Edmonton Oilers fire Todd McLellan, hire Ken Hitchcock
Ken Hitchcock has, once again, come out of retirement. The Edmonton Oilers have hired him to replace the incumbent Todd McLellan.
After a strong start to their season, the Edmonton Oilers are officially struggling. Though they started the season 8-4-1, they have since lost five of their past six games. In each of those losses, the Oilers allowed at least four goals. All but four of those six games saw them score two goals or fewer. Todd McLellan was already on the hot seat going into the season after a disappointing 2017-18 campaign. That six-game slump was enough to cost him his job.
The Oilers are replacing McLellan with another veteran coach in Ken Hitchcock. He was last seen coaching the Dallas Stars during the 2017-18 season. However, much like the Oilers, the Stars underachieved and did not make the postseason.
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This buys some more time for general manager Peter Chiarelli, whose seat is scorching hot at the moment. While McLellan didn’t do well with the pieces he had, he wasn’t the guy who traded Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle with little to show for either trade.
The Oilers are in the bottom 10 in the league in goals against. Hitchcock’s methods might be a bit dated, but one thing he can do is coach the heck out of a defense. The Stars allowed the seventh-fewest goals in the league last season.
However, the big question will be if Hitchcock can make the Oilers better defensively while also taking advantage of guys like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, and of course, Connor McDavid, the winner of the past two Art Ross Trophies.
That’s something he struggled to do with the Stars, who got very little offense from their forwards last season, aside from Alexander Radulov, Jamie Benn, and Tyler Seguin. In today’s NHL, you need to be able to score goals. Sure, having a solid defense is still important, but it’s a balance. The league is based on speed and skill these days. Hitchcock must show that he has adjusted since he last coached.
Since the Oilers hired him over Joel Quenneville, this says either the latter isn’t interested in coaching this season or he simply didn’t want to coach the Oilers. Regardless, the hiring of Hitchcock should give the team a second opinion on Chiarelli’s roster. Outside of the 2016-17 season, McLellan has never gotten the best out of his rosters.
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Whether this was a coaching issue or a Chiarelli issue is up for debate. But now the Oilers should get a much more firm answer by the end of the season. It’s safe to say if they waste yet another impressive season from McDavid, Chiarelli’s job could be on the line.