After another disappointing season for the Edmonton Oilers, the future of the team’s management is filled with uncertainty. What is Ken Hitchcock’s future with Edmonton?
After finishing second last in the Pacific Division with a 35-38-9 record, the Edmonton Oilers future continues to look bleak. They are four years into the Connor McDavid era and they have only had one season where they had more than 80 points.
Following the firing of general manager Peter Chiarelli, there have been a lot of questions surrounding the future of the Oilers’ management team and the future of head coach Ken Hitchcock. He was originally brought in to be the interim coach for the 2018-19 season, but he will remain with the team in some capacity.
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This morning, CEO Bob Nicholson and interim general manager Keith Gretzky met with the media and talked a lot about the future of the organization’s management. Nicholson said that Hitchcock will remain with the team in an advisory role and when they hire the next general manager, it will be up to him to see if he wants Hitchcock to continue being the coach or hire someone else.
Either way, Hitchcock is here for the next little while. He has a two-year contract where he will be with the Oilers as a consultant. This is good news for Edmonton because Hitchcock offers a different perspective from everybody else.
He came out of retirement to coach the team for a year and now he’s a consultant. Hitchcock has already made his money, he’s won a Stanley Cup, and he’s 67 years old with a family. He will bring a brutally honest perspective to the management group which is something they desperately need. Hitchcock could also serve as a face of the front office, as he’s well versed in dealing with the media.
They need someone to be the voice of reason and to put everything in perspective when things aren’t going well. The Oilers need someone to stop moves like the Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson trade and the Mikko Koskinen extension.
Obviously who the team hires to be the next general manager will be the biggest piece of the puzzle going forward, but having someone with the experience that Ken Hitchcock helps is a massive bonus. This circus that is Oilers’ management has to stop right now. McDavid is frustrated for the second straight year and he is the last person they want to be angry. Having Hitchcock there to smack sense into management is a step in the right direction.