Brewin Flames Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) Rumors coming out that he's been let go...will update asap. Struggling Oilers fire Tippett; Woodcroft to take over The Edmonton Oilers have fired head coach Dave Tippett with the team struggling in the third year of his tenure. TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports assistant coach Jim Playfair has also been fired. Jay Woodcroft, the head coach of the team's American Hockey League affiliate Bakersfield Condors, and his head assistant, Dave Manson will take over the Oilers' bench. The Edmonton Oilers have fired head coach Dave Tippett with the team struggling in the third year of his tenure. The move comes after the Oilers suffered a 4-1 defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. I’m told Woodcroft and Manson take over bench in Edmonton. Tippett and Playfair fired. https://t.co/1dONdlxckG — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 10, 2022 TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports assistant coach Jim Playfair has also been fired. Jay Woodcroft, the head coach of the team's American Hockey League affiliate Bakersfield Condors, and his head assistant, Dave Manson will take over the Oilers' bench. Edmonton defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Dec. 1 to improve to 16-5 on the season. Since then, the team has gone 7-16. General manager Ken Holland said earlier in the season that he didn’t believe in mid-season coaching changes, but made the move with the Oilers sitting at 23-18-3, fifth in the Pacfic Division and five points back of the Calgary Flames for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.. The Oilers jumped out to a 9-1 record this season, but have failed to find the same success since and endured a six-game losing streak in December. The team's struggles have come despite star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl sitting atop the NHL scoring race. Tippett joined the Oilers in 2019 after serving as head coach for the Arizona Coyotes for eight years from 2009-2017. The 60-year-old spent six years as head coach of the Dallas Stars prior to his time with the Coyotes. The Oilers reached the play-in round of the 2020 playoffs in Tippett's first season but were eliminated in four games by the Chicago Blackhawks. Last season, the Oilers posted a 35-19-2 record in the all-Canadian North Division but were swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the playoffs. The Oilers have won one playoff series - and a total of just six postseason games - since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. Woodcroft, 45, previously served as an Oilers assistant under Todd McLellan. He was appointed head coach of the Condors in 2018. Manson, 55, had a lengthy NHL career before joining the coaching ranks. He spent three seasons with the Oilers from 1991 to 1993. A native of Prince Albert, Sask., Manson also played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs over a 16-year NHL career. He joined the Condors at the same time as Woodcroft. Edited February 10, 2022 by Brewin Flames Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) When I tuned into the game and saw that Mike Smith was starting again, on the second night of a back-to-back, after playing poorly and visibly struggling to his skates several times, I almost fell off my couch. I thought "For Tippett's sake, this can't go wrong" and then it was 1-0 after one shot against. Then it was 2-0 after two shots. From there, it's what we've mostly seen for the last couple of months: 1- score first (very high chance of happening) 2- hard forecheck while paying no physical price, play trap. 3- jump on the defensive breakdowns It's really hard to win hockey games when you give up the first goal so easily. --- Many will say that Tippett lost his job in part because Ken Holland never found a #1 goalie, but I don't agree with that. I think that part of the problem was that Holland signed and then re-signed Tippett's #1 goalie in Mike Smith, because he 100% deployed him like that: he started Smith every single night, win/lose/draw, until he was injured, and the moment he came off IR, he would do the same thing again, results be damned. That's exactly how Tippett used him in Phoenix as well. Edited February 10, 2022 by JR Ewing 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynxrattle Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 One would imagine a guy like Dave Manson would not tolerate playing without paying the physical price. We'll see if it gets better, now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, lynxrattle said: One would imagine a guy like Dave Manson would not tolerate playing without paying the physical price. We'll see if it gets better, now. Total aside, but I really liked Manson as a player. Good in his own end, canon for a shot, stood up for his teammates and tougher than a waffle house steak. If he was on the team when Hathaway blasted McDavid, last week, somebody would have been killed. Edited February 11, 2022 by JR Ewing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown guy Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Until they get a legit number one goalie the coaching carousal will continue 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Jimtown guy said: Until they get a legit number one goalie the coaching carousal will continue Threw this in the shoutbox, but would something like Koskinen (expiring contract) and Puljujarvi (RFA) for Ottawa's Murray (signed for two more years) make any sense for Edmonton? