Edmonton Oilers Acquire Brandon Manning From Chicago
The Edmonton Oilers have already made one trade today and now general manager Peter Chiarelli continues to make roster moves. The Edmonton Oilers announced that they have traded forward Drake Caggiula and veteran defenseman Jason Garrison to the Chicago Blackhawks for defensemen Brandon Manning and Robin Norell.
For Edmonton, the team adds another defense-first defenseman in Manning to their lineup after acquiring Alexander Petrovic from Florida earlier today. Edmonton has lost five straight games and has fallen into sixth place in the Pacific Division and the hope is that adding a more physical and defensive players could help give the team a boost.
Chicago signed Manning to a two-year, $4.5MM deal this offseason, but with a number of young defenseman showing they were ready for the NHL, Manning became expendable. However, his contract and struggles on the ice in Chicago suggested the team wasn’t likely going to be able to sell off Manning. The 28-year-old hasn’t been effective as he has just a goal and three points in 27 games, while maintaining a minus-14 rating and averaging just 15:28 of ATOI, his lowest number since the 2012-13 season. Manning is also well known to Oilers’ fans as he was the player who checked Connor McDavid into the boards, breaking his collarbone in McDavid’s rookie season. McDavid might not be thrilled with the move as rumors are that he was close to Caggiula and the Edmonton star has referred to Manning in the past as “classless.” The Oilers hope that Manning and Petrovic, acquired for Chris Wideman and a third-round pick, will shore up the team’s defense with more defensive-minded players. The team has been without a number of players, but they expect to have Kris Russell back soon, which should bolster the team’s blueline for the remainder of the season. While Petrovic will be an unrestricted free agent next season, Manning still has another year at $2.25MM.
The team also picked up the rights to Norell, who was a fourth-round pick in 2013, but has not been able to break into the NHL. Norell played two full years with the Rockford Ice Hogs in the AHL, but Chicago loaned him to Djurgardens IF of the SHL. The 23-year-old failed to show that he can be a two-way player and is in the final year of his entry-level contract, suggesting the Blackhawks were ready to part ways with the prospect if they were willing to loan him out. Edmonton will have to qualify Norell this offseason as he’ll be a restricted free agent.
Chicago does quite well on their side of the trade as the team was going to have a logjam shortly on defense. With seven players already on the roster, the team is expecting to get back defenseman Brandon Davidson as well as rookie Henri Jokiharju is expected back after the World Junior Championships conclude in a few days. The team now has more flexibility after moving out Manning as Garrison makes the league minimum and should be easy to place on waivers and retain him. Garrison spent most of the 2017-18 season with the Chicago Wolves, assigned there from the Vegas Golden Knights. The 34-year-old Garrison has played 17 games for Edmonton and has a goal and a plus-one rating this season.
Caggiuli, on the other hand, has shown promise as a goal scorer, but has had issues on the defensive end of the ice. Caggulia tallied 13 goals last season with Edmonton and has seven goals and 11 points in 29 games this season. Caggiula was posting impressive ice times before new head coach Ken Hitchcock took over, but has seen his playing time dip quite a bit in the last six games as he’s played less than 10 minutes in four of them. However, he was playing well under former head coach Todd MacLellan, suggesting a change of scenery or coaches could be a positive effect for the team and give Chicago yet another young addition to try to work into their lineup.
Mark Spector of Sportsnet was the first to report the trade.
Edmonton Oilers Acquire Alex Petrovic From Florida
After a rough recent stretch, the Edmonton Oilers added to their defensive corps when they traded for Florida Panthers defenseman Alexander Petrovic in exchange for Chris Wideman and a conditional third-round draft pick, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie. This may not be the Oilers only move as Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that Edmonton may not be finished making trades.
With Edmonton owning two third-round picks in the upcoming 2019 draft, the Panthers will receive the better of the two picks between their own and the New York Islanders’ third-rounder the team received in the Brandon Davidson deal back in February of 2018.
