The Oilers season, and the future of this era, may come down to Stan Bowman’s choice of coach in the coming days. Everyone on planet earth believes Bruce Cassidy is the best choice, but the Vegas Golden Knights are blocking the path.
Even if Vegas gives the go-ahead, other teams wil be interested in Cassidy. Old Dutch out on the left coast can spin a yarn, and can be hypnotic when listing off NHL seasons (2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 listed together by Ken Holland at media avails broke my brain) so one never knows.
If it isn’t Cassidy for the Oilers, Peter Laviolette would seem to be the best availabjle based on what we know. I thought Jay Woodcroft would be a sneaky backup option, but his name is out there in this year’s coaching carousel and he could land elsewhere. After that? Craig Berube.
It’s important to get the correct coach and I think Cassidy is the real perfect fit. If the Oilers have to trade for Cassidy, is it worth it? Probably. A second-round pick isn’t going to do any good for several years, and Cassidy can help this team the moment he is hired.
If the two-year window ahead means everything, then the Oilers need to think about making a trade for Cassidy. Today. Unless of course the Golden Knights management is too busy getting ready for the Final.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll talk about the situation in the coaching room, plus goaltending and more. The Oilers and the SCF take center stage on the Lowdown, noon to 2pm on Sports 1440.
On this Cassidy issue Im sorry but you will not get any sympathy from this corner if you and your high priced lawyers and high priced agent did not read the document before you signed it . There Is not one person on here that is going to feel sorry for you while you work on your golf game and cash your 4.5 million dollar check
PTSD watching Vegas forwards drag the Carolina D out into the deep water away from the net.
Vegas knows how to beat the man-on-man D. If they can execute, they are likely to win.
They were also successful in clogging up their net front and keeping Carolina to the perimeter.
And Colorado.
Friedman again tonight stating multiple times that he thinks the Oilers will not be making any coaching decisions until after the playoffs as they will wait on Cassidy.
Vegas and Carolina both suck.
Gawd it was wide open this year.
K.K panicked early overplayed Connor-Leon in an Olympic year coming off the 2 shortest off-seasons in Oiler history. I hope the next coach plays the whole squad and this team has 4-5 more runs at the Cup.
Can’t disagree. This year he really lost the plot and, as others have pointed out, with one or two exceptions, he simply could not find roles for new personnel.
Another Russian signing.
25 year old Ilya Safonnov, a centre drafted by Chicago in 2021 has signed a 1 year deal with Vancouver.
The centre is 6’5” 225.
I think he was a Bowman pick. I wonder if the Oilers had any interest in him.
It’s astounding how many Chicago picks are signing elsewhere.
Always great to hear Gary and Bill give the state of the union and answer questions. A wealth of info from two long term great ambassadors for the sport.
Full avail:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/gary-bettman-and-billy-daly-full-press-conference-at-stanley-cup-final-2/
I don’t mind Bill but Gary has held the sport back significantly. The bush league refereeing is inexcusable and he endorses it
Not to mention the repeated unwarranted punitive actions against our team
If you listen through the lens of how an OBC intends to continue to grow their net worth having cornered the market on the world’s top hockey talent and turned them into entertainers, fill your boots.
If you are interested in the sport of hockey, I’m afraid there won’t be much.
We can almost hear Gary training his protege… remember, it’s not about ‘the game’, it’s all about the owners.
Not everyone on planet earth. I disagree.
I would hire Todd Nelson.
i think Hes probably too much like Knob and Woodcroft for this management team. They seem dead set on cup winner, defensive system. I’d have Nelson up there with Cassidy though.
Nelson is nothing like Knoblauch or Woodcroft. Nelson has two decades of head coaching experience at the professional level and coaching success at every stop.
I agree with you. I also see the appeal of a Cassidy type coach. But I don’t really like some of the reports coming out about the Knights not wanting to come to the rink etc this year.
from Rishaug on his podcast a couple times, our dressing room wasnt the most positive place to begin with this year. A guy like Nelson and some signings can fix that, not sure about Cassidy
It’s too risky at this stage of the game to hire another rookie. As good of a coach he might be, there will still be a learning curve
Nelson is hardly a rookie.
In the modern era, Scotty Bowman is the only coach who has won Stanley Cups with multiple teams. Literally the greatest coach of all time is the only coach to accomplish that feat.
