Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Where Is It Hottest in Canada? episode on the Edmonton Oilers and head coach Jay Woodcroft.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: Before we talk about the goalies, though, I want to talk about the head coach because, you know, I started getting calls when that game started getting away from the Oilers against Nashville on Saturday. People started asking me, do you think Woodcroft could be fired? Like, do you think we could, Something could happen after the game on Saturday or we could all wake up Sunday morning, and there was a new head coach.
NHL Rumors: Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets, and the Columbus Blue Jackets
And there’s, there’s two things I look at in these situations. Number one, what is the coach’s history and number two, who’s the replacement? Who makes sense? It’s very easy to sit there and say we’re firing the coach but it’s a lot harder to say, who makes sense to replace him. I always think about that.
I wish I could credit the general manager who told me this early in my career. I’m getting old now so my memories going, but he would always say to me, ‘I don’t want to hear fire the coach. I want to hear who and what makes you better.’
Now, the number one thing here I think, is that yes, I do believe that the Oilers are starting to ask some serious questions internally. Like what is wrong? What can we do to fix it? And has it been thrown around that maybe they might have to look for another coach? Yes, I believe it has. I think you would be doing the ostrich burying your head in the sand if you didn’t think the Oilers were at least thinking about this.
But let’s remember one thing. Jay Woodcroft before this season was the Oilers head coach for 120 games. They won 76 of those and they’d won three rounds in the playoffs. Is he perfect? No. But he’s gotten results on that team. And to me, you need to have, when you’ve got that kind of record, you need to have a good reason to say, you really have to have exhausted all your options when you are saying we have to change the coach.
Now are you going to have to go in there and say you might have to do things a little differently? Yes. You might have to change the way you approach some things. Yes. But how many teams fire a coach with that kind of winning percentage and find someone better? So that’s the number one thing I look at here, you know.
So you sit there and you make your list Jeff, and this also goes for, you know, Ottawa too. You make your list of who makes sense. You know, Claude Julian is a person, like if you’re really craving structure, that is definitely the kind of guy you’re looking at. You know, Patrick Roy, and we’ll talk about him with him in a second. I’ve always wondered if the day would come that he would get another shot in the NHL.
You know, a lot of people talk Joel Quenneville. What about Joel Quenneville? Well, on Sunday there was a report of another lawsuit potentially in the 2010, Chicago, Kyle Beach beach case. And there’s a media conference on Monday. I think at this point in time. We’re recording this on Sunday night. I want to wait to hear from this media conference and see what comes out of it. But I think it’s safe to say Jeff, while this is unfolding, it seems unlikely, very unlikely the NHL would approve Joel Quenneville’s return while this case continued to proceed.
So that’s the one thing I sit here and I wonder. Like I think there are teams that would look at some AHL coaches or assistant coaches on other teams, but how often do teams let them go during the season?
As a matter of fact, I was talking with an executive on the weekend, who said that as far as he knows, and there are some situations that are different. There’s a lot of AHL teams, like if you’re looking for an AHL coach or you have a good NHL team, you kind of tell your guys that once the puck drops at the start of the season, we expect you to stay through the season.
And he told me of a situation, he asked not to use the name because it would out who told me this story. But he told me of a situation where they had an AHL coach who got offered an NHL job with another team and they said no. They said at the beginning of the year you made a deal with us.
Now, there are exceptions. Kurt Muller was the coach of the American Hockey League team for Nashville in Milwaukee. And Jim Rutherford wanted to hire him in Carolina, and he was allowed to do it. So there are exceptions, but generally, teams prefer a commitment all year long once the puck drops.
So I think with the coach in Edmonton, look if Jay Woodcroft had a .350 winning percentage or a .420 winning percentage, I think we’d all understand that. But the guy’s had one full season and his winning percentage is at 65% and they’ve gone to five playoff rounds in the last two years. Unless he’s openly refusing to do things or you really think he’s lost his touch, you’d have to explain to me why that’s a good reason.
Marek: “So a couple of things here. One, there’s a number of reasons why I think it has to be incredibly frustrating to be an NHL coach. And I think the main reason, or one of the main reasons at least is the one position on your team that you have the least amount of input or expertise about, is the one that generally dictates whether you will stay employed or will be fired.
NHL Rumors: Is Jay Woodcroft on the hot seat in Edmonton? How can they turn this around?
Friedman: “Yeah.”
Marek: “… and that’s the goaltender. What’s the old saying show me a good goalie. I’ll show you a good coach.”