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown guy Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 2 hours ago, radoran said: Threw this in the shoutbox, but would something like Koskinen (expiring contract) and Puljujarvi (RFA) for Ottawa's Murray (signed for two more years) make any sense for Edmonton? I doubt Murray would be the answer but he’s an upgrade from what they have 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 14 minutes ago, Jimtown guy said: I doubt Murray would be the answer but he’s an upgrade from what they have Instead of three years of Murray, a possible one-and-done run with Fleury? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 20 minutes ago, Jimtown guy said: I doubt Murray would be the answer but he’s an upgrade from what they have How about the Jackets Korpisalo? I know they were wanting to move him this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 11 hours ago, Jimtown guy said: Until they get a legit number one goalie the coaching carousal will continue It's the same as ever: -Great goaltending: "He's clearly the front-runner for the Jack Adams!" -Bad goaltending: "Fire the bum!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 6 hours ago, OccamsRazor said: How about the Jackets Korpisalo? I know they were wanting to move him this season. Khudobin. He's playing very well in Edmonton. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) 10 hours ago, JR Ewing said: It's the same as ever: -Great goaltending: "He's clearly the front-runner for the Jack Adams!" -Bad goaltending: "Fire the bum!" Even year - coach Odd year - goalie The players are never at fault. #flyers Edited February 12, 2022 by radoran 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 10 hours ago, radoran said: Even year - coach Odd year - goalie The players are never at fault. #flyers The good news the Flyers now have a former Flyer they can slide into Yeo'spot, I heard they loved hiring former players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Rick Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 I have heard goaltending is the problem in Edmonton? So the coach gets fired? Was this deserved? Ill have to go back and get JR's opinion on this. Oh, OK. I just saw a quick post. So it seems he does not agree with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 4 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said: I have heard goaltending is the problem in Edmonton? So the coach gets fired? Was this deserved? Ill have to go back and get JR's opinion on this. Oh, OK. I just saw a quick post. So it seems he does not agree with this? Dave Tippett has forgotten more than I know about coaching, but he was done. -He was over-playing McDavid and Draisaitl to the point of exhaustion: upwards of 27 minutes per night, sometimes, in games which didn't go to overtime. -The goaltending has been mostly bad, but Tippett continually over-played Mike Smith, to the point where he would get injured. This would force him to play Mikko Koskinen as a regular starter, when he's better being spot-started, and he would fail. The moment Smith was healthy enough to strap on the equipment, he'd be right back out there and would quickly re-aggravate the injury, and the cycle would continue. -During an intermission a couple of weeks ago, Craig MacTavish respectfully noted that some of Tippett's coaching decision were things that other coaches around the league hadn't used since Tippett was a young coach. In other words, the old dog didn't have a lot of new tricks. -He had a habit of setting up young players to fail. Example: one of the better defensive prospects in the system is Dimitry Samorukov. In his first very first NHL shift, he was put on the ice against Vladimir Tarasenko. The kid made a rookie mistake and it was quickly in the back of the net. Tippett benched him until the second period, until he was sent out cold against Tarasenko again, and the same thing happened. Again, Tippett has forgotten more than I know, but why on Earth would he do the kid like that? Tarasenko can burn experienced quality defensemen, let alone a wide-eyed kid playing his first game? After the spanking, the Oilers sent Samorukov back to the AHL. I could tell similar stories about Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones, and others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 (edited) To the point I made yesterday morning, by the end of the night, Derek Ryan commented on playing when the coach doesn't use you much: Edited February 18, 2022 by JR Ewing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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