Bowman just wants to “buy IBM”.
The Jackson/Bowman era on major decisions has alway been about “buying IBM”, and where has that gotten us.
We should also consider that for this it may not be just be your two favourite people being the deciderers. DK is pissed I’ve heard after last season
DK had his toady go out an hire Jackson. He wears this too.
I feel Todd is legit but I don’t know if he’s someone McDrai will listen to at all, let alone when things get difficult. That is the single biggest requirement of any new bench boss: Can they convince McDrai to do what needs to be done.
The time to hire Todd was when they hired T Mac instead.
Bowman is going to pick his man this time.
Per Friedman:
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly says Vegas is within its rights to prevent Bruce Cassidy from interviewing elsewhere — although he does hedge (slightly) by saying we will see what happens when Vegas season is over
“There are contracts in this league that would prevent this from happening,” Daly added, “but this is not one of them
I bet my first born that Vegas waits until the Oilers pick a new coach before giving Cassidy permission.
Shatty is as shatty does
No surprise with Bouchard in fourth for the Norris – I think most rational observers agree that there was a legit case for winning it, let alone top 3.
Lots of good candidates this year (although Makar was a reputation vote as, which I believe he is the best d-man in the world, he did not have a great season (by his standards) and I don’t think he deserved those votes) and Bouchard earned that 4th.
His October absolutely cratered him, moreso in reputation than anything else. He was the leagues best overall d-man, objectively for about 2/3 of the season but he really did have a very very bad start (he always starts slow but this was something else).
Its interesting that the winner is, essentially, a very similar type d-man who also went through a horrid stretch (post-Olympics – he was brutal, when his team was battling for a playoff spot) and had simply lesser stats, both offensive and all around, then Bouchard – with the same type of, and quantity of, turnovers.
All good.
Here is hoping Bouchard can, for the first time, start the season well next year.
You are assuming almost 200 voters are not “rational”?
Perhaps it’s not them.
Just because you think he has a case to win it, doesn’t mean he has to. To think Bouchard shouldn’t be in the conversation is just not a logical take, but I can understand the rationale behind a vote for Werenski, Dahlin, and even Makar over Bouchard.
I suggest you take a reading comprehension class.
You creamed a bit in your pants when you saw the subject and who posted didn’t you?
Yessss….yes my lizzard brain minions we will feast on deliciously toxic troll theiving dopamine tonnnight!!!
P.S. you are clearly hedging on carolina to win this based on “who my favorite team to mention clearly always been biggest fan of the winning one
Which is suprising like not just western conference but same division and andddd recent stanley cup champions….no real prop usage…
Another reason i hope knights win 1st 2 then lose in 6. Just to watch you dance between them selling both out in the span of a few heartbeats would be a fitting way to end the season.
Cheering for you!!
Did Eberle get 76 points in a season?
Read the comment again……
There has always been envy towards the Oilers due to drafting first and then picking up McDavid. That shadow is cast over Bouchard. People pick on him for all kinds of reasons.
Don’t they know only we can pick on him??
But Bouchard is certainly worthy to be in the conversation and that is huge recognition at the very least.
This goes all the way back to the cocky Sather Oilers. When your the best team ever you make enemies for life. Parros etc hate the Oilers. There’s a long list of rulings by the league over the years. Just recently the cross-check by Roy on Frederic was deserving of suspension yet Roy laughs away Scot-free and scores a goal on us that night. How about the 1 game suspension of Pietrangelo for the 2 hander on Leon. The offside ruling against the Av’s where everything we were taught about offside since the rule was implemented was bullshit. The Perry interference on Talbot was a crime on how easily the fencepost can be moved.
Sakic taking over Avs GM duties.
Bednar remains employed as coach. No surprise here and I look forward to the Sakic/Bednar/MacKinnon combo continue to fall well short of expectations in the playoffs going forward.
Don’t mention the war.
But hockeynews had such insightful take on knoblauch being clearly the right guy to replace him based on his “skills”….i don’t think AI wrote this but it definitely is possible by how questionanle the reasoning seemed to make sense.
