since January 25, as an option to re-enter the lineup.

In a season like a roller coaster, the Oilers are currently on a four-game winning streak and now have retaken the third spot in the Pacific Division playoff race. That streak will be tested soon enough though, as after tomorrow’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, the team has a brutal stretch with games against the Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes, all teams positioning themselves as Stanley Cup contenders. They’ll have to go through those matches without Puljujarvi.

Brad Malone, Justin Dowling Clear Waivers

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Feb 11: Malone and Dowling have both cleared, according to Friedman. They can now be assigned to the minor leagues.

Feb 10: The waiver wire has two players on it today, as Brad Malone of the Edmonton Oilers and Justin Dowling of the Vancouver Canucks are both available for claim according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. If Malone’s name surprises you, it should; the veteran forward had been playing on an AHL contract but has now signed a one-year, two-way, NHL deal with the Oilers. In order to return to Bakersfield for the time being, he needs to clear waivers after signing the new deal.

Malone, 32, is the captain of the Condors, meaning he likely has a close relationship with Jay Woodcroft, who is now taking over as head coach of the Oilers after Dave Tippett was let go earlier today. That isn’t necessarily the reason for this contract though, as reports had surfaced much earlier in the year that Edmonton wanted to sign Malone to an NHL deal but couldn’t for salary cap reasons. Still, Woodcroft’s promotion could certainly mean that there is a bit of NHL playing time in Malone’s future, depending on what happens with the rest of the roster.

If he does come back up at some point, it certainly wouldn’t be a new experience. Malone has more than 200 NHL games under his belt to this point, including some playoff contests back when he was with the Colorado Avalanche organization. He played 16 games with the Oilers in 2018-19, his last appearance in the NHL.

Dowling meanwhile has played in 22 games with the Canucks this season, including last night’s loss against the New York Islanders. He has just two goals and four points in those matches, while usually seeing less than ten minutes of ice time. Because he’s in just the first season of a two-year, one-way contract, it seems unlikely that another team would claim him unless they feel he can make an immediate impact in the lineup. The 31-year-old has just 18 points in 98 career regular season games.

Zack Kassian, Duncan Keith Out Multiple Weeks

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

5:38 pm: The team also announced that they’ve moved forward Kyle Turris to injured reserve. He’s only played four games since the beginning of January but has been a healthy scratch for most of the time. The nature of his injury is unknown. To fill his roster spot, the team recalled defenseman Philip Broberg from the AHL.

2:41 pm: The Edmonton Oilers will be without Zack Kassian and Duncan Keith for the next several weeks, general manager Ken Holland announced today. Kassian is dealing with a broken jaw that will keep him out four to six weeks, while Keith is in concussion protocol, has upper-body soreness and could miss two to four weeks. The Oilers will recall Markus Niemelainen from Bakersfield to fill one of the roster spots.

Kassian, 31, left last night’s game after playing just 4:52 of ice time, though that wasn’t all that far off from what he had been receiving of late anyway. The veteran forward has just five goals and 14 points through 35 games and will now end up missing at least a month with this latest injury. In the second season of a four-year, $12.8MM contract signed in 2020, Kassian is actually the fifth-highest paid forward on the Oilers. That salary won’t result in much offense this season given this latest absence, especially if he falls closer to the six-week timeline and misses a good chunk of March.

Keith meanwhile might be a bigger loss, even though the 38-year-old is a shadow of the player that helped lead the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships. The Oilers simply don’t have the defensive depth to lose a top-four option long-term, unless a younger player is able to take a step forward and take on a good chunk of responsibility.

Perhaps that will happen with new interim head coach Jay Woodcroft taking over and defensive coach Dave Manson coming along with him. Niemelainen will obviously be very familiar with both from their time in Bakersfield, though the 23-year-old has just seven games of experience at the NHL level.

Edmonton Oilers Fire Dave Tippett

at CDT | by 31 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers have had enough, and Ken Holland has finally fired a coach. Dave Tippett is out, according to Darren Dreger of TSN, after another embarrassing loss last night. The Oilers managed 41 shots but fell 4-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks, allowing early powerplay goals in both the first and third periods. Dreger adds that Jim Playfair has also been fired, while Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson from the Bakersfield Condors will take over as head coach and assistant respectively. In a release that followed, the team confirmed the dismissal of Tippett and Playfair, adding that assistants Glen Gulutzan and Brian Wiseman will remain with the team.