Despite starting 9-2-2 under Ken Hitchcock when he replaced Todd McLellan on Nov. 20, the team has since struggled, losing five straight, all in regulation. Suddenly, the team finds itself in sixth place in the Pacific Division and moving further and further away from a playoff spot. For Edmonton general manager Peter Chiarelli, this is a desperation move in hopes of saving his job as the hope is that the 6-foot-4, 216-pound defenseman will add some size and toughness to the Oilers’ blueline. Petrovic, a stay-at-home defenseman should provide some defensive talent for a team that has been without several key players on the blueline, including Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell, who are both on injured reserve as well as Andrej Sekera, who has been out all season.
The 26-year-old Petrovic has struggled finding solid footing in Florida recently as he hasn’t been handed significant minutes with the Panthers despite the fact that the francise was incredibly high on him just a couple of years ago. In fact, Florida opted to protect Petrovic over Jon Marchessault, who they instead traded to Vegas in the expansion draft last year. Petrovic was most well known for a hit against Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane that broke the star forward’s collarbone just before the trade deadline in 2015. That physical play was what led Florida to protect Petrovic. However, Petrovic has averaged just 17:23 ATOI this season, which is an improvement over the 14:39 he averaged last season, but far from the numbers that the Panthers had expected when he arrived in Florida in the 2012-13 season when he was 20 years old. The hope is that with a change of scenery, especially with him returning to his birthplace of Edmonton, Petrovic may fulfill some of those hopes of being a top defensive, physical player.
Wideman, who was just recently brought aboard in Edmonton via Ottawa, moves onto his third team this season. Wideman was acquired on Nov. 22 from the Senators in exchange for a 2020 conditional sixth-round pick, a relatively low price for a defensive defenseman. However, despite being a defensive-minded coach, Hitchcock didn’t trust Wideman, evident by him averaging just 11:26 of ATOI in the five games he appeared in.
Both players will be unrestricted free agents next season as Petrovic is finishing out a one-year deal he signed this summer for $1.95MM and was likely not returning to the team next year anyway considering the lack of playing time the blueliner has been receiving the last two years. Wideman is on a one-year, $1MM deal and must prove that he belongs if he wants to hold a NHL roster spot in the future.
Jake Guentzel Signs Five-Year Extension With Pittsburgh Penguins
Christmas has come just a couple of days late for Jake Guentzel, but he isn’t complaining. The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed the forward to a five-year extension worth $30MM. Guentzel was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer, but will now be with the team at least through the 2023-24 season at a cap hit of $6MM. He will become the team’s fourth highest-paid forward behind only Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel.
CapFriendly reports the breakdown of the contract is as follows:
2019-20: $7MM
2020-21: $5MM
2021-22: $7MM
2022-23: $5MM, 12-team no-trade clause
2023-24: $6MM, 12-team no-trade clause
At first blush the contract may seem steep because it vaults Guentzel into the upper echelon of salaries in the league—only 61 forwards in the entire NHL carry a $6MM cap hit this season—but there is certainly reason to believe that the third-round pick deserves every penny. Selected 77th overall in 2013 out of the USHL, Guentzel then attended the University of Nebraska-Omaha for three seasons where he refined his game and started showing his innate ability to perform in the most important moments. Leaving school after three seasons to join the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Guentzel led the AHL team in scoring during the playoffs with 14 points in 10 games.
The undersized but fearless forward would eventually make his NHL debut in the 2016-17 season and score on his first shift (and his first shot), and end up as a key contributor down the stretch. Once again Guentzel would come through in the playoffs, leading the team with 13 goals en route to a Stanley Cup. That performance was improved upon the following spring, when he recorded 21 points in 12 games only to be knocked out in the second round. The young forward had certainly cemented himself as one of the most important players on the Penguins, if only for his postseason performances.
Still, there was obviously still some work to do in the regular season. Guentzel had struggled at times during his first full year, registering only 48 points in 82 games last season despite seeing time with future Hall of Fame players. Any doubts the team had in him have been put to rest this year, as the 24-year old has 33 points through 36 games and is averaging more ice time than even Kessel. GM Jim Rutherford explained exactly how the young forward has developed over the last few years:
Jake established himself as an impact player for our team from the beginning, especially during 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. He has become a core player on the team and we are thrilled to get Jake signed long-term with the Penguins.