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/kris-knoblauch-brings-what-colorado-has-been-missing-in-the-playoffs
What would make sense though is how many norris trophy voters of the 200 have about this much of a grasp on the west beyond narratives…
I doubt Bednar is going anywhere. Seems McFarland is the fall guy. Seems like a promotion but if he’s the bees knees why not keep him? They did it before
As for Bednar, he had injuries but from what I heard the bigger problem was the Knights took away the neutral zone and they had no counter. Sound familiar?
That’s Cassidy’s system. If they hire him hopefully he has a counter
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/kris-knoblauch-brings-what-colorado-has-been-missing-in-the-playoffs
Just because it is awesome
With recent news from Gazzola that there was a confirmed rift between Bowman (management) and Knoblauch. Is it true? Supposed to be.
Now I wonder if some decisions put on the coach were actually Bowman.
Such as Leon – Connor – Frederic
Who was thinking this was the superline for the year?
Knoblauch likes trying different line combinations and storing them in his memory banks.
My top 3 reasons why K.K was fired. The handling of Howard.The benching of Frederic in the playoffs add in the usage of him over the year. Only playing a healthy Jarry once in the Anaheim series.
Good lord. None of those were the reason KK was fired.
Why do you think he was fired?
Because.
Excellent answer. This is thought out more than what the parrots are mimicking.
Highest defensive zone giveaways in the entire league during regular season and this contimued unabated in the 1st round.
Like an anamoly of epic fail proportions bad defensive zone transitions. As far back as i could go the top 5 were all clearest best odd lottery teams. It is best glaring way i could frame the season long lasting complaint in a statistic.
Like truly hot garbage insane glaring hole in bough of ship that never really bothered plugging off.
I’d go with lack of assigning roles to bottom six, not creating a team identity, not utilizing the entire roster, overplaying McDavid, and Draisaitl, and when that didn’t work, play them some more
I’d bet the other way around. Knoblauch never deployed the acquired players as they should have been in his 2 full seasons.
I’d say that this is accurate. Look at how much the additions played, outside of Murphy, Dickinson and Roslovic he faded them pretty hard. Mangi – 12.5mins, Frederic – 11mins, Tomasek 10:45, Samanski 10:30, Howard 10:19, Dach 10:09, Lazar 8:55, Jones 8:21, Jarventie 8:00, Hutson 8:00, Clattenburg 7:12.
Even Troy Stecher – 13:52 in 6 games vs. 19:46 in 58 for TML. Regardless of how good Stecher is/isn’t, it’s hard for a GM of a contending team to not be seen as having made a mistake and that GM will almost certainly blame the coach that didn’t play him.
Skinner and Arvidsson too. Both were never used properly.
I’d also argue he used Roslovic inconsistent with what he was acquired for.
Frederic I have speculated the coach may have actually asked for – given the early role, the patience, and the overall way things have unfolded. Entirely speculation though.
That might actually be the case. KK played Frederic in all 22 playoff games last year over Arvidsson, Kapanen, Jeff Skinner, and Max Jones so it’s reasonable to believe that is true.
Skinner and Arvidsson both had about the same number of EV goals in 2024-25 as they had their previous season (Skinner 16 vs. 16 and Arvidsson 14 vs 15 his last full season). It’s a choice to not play your #4 and #6 EVG goal scorers more (or at all) but will play Janmark and Frederic who each had 4 points in 22 games.
Knoblauch’s comments about Skinner and the powerplay (and that he made them publicly) were one of the earliest tells that there was direct disagreement on deployment/role/fit.
This does not prove misalignment with management, or that he faded them. Another option is he simply overplayed his top end and these players were not able to contribute or make a difference.
This to me is the key to last season. You overplay to win the day, but you lose the season because you did not build your team.
I lean this way. Bowman is very honest and open about things when appropriate. He doesn’t appear to me to have any nefarious agenda, or any agenda at all except doing his job. We can debate his competence, but he seems like a straight shooter to me
Bowman did not pick K.K as the Coach. Obviously the big boss and Bowman were pleased with K.K enough to give him a pat on the back and a 3 year contract. So what changed this year? It’s obvious to me there was disconnect between K.K and Bowman over Howard-Frederic-Jarry the 3 prized stick out your neck moves by Bowman this year. Anyone can repeat the fluff rainbow reasons why K.K was fired.
That would be the way I was leaning.
But two things – this opening night line up of Frederic on top line is just wierd and does not seem like Knoblauch.
And final benching of Frederic after being awful all year. This seems like final “get lost Bowman” kind of move.
