Edmonton Oilers Hire Ken Holland As General Manager, Looks For New Head Coach After Firing Ken Hitchcock

By Jordan Long

The Edmonton Oilers hired Ken Holland to be their new General Manager.   This is after the Oilers fired Peter Chiarelli on January 23^rd.  Chiarelli had been with the Oilers since April 25^th, 2015.  They were hoping he would build a playoff and Stanley Cup team.  It didn’t happen as the Oilers made the playoffs once, 2017 and it was a 1^st-round playoff exit.  They hope to have better results with Holland.

                Holland already made his presence felt.  He decided to let go of Head Coach Ken Hitchcock.   This is Holland’s first step of the rebuilding process for the Oilers.

                Hitchcock took over the Edmonton Oilers on November 20^th, 2018 after they relieved Todd McLellan of his Head Coaching duties.  The Oilers were 9-10-1 at the time.  They hoped a change in the Head Coach would make a difference for the Oilers.  It didn’t.  The Oilers went 26-28-8 under Hitchcock and finished with a record of 35-38-9 for a total of 79 points.

There were many problems in their dismal season.  On offense they couldn’t score.  When they had chances to shoot the puck to put it in the net, they would turn it over or shots were blocked.  Edmonton scored 2.79 goals per game, ranking 20^th in the league. 

On defense, they let the opponents skate into the defensive zone and spend time there.    These ended up being goals, allowing 3.30 goals per game which was 25^th in the NHL.   With the rival teams spending time in their defensive zone, the Oilers took penalties.  While shorthanded they had a difficult time skating the puck out of their own zone.  Teams set up their power play and scored.  Edmonton killed off 74.8% of the penalties they took, second to last in the NHL. 

The only area where the Oilers played well was the power play.  When teams took penalties, Edmonton set the power play up.  The Oilers were able to keep the puck in the offensive zone.  Skaters set up in front of the goaltender to screen the goalie.  Edmonton scored on 21.2% on the man advantage ranking 9^th in the NHL.

Holland was right to can Hitchcock and start a search for a new Head Coach.  They didn’t play well all season and Hitchcock never adjusted which ended up hurting the Oilers. Holland wants a fresh face on the bench to lead this team.  Hopefully his hire will be able to help the Oilers reach the playoffs and advance past the 1st-round where they haven’t been since 2006.