Despite only just coming off his entry-level contract, Guentzel was going to be eligible for salary arbitration this summer and would have had a good case for a huge raise. He also is much closer to unrestricted free agency than most players signing their second contract, meaning this deal will actually buy out two UFA seasons. At the pace he’s going, those unrestricted free agent years would have been worth much more than $6MM, explaining how the Penguins came to the $30MM number.
In fact, with the salary cap expected to rise again next season and recent contracts like the one William Nylander signed setting the market, $6MM actually may be a bit of a bargain for the Penguins. Even so, it will almost surely force them to make some tough decisions at other spots on the roster given that they have nearly $80MM tied up in 15 players for next year including Justin Schultz‘ $5.5MM cap hit that is currently sitting on long-term injured reserve. With Zach-Aston Reese, Juuso Riikola and Marcus Pettersson all still scheduled for restricted free agency, there may not be any room to re-sign names like Derick Brassard or Casey DeSmith.
Regardless, the team now has a core player locked up long-term in Guentzel and will continue to find ways to build around him. If his playoff performance continues, there’s no telling how valuable he could really become.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Philadelphia Flyers Fire Head Coach Dave Hakstol
Reports have been varied over the last few days over the fate of Philadelphia Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol, but now multiple outlets including Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer are reporting that he has indeed been fired. In the official team release, GM Chuck Fletcher explains his decision:
After meeting this morning with Dave Hakstol and thoughtful consideration, I have decided to relieve him of his duties as head coach. As I continue to assess the team, I feel that this is the best course of action for our group moving forward. I’d like to thank Dave for his service to the team and the organization. Scott Gordon will serve as head coach on an interim basis.
Gordon, who had been coaching with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL, has previous head coach experience with the New York Islanders. As for who will eventually take over the head job, nothing has been decided yet. The rumors surrounding Joel Quenneville appear to not be true at this moment, as the legendary coach is expected to wait until the offseason before making a decision on his next coaching job. Fletcher confirmed as much, saying he has not asked Chicago for permission to talk with Quenneville, and in fact hasn’t even spoken to him in two years.
In Philadelphia, the writing had been on the wall for some time. Though Fletcher decided to not fire Hakstol immediately after taking the job, instead replacing one of his assistant coaches with long-time colleague Rick Wilson, it was only a matter of time if the team did not rebound from a rough start. After performing well enough to make the playoffs last season, Philadelphia came into 2018-19 with plenty of optimism surrounding their young group. Instead of a quick start though, the team struggled out of the gate and couldn’t fix the goaltending problem that has plagued this organization for years. Elliott and Neuvirth have both dealt with injury, while not performing well enough even when they were healthy.
Carter Hart is on his way up from the minor leagues to give the team some hope in net, but solving the goaltending issue by forcing a 20-year old prospect into the spotlight is a risky move. Fortunately Hart will be working with a familiar face in Gordon, but still will have immense pressure to turn things around. The team has some outstanding offensive talents, but allowed 22 goals over their last four games (all losses) and couldn’t wait to make a switch behind the bench.
Now that the coaching move that many expected has happened, the question will turn to the roster itself. Fletcher has been rumored to be looking to try and make at least one move before Wednesday’s trade freeze comes into effect, but it’s unclear what exactly he’s trying to do to improve the roster. There are plenty of young talents on the group, but if the team is trying to compete this season they may have to move one for some more experience or reliability. That doesn’t make a ton of sense given their place in the standings—the Flyers sit last in the Eastern Conference with just 28 points—but there were reports that former GM Ron Hextall was let go because of his unwillingness to make moves to help the present club.
The season is clearly not over, and the Flyers currently sit just eight points out of a Metropolitan Division playoff spot. Even a short hot streak could put them right back into the race, and that will be what Gordon hopes to accomplish in the short-term. The team starts that journey on Tuesday night when they welcome the Detroit Red Wings into town.
Buffalo Sabres Suspend Patrik Berglund For “Failure To Report”
In a strange turn of events for the Buffalo Sabres, the team has announced that forward Patrik Berglund has been suspended indefinitely for “failure to report to the team”. Berglund has missed the past two games for the Sabres with what the team reported as a sickness, but which now seems like something else entirely. Few details have emerged yet about this bizarre situation.