So Bowman might have been pushing Frederic here.
Regardless of who was correct, it is easy to believe a rift was present.
Then throw in the Knoblauch extension and what the heck?? If this was forming, why force an error?
Optics on the extension, and perhaps wishes from on high. The Oilers don’t currently operate like Vegas and are probably too much into loyalty. Injuries or not KK got to wear his ass as a hat courtesy of Maurice after the last finals. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work out and kept getting worse
Nashville Predators
@PredsNHL
Welcome to Smashville, Chris!
We’re proud to announce that Chris MacFarland has been hired as our President of Hockey Operations and General Manager.
As MacFarland assumes control of the Predators’ hockey operations department, Trotz transitions into an advisory role following a three-season tenure as the team’s general manager.
Trotz modernized the franchise’s hockey operations department while creating organizational depth, one of the NHL’s top prospect pools and holding 33 selections over the next three NHL Drafts.
Perhaps the most recognizable figure in Nashville’s hockey history, Trotz spent 15 seasons as the Predators’ first-ever head coach (1998-14) and is fifth in NHL history in games coached (1,812) and wins (914).
McFarland will have plenty to work with as the assumes control.
Along with the 33 draft picks over the next 3 seasons, the Predators have more than $27 million in cap space this offseason.
While the current roster is aging out, most of the high value contracts expire soon.
Stamkos – 2 seasons @ $8 million
Marchessault – 3 seasons @ $5.5 million
Ryan O’Reilly – 1 season @ $4.5 million
Filip Forsberg has 4 seasons left @ $8.5 million which is already a bargain.
He also has ageless wonder Roman Josi under contract for another 2 seasons @ $9 million.
He should be able to put his stamp on the team in very short order.
Jeff Marek:
Sabres’ D Michael] Kesselring’s interesting; if the Oilers can’t come to a deal with Connor Murphy…do they try to get Kesselring in as a replacement…he’s not gonna be a top 4 unless they’re gonna make a move with someone like Owen Power – Sekeres & Price
Forget if they miss on Murphy – do this instead of overpaying a defenceman who doesn’t move the puck. Kesselring is bigger and younger too.
Sign Dickinson instead and go with Kess.
Then they can trade Nurse and totally revamp the second pair.
Maybe resign Kulak too.
WOO-WEE.
I wonder what it would take to get him out of Buffalo.
He’s a RFA with arbitration rights.
With the paucity of RD available, I expect the Sabres would be looking for a substantial prospect.
They could certainly get that somewhere.
He’s offer sheet eligible.
Yes.
Buffalo has $12 million in cap space available to match although Alex Tuch might take a big chunk.
I would think Kesselring at age 26 will want to get paid.
Also of note, he is an American and may not be thrilled about playing in Canada.
I’m sure he does want to get paid but he hasn’t established himself as anything yet. One full season only at 26. He won’t bring much back same reason
AFP Analytics projects nearly $3 million on his next contract if he stays in Buffalo.
I would think it would take around $4 million to get him to sign an offer sheet.
If any team in a tax free state came calling, he would likely jump.
Tax free state isn’t as big a deal as many say. Unless his agent is a dolt and doesn’t get it. Nobody seems to avoid California or New York. 50% of their income is taxed in the jurisdiction the games are played in
In tax free states players tend to get signing bonuses with low actual salary, that way the whole bonus is paid in that state.
Also comparing living in Cali or NYC versus a similar tax rate in Edmonton is silly.
I’ve mussed about Kesselring on here over the last few weeks.
I don’t know if he’s a 2RD or a 3RD with upside. The Oilers have a cost-controlled and effective 3RD.
From TOI and Puck IQ i would say 3RD with upside. In 24-25 he played 17+ minutes. 25-26 he played 13+. Has played mostly third pair comp but this year played second pair comp in his limited minutes.
not sure if there’s anything to suggest Hes more than Emberson
I would have time considering him replacing Emberson but that would be based on really digging into what he does well. Because he’s a much bigger guy that IIRC can skate and has more puck skills. However at this point the cap likes Emby better
But then they have Regula who is like Kesslering but less mobile
Then Kesslering > Emberson > Regula.
Should be an easy decision, except for the $$$
Kesselring is “different than” Emberson not necessarily “better than”.
