- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: With Doug Armstrong still over at the World Championships, there won’t a be decision made on head coach Ken Hitchcock until at least next week.
“I’m not going to put a timeline on it,” Armstrong said more than two weeks ago in his only public comments. “It’s not going to be, ‘You come back in 18 days and I’ll have an answer.’ It’s going to be when as an organization we’re ready to decide on all of us.”
Todd McLellan has already talked to the Oilers. Mike Babcock has spoken with the Sabres and Maple Leafs. Armstrong has worked with Babcock at the past two Olympics. If Babcock is looking for as much as $5 million, the Blues may not be able to afford him.
- Pierre LeBrun: Told that the Oilers hope to have a coach in place by the end of the month. Todd McLellan and Todd Nelson have already been interviewed. Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli has talked to Red Wings GM Ken Holland about Mike Babcock, but didn’t ask for permission to speak with him.
- Todd Cordell: Darren Dreger said on Sports Centre that the Oilers have interviewed Peter DeBoer.
- Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun: Some think the Oilers are in the process of making Todd McLellan their next head coach.
“That’s out there but the only people who could answer that would be the Edmonton Oilers,” said McLellan.
“I don’t know what teams are doing. When I talk to a team, it’s none of my business what they are doing with other teams. I don’t know how many jobs there are. Six?
“There’s a large pool of jobs open for a large pool of really good coaches right now. So as much as it can be unnerving not having a job, opportunities will exist for some people. I’ve talked to some teams. I’ve only met with one team here,” he said of new Oilers President of Hockey Operations and GM Peter Chiarelli.
“The rest have been by phone.”
When asked if he has other interviews set, including a rumored one with the Maple Leafs today.
“Nothing concrete yet,” he said.