Berglund, 30, is in his first season with the Sabres after being traded away by the St. Louis Blues this off-season as part of the Ryan O’Reilly return. While Berglund began the season as Buffalo’s second-line center and was reportedly looking forward to mentoring the teams many young Swedish players, things haven’t played out so nicely for the veteran pivot. Berglund has spent the majority of the early season skating in the bottom-six and has just four points in 23 games, by far the worst scoring rate of his career. Berglund missed five games due to injury in the first two months of the season, but was also twice tabbed as a healthy scratch. Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington reports that Berglund did not take too kindly to being benched. Harrington adds that Berglund has also been very closed off with the media during his time in Buffalo, in retrospect probably a reflection of his frustration with his current situation.
Interestingly, Berglund’s alleged abandonment of the team comes without even a whisper of trade demands. Of course, those talks will now begin, regardless of whether or not there is a resolution to the present situation. Berglund is clearly unhappy with the Sabres and the team has sent a clear message that his behavior will not be tolerated. A change of scenery seems necessary and the sooner the better. Berglund is in the second season of a five-year contract signed in St. Louis. The deal carries a $3.85MM cap hit, slightly steep and lengthy for his current level of play, and a limited No-Trade Clause with a 20-team no-trade list, although Berglund is unlikely to decline any move out of Buffalo. The veteran forward is capable of putting up 30+ points per season and brings size and net front presence. He can also line up at all three forward positions and is familiar with both special teams assignments. With that said, Berglund’s current stunt – albeit without all the details yet known – on top of his poor production and unfriendly contract is not going to help his trade stock whatsoever. Hopefully the two sides come to terms on a solution to this situation sooner rather than later.
Seattle Officially Introduced As The NHL’s 32nd Team
It wasn’t so long ago that hockey fans were wondering if the league would even allow a group of investors to apply for an expansion team based in Las Vegas, and now the league has voted on another new market. Today, the NHL’s Board of Governors voted unanimously to accept Seattle’s expansion bid as the 32nd team in the league. The investment group that applied, Oak View Group (OVG), includes Tod Leiweke, former COO of the NFL, Tim Leiweke, former CEO of both Anschutz Entertainment Group—which owns the Los Angeles Kings—and Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment—which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs—and David Bonderman, a Seattle billionaire. The group has had full and public support from Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan throughout the process, and an already approved plan for construction (or renovation, more aptly) of a new arena.
In addition to the experienced upper management, the Seattle group already has veteran NHL head coach Dave Tippett involved in the process. Tippett has previously told reporters that he has no interest in being the first coach of Seattle, though he did leave that door open a crack when he told reporters including Irfaan Gaffar of Sportsnet that “you never know what will happen.”
Most importantly, the league has announced that the 2021-22 season will be when the Seattle team starts playing. The city had hoped that it could potentially get the arena completed in time for the 2020-21 season, but now will have ample time to get everything ready in time. An expansion draft will take place in June after the 2021 Stanley Cup is awarded, though the Vegas Golden Knights will be excluded from it. The league also announced the realignment plan, which will move the Arizona Coyotes into the Central Division while putting Seattle into the Pacific Division.
Like the previous expansion draft, the Seattle team will select one player from each of the other 30 teams (excluding Vegas) and must select at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders. All first and second-year professionals will be exempt, though who exactly satisfies those qualifications is obviously still up in the air this far out. Once again, every team will have two protection options: seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender, or eight skaters and one goaltender.
Though we’re still more than two years out from the expansion draft taking place, you can already pencil in a few players who will be protected due to their no-movement clauses. CapFriendly provides a list of those names, which includes four names from each of the Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s easy to see how some of these names could give some trouble to their respective teams, though each player is allowed to waive the clause if they so choose. Milan Lucic, Brent Seabrook, Frans Nielsen an others already stand out as players who would potentially be left unprotected if possible, but will take up a slot because of their NMC.
In regards to the team name, Leiweke made it clear that the fans would be taken into consideration when deciding what the franchise will be called, while Bettman hinted that “Metropolitans” will not be allowed because the league already has a division using that name. Seattle will break ground on construction tomorrow on the estimated $800MM arena plans, making this a ~$1.45BB investment when added to the $650MM the group will pay for the franchise. The Seattle Storm of the WNBA will also use the arena, while there is also a push to bring the NBA back to the city.