Not saying he isn’t better but we don’t know.
Emberson is a very good 5 on 5 defender. I presume better than Kesselring but I haven’t seen him enough at the pro level to say for certain. Emberson is also an undervalued and underused penalty killer and that should change this coming season.
His usage in Buffalo is exactly why he wants out.
Buffalo’s D is loaded with high end D some of who play both sides well.
Kesselring was always a poor fit on that roster.
He needs a third opinion.
Stu Cowan
@StuCowan1
Patrik Laine confirms he wasn’t injured at end of season #Habs
Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
There was incentive for Laine to stay on IR though as he will now be able to sign a bonus laden contract as a UFA with a lower base salary which will make him more appealing to teams.
The last sentence is out there but its 100% wrong.
Because Laine was on IR for 100 days, he would have been eligible for performance bonuses next season even if activated.
So he was on IR even though he wasn’t injured? Maybe the NHL should look into this.
Colorado has given permission for Nashville to talk to their currently employed and active general manager and it looks like he’s going to be hired by a division rival. Sure, there is a promotion to POHO here (although potentially also GM) but this is how business is done.
Cassidy will highly likely be made available to talk to all teams. I believe the league will be more active in this if it doesn’t happen promptly after the playoffs end.
Bettman is addressing the media today. My guess is, if he’s asked about this, the office stance will be the same – Vegas is within their legal rights. I think there will be different messaging to Vegas being the scenes, if needed.
The situations are very different.
McFarland is up for a promotion while Cassidy is not.
It is SOP for teams to allow their managers to pursue promotions.
Except that in this situation the GM was working, not an out of work coach collecting a paycheque. Paying $4.5M to Cassidy to snub other teams is just shooting yourself in the foot. They’ll let him go but it may be after July 1st.
I’m pretty sure it’s a consummated deal if they do let him go which seems likely. It would be a very bad look to screw any more with a very high profile coach. I get that they may want to keep the spotlight on their Cup run and Cassidy going elsewhere might take some light away, or give the fan base something to gripe about if it’s in conference
If they want his input and it’s still up in the air I think they will get it some way
Pretty sure going from watching the grass grow to being a head coach is a promotion.
I alluded to that in my e-mail.
Its SOP for teams to allow fired coaches to purse other coaching options in the league.
Idk sitting at home fired when he could be working seems like a bit of a promotion.
The Oilers rehiring Woodcroft to be the head coach of the Oilers would be about the most Oilers thing that they could do. And that is why it is not completely and utterly out of the realm of possibility.
No chance.
Seravelli on with Karius this morning says his sense is no major concern with Bouchard – only question is how much rest/time off he may need before he’s ready to start normal training (paraphrasing).
let’s hope !
Presumibg Cassidy is made available, and I still believe he will be, I think the Oilers are the clear favourite. For one, we heard Bruce himself say how special it would be to coach a Canadian team to a cup. We also heard Friedman say the Oilers are Cassidy’s top option.
LA is going to be mediocre for a while, TO as well. I think unless a coach is afraid of media the Oilers are top of the list having three of the league’s best players. I also think the discourse around Canadian media is overblown. Sure hockey in the US doesn’t get much attention in most cities, but if you are in one of the 3 other major sports they get as much heat as hockey players in Canada get
I tend to agree. It’s not a matter of if Cassidy becomes coach of the Oilers, it’s when.
Another thought of interest is the name Patrik Liane who will be well rested for next season
and might be open to a show-me type contract the Oilers are so open to. He could reinvent himself in Oiler silks, but thoughts are like clouds
My thoughts on Laine is that he may be the worst defensive forward in the league and fully reliant on the PP to score these days – he’d make the team worse.
That’s where the re-inventing comes in. While we’re at it, Connor & Leon need to
re-invent themselves too.
When have Jackson and Bowman every been right with a major decision?
Priyanta Emrith
@HabsInHighHeels
#Habs Brendan Gallagher’s emotional goodbye to the #GoHabsGo organization:
https://x.com/HabsInHighHeels/status/2061455864477675738?s=20
(click for video)
It is speculated Vancouver will acquire the final year of his contract to improve the culture of the team.
That seems like a no-brainer.