Tippett, 60, was in his third year as head coach of Edmonton and had thus far put up a 95-62-14 record. While that doesn’t look bad overall, the 23-18-3 mark this season just hasn’t been good enough for a team led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The team has struggled to defend, has had a carousel of inconsistency in net, and still doesn’t have the secondary scoring required to contend for the Stanley Cup. While a lot of that is due to poor roster construction, Tippett will pay the price after some of his deployment concerns.

Mike Smith started both ends of a back-to-back over the last two days, despite him just coming back off an injury recently. He lost both, allowing four goals in each, and now has an .890 save percentage on the season. Smith has been connected to Tippett for years, and hasn’t been able to play to the level he showed last season.

Notably, the veteran coach’s contract expired at the end of the season anyway, one that was unlikely to be renewed given the way the Oilers have performed this year.

Woodcroft comes in as a fresh face, having never been a head coach at the NHL level. He has been in charge of the Condors since 2018 and previously served as an assistant with the Oilers and Sharks, but those aren’t the most interesting assignments on his resume. It’s the years he spent with the Detroit Red Wings that stick out here given he’s now being promoted by Holland. Woodcroft was a video coach with the Red Wings right after his playing career came to an end, and comes from that coaching tree that spawned Todd McLellan, who eventually brought him to San Jose and then Edmonton.

This is the first time that Holland has fired a coach in the NHL, something he has been vehemently against in the past. At a press conference earlier this year, he suggested that dismissing Tippett wouldn’t be the answer and that the Oilers couldn’t “keep whipping through coaches” to try and solve the problem. Well, they are now on the seventh coach since the 2012-13 lockout, as Woodcroft will follow Tippett, Ken Hitchcock, McLellan, Todd Nelson, Dallas Eakins, and Ralph Krueger trying to get the best out of a frustrating lineup.

Mikko Koskinen Placed In COVID Protocol

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Edmonton Oilers got some good news when Mike Smith was activated from injured reserve today but it comes with a downside–Mikko Koskinen has now been placed in the COVID protocol. Jason Gregor of TSN reports that Stuart Skinner will be recalled as the second goaltender with Smith starting tomorrow against the Vegas Golden Knights.

That likely means that it will be Skinner on Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks as the Oilers try to string some wins together coming out of the break. Though Koskinen has seen his fair share of criticism this season, he should also get some serious credit for the run he had going into the break.

Over his last five games, Koskinen went 4-0-1 with a .920 save percentage, essentially saving the Oilers’ season from completely spiraling out of control. With him out, the team will have to hope that Smith–who has played three games since October–and Skinner can hold the fort and get them off to a good start in the second half of the season.

Edmonton is one of the teams with several games in hand at this point, having only played 42 to this point. The condensed schedule really comes quickly, as they’ll play five games by February 15. The worst part of this timing is that it’s added onto the end of the scheduled All-Star break, meaning it will be nearly two weeks from his last game when Koskinen is even eligible to return.

Mike Smith To Return After All-Star Break

at CDT | by 3 Comments

  • Postmedia’s Robert Tychkowski examines some of the storylines for the Oilers for the second half of the season and naturally, goaltending is among them. While he notes that Mike Smith will be able to return – a welcome addition – even that may not be enough to sustain their goaltending situation.  Edmonton has 40 games remaining due to a lot of COVID-related postponements so they will need to rely on two goalies consistently, especially with Smith being 39 and just coming back from injury.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see GM Ken Holland try to shore up the backup goalie position over the next few weeks though they will need to offload Mikko Koskinen’s contract to be able to afford any newcomers.

Chicago Blackhawks To Interview Peter Chiarelli For GM Vacancy

at CDT | by 20 Comments

Buckle up, Blackhawks fans. As Chicago prepares to begin interviews this week for their current vacancy at General Manager, at least one big name has been confirmed as a candidate. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that former Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli will interview for the Blackhawks’ GM job. In fact, the club sought out the experienced executive, currently the Vice President of Hockey Operations with the St. Louis Blues, and requested that he apply. Dreger adds that the interview process could move quickly with the NHL Trade Deadline approaching next month. If Chiarelli is deemed to be Chicago’s top option, he could be named leader of the front office within weeks.