Toronto Maple Leafs Lock Up William Nylander For Six Years
The long-awaited saga between William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs is finally at an end. The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have signed the holdout restricted free agent to a six-year, $45MM deal, according to CapFriendly. Nylander is expected to be on a plane from Stockholm to Toronto within 10 hours.
“We always tried to stay optimistic,” said general manager Kyle Dubas (via TSN’s Kristin Shilton). “We had our process and we have a great staff…it wasn’t really an emotional experience. It’s my duty to the organization to put the organization in the best possible spot with all our economics. We hope to always avoid [a standoff], but it’s a realistic situation.”
The deal has a complicated structure, especially for the first year. According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Nylander’s first-year salary is pro-rated at 10MM (6.67MM), plus a $2MM signing bonus, which comes out to net $8.67MM and a $10.2MM AAV. In the remaining years of the deal, Nylander’s AAV is $6.996MM.
Here is a breakdown of the deal (via CapFriendly):
- 2018-19: $10MM salary + $2MM signing bonus = $10.2 AAV
- 2019-20: $700K salary + $8.3MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
- 2020-21: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
- 2021-22: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
- 2022-23: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
- 2023-24: $2.5MM salary + $3.5MM signing bonus = $6.97 AAV
For Nylander, it ends a long holdout as Nylander missed out on 59 days of the season, officially signing five minutes before the NHL deadline for him to sign an NHL contract this year. With rumors that Nylander had been holding out for $8MM and trying to force Dubas’ hand in the rookie GM’s first holdout negotiations, Nylander was forced to settle for under $7MM, which is a win for Dubas.
“I think all offers varied. I’m not going to get into where our offers started and where theirs started,” Dubas said. “I’m happy for our team and I’m happy for William. I wish we had been able to get this done before training camp…happy to add William.”
McKenzie also notes that Nylander received a 10-team modified no-trade clause in the final year of the deal as he is not eligible for a no-trade clause for another five years.
The 22-year-old center was considered to be a key piece of Toronto’s young core, but with the team’s salary cap having tightened up over the past two years with signings to major free agents Patrick Marleau and more recently to John Tavares, the team needed to prove that they could extend some of their younger players for discounts or be forced to break apart some of the team. Nylander is only the first of many of their future contract negotiations as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner will both be restricted free agents this coming offseason and are expected to get paid even higher than Nylander. The team also have several other key contracts, including Nylander’s on-ice replacement this year in Kasperi Kapanen, who has played well enough to earn himself quite a raise in restricted free agency next season. Andreas Johnsson‘s play should also get a boost in pay as a restricted free agent as well. The team also will have to factor in the contract of defenseman Jake Gardiner who will hit unrestricted free agency next season and needs to be locked up.
“I knew people were ready to jam that one down my throat,” Dubas said. “We hope all these guys will be career Leafs. That’s our goal, is to keep it together…We’ve had discussions with [Matthews and Marner’s agents]. We want to avoid a situation where all our players aren’t in training camp. Not [making history] in the way we’d like to [with Nylander deal].”
Despite the long holdout and his $8MM asking price, Nylander fared pretty well. The Maple Leafs had made it clear early in negotiations this summer that they weren’t willing to go past six years at $6MM, so to get an extra $1MM per year is impressive, considering the team’s budget.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the deal.
Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks Complete Blockbuster Deal
The Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes have gotten together once again on a huge trade. The Blackhawks are sending forward Nick Schmaltz to the desert, while Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini will be headed back to Chicago.
Schmaltz, 22, was an integral part of the Blackhawks future as recently as last season, after finding chemistry with Patrick Kane and posting a 21-goal, 52-point season. He looked like the answer as the next first line center in Chicago, given his immense offensive skill and playmaking ability. That moniker was removed a bit this season with Jonathan Toews early resurgence, but there was little warning that Schmaltz had worn out his welcome in Chicago. His offensive numbers weren’t where they were a year ago—the young center has just 11 points in 23 games—but he had begun to play better and even had a three-game point streak over the last few days.