Holland’s love to talk/random stories is why I suspect he’s the one that actually leaked the Cassidy thing. He has everything to gain there and nothing to lose. He gets to make EDM and VGK look bad while putting pressure on and potentially increasing the number of coaches available (KK and Cassidy). Holland originally hired KK so it’s not out of the question that he’d be interested in him as well as Cassidy.
Holland is a gentleman and professional from what I’ve observed, seriously doubt he would do that.
Not intentionally.
His fishing buddy did offer sheet Broberg-Holloway. As the saying goes quilt by association.
A quilting bee?
Nothing about Holland ever leaks? https://www.marqueur.com/news/index.php?no=377622
Dave Hakstol is an interesting name for coach. He has a decent resume, has run a 1-2-2 system similar to Cassidy when he was head coach of the Flyers and Kraken, is good with line matching and was generally liked by the players. The one knock on him is that he’s not that creative on offensive systems. He is currently assistant with Colorado and the PP was one of his responsibilities that didn’t go particularly well this year. I wonder if paring him with Todd Nelson would be a good option. Not sure who is head coach and who is assistant but they might make a good team with complementary skill sets Nelson with offense and player development and Hakstol with defensive systems and structure.
FWIW, Servalli was very complimentary of Hakstol. He was on ON (Servalli) and said Hakstol is not like KK even though he appears unemotional on the bench. Said he’s very intense and gets a lot out of his players.
Hakstol looks exactly like Knoblauch, dont see it happening for this reason
In his hockey DB pic he looks like an arrogant frat boy, pretty funny
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
Final voting totals for 2025-26 Norris Trophy:
https://x.com/reporterchris/status/2061832162702217593?s=20
(click for link to vote totals)
Spoiler alert: Werenski wins
Bouchard, pretty darn good though. Great job Bouch.
Surprised by the margin Werenski got.
1st place votes:
Werenski – 113
Makar – 47
Dahlin -13
Bouchard – 12
Seider – 5
Hutson – 3
I think his profile likely just jumped a bunch at the worlds. Dominant and they were weak without him
NHL
@NHL
Zach Werenski thought this was just a regular family BBQ, but he was in for quite a surprise!
His whole family was on hand to celebrate the first James Norris Memorial Trophy of his career!
https://x.com/NHL/status/2061831055242309857?s=20
(click for video)
It is amazing how deep Canada must be nationally if the 4th best defenseman in the best league in the world is not needed for our national team…
Does Torts have a contract beyond June 30th? Maybe the Oilers should sweep in with a revenge Torts signing and leave Vegas on the outside looking in. He who laughs last…
I think the Oilers want to get it done before the draft. Torts is a wildcard for sure, though.
Maybe they should seek permission to speak with Torts. Let that leak out like a fart from a dead seagull.
No, he does not.
I can also see Torts as a guy that would be pissed at Vegas for doing what they are doing to his coaching brother in Bruce Cassidy and not re-signing.
Pure speculation but he seems to be that type of guy and, when asked about it a little while ago, his comment was “no comment” but I inferred some distaste about the situation.
Vegas could be high and dry without a head coach for next season.
Maybe they will “unrelieve Cassidy of his duties” – their new thing is to bring in a closer.
Manny Malhotra appointed Head Coach inVancouver.
https://www.nhl.com/canucks/news/vancouver-canucks-name-manny-malhotra-23rd-head-coach-in-franchise-history
That is an astute hire.
Abbotsford players loved him.
I’m firmly in the definitely not Laviolette camp. I don’t really know much about coaching and systems play, so mostly I’m going off of vibes. Vibes are way off with him.
Is it the hair, Lois? It’s the most unnerving thing for me. As the son of a man whose combover was Rene Levesque-level, I find it disturbing. Speaks to choices. 🙂
Funny it’s always bugged me as well
This is “coaching criteria” I can understand. It also gives reason to the adulation folks in Oilerville have for Cassidy: the guy has a full head of hair. Being bald, I like neither.
I like thick lustrous hair 😉
I’ve thought him as overrated for some time too. Don’t know enough about him, but he strikes me as an old-timey coach and like you I’m not confident in his tactics and systems
Nashville given permission to talk with Colorado GM Chris McFarland about POHO job.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/predators-granted-permission-to-speak-to-avalanche-gm-chris-macfarland/
Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
More: according to several sources, MacFarland met face-to-face last night with owner Bill Haslam and the goal is for the Predators to close this quickly. They know they will have to hand the keys to MacFarland and are prepared to do it. Stay tuned.
