Todd McLellan to be named next Oilers head coach: Report
Todd McLellan, congratulations on reportedly being the man to usher in the Connor McDavid era to Edmonton.
Provided this Sportsnet report is accurate, and McDavid doesn’t ‘Pull a Lindros’ after the 2015 draft McLellan will be the next coach of the Oilers, announced possibly as soon as Tuesday.
Previous reports by Sportsnet indicated the team would wait until the former Sharks head coach returned from Prague, where he was coaching Team Canada at the World Championships.
McLellan finished his tenure at San Jose with a 311-163-66 record. He mainly left San Jose unstained, in spite of the captain-less debacle was the Sharks’ non-playoff year last season. He and San Jose – at least publicly – said they had mutually parted.
Is McLellan the right guy for a team that’s still in a rebuild? The Sharks were never ‘really’ rebuilding while he coached there, though they said they were as part of some damage control during the end of McLellan's tenure.
Regardless, he’s getting probably one of the most plum jobs in the league, so it will be good testing ground for him to see if he can coach a bunch of young, talented players. Sidenote … Edmonton is now a plum job? Are you serious?
Yes, it's cold there, and that boat appears to be frozen into the water.
If the Oilers wanted a proven NHL coach with a record of success, McLellan was a good option. Also, the team will have a new arena and a new star player for next year, which should ignite the organization. Everybody wins in this decision!
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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