Still, even if Schmaltz still had the full confidence of the front office and coaching staff the Blackhawks may have been unable to pass up this trade. In Strome, the team is getting a player who was selected third overall in the 2015 draft and has shown himself to be an elite talent even at the minor league level. The 21-year old forward scored 53 points in 50 games for the Tucson Roadrunners last season, but had still not been able to carry that success to the NHL level. In fact, through 48 games with the Coyotes, Strome has registered just 16 points and has sometimes seemed to struggle with the pace of play. His two-way skills are easily apparent, but there has always been concern over Strome’s skating ability. If he can put that behind him in Chicago there’s no telling how high his offensive ceiling is.
Beyond even the promise of Strome, there is also Perlini who is an accomplished NHL player in his own right. The 12th-overall pick from 2014—eight spots ahead of Schmaltz—recorded a 14-goal season as a rookie in 2016-17 and followed it up with 17 goals and 30 points last year for the Coyotes. The talented, big-bodied winger has a powerful shot and can protect the puck well in the offensive zone. The fact that he’s only 22 himself allows for plenty of growth still in his career, something the Blackhawks will surely try to cultivate immediately.
That may seem like a lot to give up for Schmaltz if you look at just his body of work this season, but the Coyotes are obviously hoping he can get back to the high level he was at a year ago. Arizona GM John Chayka released a statement explaining why they went after Schmaltz:
Nick is a dynamic forward with top line potential. We feel he can be a core player of our team now and into the future. He’s a good complement to our evolving forward group and a rare combination of speed, skill and creativity.
The last part of his comment is quite interesting, given that Schmaltz and Strome use such different skill sets to achieve their offensive performance. The Coyotes obviously valued the speed and pure playmaking ability of Schmaltz, especially as the league seems to get faster and more skilled each and every year. Smaller players, like the 6’0″ 177-lbs Schmaltz have found jobs all over the league as the NHL moves away from the big, bruising styles of decades passed. Still, it’s not like Strome and Perlini don’t have applicable skills that may shine in Chicago. In fact the former is reuniting with his friend and former junior linemate Alex DeBrincat, something that may bring out another level of his production.
Amazingly, after trading Schmaltz today, the Blackhawks have no players on the roster that they selected in the first round between 2008-2014. They’ve often found great talent in the round, but have seen Kevin Hayes, Phillip Danault, Teuvo Teravainen, Ryan Hartman and now Schmaltz all leave in one way or another, while lacking a first round pick altogether in other years. That’s a tough way to build a franchise, but with the additions of Strome and Perlini GM Stan Bowman is betting on their potential to bring about the next great wave of talent in Chicago.
It’s important to note that Schmaltz is also scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer, and perhaps could have demanded a quite hefty raise given his previous point totals. Perlini is a pending RFA as well but doesn’t have the same kind of leverage given his pedestrian assist totals and less important position, while Strome is still under his entry-level contract through next season. While Chicago does have some substantial contracts coming off the books at the end of the year, they’re still always looking for a financial advantage given the huge commitments they’ve made to their core.
In all, this turns out to be a change of scenery deal for all three players that could end up win-win in the end. There is plenty of talent going to both teams, and if all three players fulfill their potential neither side will be able to complain all that much. Though Chicago may be taking on a little more risk with the less established names, they needed to take a home run cut while they still have the chance to compete with the likes of Kane and Toews.
Ken Hitchcock Replaces Todd McLellan As Head Coach In Edmonton
The NHL coaching ranks are under fire once again, as Ken Hitchcock will replace Todd McLellan as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. Hitchcock will take over immediately, and will be behind the bench when the Oilers take on the San Jose Sharks tonight.
Like the firing of Mike Yeo in St. Louis, McLellan’s end seemed inevitable given the performance of the Oilers since the beginning of the 2017-18 season. A team front loaded with stars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton has struggled to find any kind of consistency and are in danger of missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season. They’ve lost seven of their last ten games and find themselves just a few points from the very bottom of the Western Conference standings, plagued by middling goaltending and a lack of secondary scoring.
The team does have upside, obviously, but needed a boost right now. Hitchcock is notorious for bringing about immediate defensive results when he joins a team, though there have been many examples of his tactics wearing thin after a few years. The team may not need to worry about that, given that they have only signed the legendary coach on for the rest of the season, at which point they will re-evaluate their position. That will likely also be when the organization evaluates their front office structure, as GM Peter Chiarelli is also feeling the hot seat after some questionable trades and signings the last few seasons.