Sorry for not rditing… fat fingers do not work well… lol
If the Oilers are heslyhy to stsrt the season they will br fine. One cannot over look yhe fact that the Oilers did not have one centre down the middle 100% healthy inbthe plaoffs. Look no farther than Colorado with McKinnon and Makar both hurt… if healthy they best Vegas just like Oilers probably beat the Ducks. Shot term whomever they hire will do fine.
It is more fun to read it as if I just finished a bottle of vodka…
Thanks! I took your advice. Now it maksh purrfect shense…
Nope, only the Avs get to use injuries as an excuse.
Time to re-visit Todd Nelson.
Maybe him, but for experience Dave Hakstol is probably a better choice than Berube or Laviolette. Alan May talking to Gregor broke Lav down pretty well and it’s not pretty. Good motivator, his system is so outdated teams quit on him after one season. As in the last two teams
I don’t particularly but the narrative on Laviolette – as I’ve also seen him described as “learning” and “evolving” before.
Are there any coaches out there who only deploy one system exclusively any longer? Even Hitchcock started to bend at the end.
Maybe he is. I have always been bothered by the constant use of ‘learning’. Everyone does as they go through life, hopefully, but when you are in your 60’s and been an NHL HC for over 2 decades, if you are needing to learn much you are not smart or really stubborn. You should be an expert
I think the ‘learning’ mantra is too often used as cover for messing up or not being good at something, getting things wrong. Experts teach, they aren’t in active learning mode even if they are still learning passively
He never gets deep into a conversation with a team. I’ve never understood why. Results are strong. Any road, I don’t believe he is destined for a head coaching job.
A good coach and a good salesman aren’t always the same thing.
I’ve heard that’s the knock on Nelson. He can talk to hockey players, not executives.
They just had Knobs, unlikely they give Todd a look this cycle. Rah Rah pedigree turn.
They saw the Montgomery and Deboer moves and said ‘we should do it like that so people think we’re cutting edge and bold’.
Same old Oilers.
how does Nelson have the credibility or cache to get buy in?
Importantly, does he have “gravitas”?
I liked that too.
Nelson has two decade record of doing exactly that. He coaches to the talent available.
Then why isn’t he already a head coach in the NHL?
The more I read and hear about Cassidy from his former players, the more I want nothing to do with him.
Bednar if he shakes free, Laviolette if he doesn’t. Do not give Vegas anything for Cassidy. F them.
This is the right attitude. Oilers have a roster just moments from Stanley Cup. This year they had a rest. The line up should be on the coaching side.
The team has to listen to the coach, or I should say Connor & Leon need to listen to the coach. Whoever the coach is, Connor & Leon need to buy in. This is where the problem lies.
I would suggest this is a guess at best.
If it was true then the whole past few seasons of almost Stanley come down to fixing this one thing.
I don’t think so, and the reason why is Paul Coffey. Coffey going into that room and on the bench gave managment an insider perspective if they didn’t already have it. If it was as simple as you say, solutions would be presented.
We heard it from the horses mouths. Both Leon & Connor brought up coaching more than once. Sounds like a good guess. My guess is that Connor & Leon are above coaching.
If it is as simple as @Cowboy Bill says, the solution would be off limits to ownership doing just fine on the financial side, and not ready or willing to risk the PR costs of the solution. If it this simple, firing the coach is then less a solution than yet another in a series of distractions.
We are, of course, just guessing. But patterns suggest underlying habits, if not truths.
Bednar’s hair is even worse than Laviolette’s.
Have you listened to his former player Colby Cohen?
From what I’ve learned, Cassidy can grate on players over time but that is, over time, and it appears his approaches work for a decent stretch of time. I don’t need Cassidy to perform over a 5 year contract, for now, I need him for the next few years.
Also, listening to him on Chiclets, he takes accountability for how he coached trying to get Vegas out of their March slump and thinks he should have tried to “put some joy back in to the room”. There is the potential that he’s learning and developing as a coach as well, right?
More of the “learning” stuff.
As for account, the words part is easy.
Q: Was he a “joy in the room” coach with pre-Vegas teams?
Finally, what matters: He has good hair. Is it enough to get the Glimmer Twins to pay attention for 84+16 games?
“As for accountability…”