Even after more than three years removed from his last GM job, Chiarelli remains a polarizing figure in the hockey community. As a young GM, he built a Stanley Cup winner (and shortly thereafter a finalist again) in Boston – and that is something that can’t be taken from him. Chiarelli built the core of that championship team from scratch and his fingerprints are still all over the current Bruins. His efforts included signing Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard, Andrew Ference, and Torey Krug; trading for Tuukka Rask, Adam McQuaid, Johnny Boychuk, Mark Recchi, Dennis Seidenberg, and Nathan Horton; and drafting Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Matt Grzelcyk, Tyler Seguin, Dougie Hamilton, and David Pastrnak. However, in building a winner he also made some questionable deals that cost the Bruins Blake Wheeler, Kris Versteeg, Boychuk, and most notably Kessel and later his return, top-ten picks Seguin and Hamilton. High-value picks he dealt away turned into the likes of Rickard Rakell, Jason Dickinson, current Bruin Derek Forbort and more. Chiarelli was also wrong more often than he was right in the draft, which wasn’t helped by his willingness to give up picks.

When Chiarelli arrived in Edmonton with plans on turning the historically bad club into contenders, he walked right in to drafting Connor McDavid first overall in 2015. While the book is still out on some of Chiarelli’s later draft picks, the obvious McDavid selection was one of his few hits, with Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, and Tyler Benson hardly living up to their draft billing. Chiarelli also struggled in free agency, giving too much to old friend Lucic and unproven Mikko Koskinen while failing to provide McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with suitable wingers. Yet, what Chiarelli is most infamous for are his trades in Edmonton, with none more talked about than the Taylor Hall–Adam Larsson swap. He also sent away Justin Schultz, Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Strome in lopsided deals and gave away a first-round pick (Mathew Barzal) for Griffin Reinhart. Yet, the Oilers did improve under Chiarelli and his extensions for McDavid and Draisaitl now look like bargains. If he had just avoided a few of his mistakes, the Oilers might have made a run to the Cup just like Boston.

So is it time for another chance? Dreger notes that the Blackhawks do have many candidates and by no means does he insinuate that Chiarelli is already the front-runner. Current interim Kyle Davidson will get a look, as could Seattle Assistant GM Jason Botterill, who was reportedly the runner-up for the Anaheim job. Displaced interim Ducks GM Jeff Solomon could also be in consideration, as could a number of others who were in the mix for the recently-filled jobs in Montreal and Vancouver. However, there is no doubt that for entertainment’s sake, having Chiarelli back in the GM chair would be fun to watch.

Tyson Barrie Activated From Injured Reserve

at CDT | by 3 Comments

More often than not when a player goes on injured reserve, it creates an opportunity for a younger or less experienced option to make an impact. That’s exactly the case for the Edmonton Oilers, who finally saw some success after Tyson Barrie went on the shelf partway through last month. With Barrie out, Evan Bouchard took up a much bigger role on the team and the Oilers ended up winning four out of their last five games. Bouchard averaged a whopping 24:55 in those and recorded three goals and five points, including two powerplay tallies while seeing time with the top unit.

With Barrie back, activated off injured reserve today, it will be interesting to watch how he’s deployed and whether the Edmonton coaching staff has permanently elevated Bouchard. The team takes on the Washington Capitals in one final game before the All-Star break and could potentially pass the San Jose Sharks for fifth in the Pacific Division

Barrie, 30, was brought back in the offseason on a three-year, $13.5MM contract after leading all NHL defensemen in scoring last year. He hasn’t come anywhere near that 48-point performance this time around, however, making his new $4.5MM cap hit look a little unreasonable. In 35 games he has 17 points, which include just seven even-strength assists. His powerplay time has remained strong, but head coach Dave Tippett hasn’t been able to trust him otherwise; Barrie averages just 16:38 at even-strength, fifth among regular Edmonton defensemen.

If there is any risk at all of him losing the top powerplay spot, it seems as though Barrie’s usefulness on a cap-strapped team is also waning. How he’s used tonight and after the All-Star break will be an interesting sign of what’s to come, even just a few months into his new deal. The Oilers already have more than $71MM committed to next season because of Darnell Nurse’s extension, and will likely have to cut salary from somewhere if they want to bring in any new talent.

To make room on the roster for Barrie’s activation, the team has sent the recently-waived Slater Koekkoek to the AHL.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top