Chiarelli admitted as much at a press conference to announce the hiring, but also announced that he still believes this roster has enough talent to go all the way. That will be tested thoroughly over the last three quarters of the season, with many expecting a change at the General Manager position if the Oilers were to miss the playoffs again. To avoid that, the team will need to buy-in to Hitchcock’s structured defensive style right away, something that may limit their already shaky offensive performance even further. Several current Oilers should be able to help their teammates in the transition though, as players like Kris Russell and Kyle Brodziak have plenty of experience under Hitchcock in the past.
That history is a very good one, despite the bristly reputation that Hitchcock has around the league. The 66-year old sits third on the all-time list for coaching wins with 823, and won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999. He also took home a Jack Adams award in 2012 for guiding the St. Louis Blues to a 43-15-11 record after taking over from Davis Payne early in the season. That’s exactly the kind of turnaround that the Oilers are hoping for with this move, especially given the fact that this team has legitimate superstars on the roster, something that Blues team lacked. In fact, the highest-scoring players on the Blues that year were David Backes and T.J. Oshie who ended with a combined 108 points, the same number McDavid accomplished on his own last season.
There is plenty to like about this move for Oilers fans, but also several troubling factors to consider. Most notably that McLellan was not able to motivate or structure this roster to reach the playoffs again even with the star power McDavid represents. It’s tough to pin that entirely on the veteran coach, given his record of success in the NHL previously. McLellan reached the playoffs in six consecutive seasons as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, and never had a losing season in the seven years he spent behind the bench there. In fact, prior to coming to Edmonton McLellan had only experienced two losing seasons in all his time as a head coach, including his days in the WHL, IHL and AHL. There’s no doubt that he can lead a team, but for some reason wasn’t able to find sustained success in Edmonton.
If there is a turnaround coming, it will be a nice (potentially) final chapter for a coach that has waved goodbye to the game several times in the past. Hitchcock is an Edmonton native and could put the ultimate crowning achievement on a Hall of Fame career if he could take the team back to the Stanley Cup. That’s a lot to ask of just a coaching staff though, and will need more than just systems to accomplish.
St. Louis Blues Fire Mike Yeo
The St. Louis Blues have struggled to get much of anything going this season despite a summer in which they overhauled their forward position, and now someone needed to pay the price. Last night the team relieved head coach Mike Yeo of his duties, installing Craig Berube as interim head coach. St. Louis management held a press conference this morning to discuss the move, which is sure to spark plenty of speculation over whether recently fired Joel Quenneville is on his way back to the Blues.
Larry Robinson will be joining Berube’s staff for the immediate future, coming down from his role as a senior consultant to help behind the bench. The team also did not rule out an in-season hiring of their next head coach, a role that Berube will be in the running for but is not guaranteed. Quenneville’s existence on the open market certainly will be taken into account, though it is not clear if the former Chicago Blackhawks head coach wants to get back into the league this season.
For the Blues, this was an inevitable move after their early season struggles. The team went all-in during the offseason by trading for Ryan O’Reilly and signing players like David Perron and Tyler Bozak, but were unable to put it all together. At 7-9-3 the team sits last in the Central Division and just two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for last place in the entire NHL. Those Kings just happened to defeat the Blues 2-0 last night, in a game which saw rookie netminder Cal Petersen stop all 29 shots that St. Louis directed towards the net.
Yeo had been groomed as the head coach of the Blues since being hired while Ken Hitchcock was still behind the bench, but never did work out for the team. After being unable to find much success in the playoffs with the Minnesota Wild, he joined the Blues in 2016 and was taking over for Hitchcock less than a year later. That playoff failure repeated in the 2017 playoffs, and Yeo was unable to get the Blues back to the postseason at all last year.
Berube has an extremely difficult task ahead of him, though he certainly is qualified. The former winger played more than 1,000 games in the NHL during a long playing career, and has held various coaching roles since his retirement in 2004. He took over as head coach of the Phildelphia Flyers when Peter Laviolette was abruptly removed just a few games into the 2013-14 season, and guided that team to the playoffs. He’ll now try to do the same for a struggling St. Louis club a few years later.