Oilers hitchin’ a ride up standings
Jets not surprised Edmonton adjusting quickly under new leadership
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/12/2018 (1933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Blake Wheeler remembers the jarring impact a coaching change had on the Winnipeg Jets nearly five years ago.
So, the Jets captain isn’t surprised the Edmonton Oilers have responded favourably since that organization moved on from Todd McLellan and hired Ken Hitchcock as head coach just over three weeks ago.
The Jets were 19-23-5 and 10 points back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference when Claude Noel was fired in January 2014 and replaced by Paul Maurice.
Winnipeg won four straight and went 11-3-1 in 15 games following the change behind the bench. Despite posting an 18-12-5 record with Maurice calling the shots, the Jets still finished out of the playoffs.
“We went through it a number of years ago. When a coach gets fired, it kind of puts everyone on notice. It can jump-start you a little bit,” Wheeler said Thursday morning, hours before the Western Conference clubs collided at Bell MTS Place.
“Obviously, (with) an experienced coach, they’ve had some success. They’re playing well.”
That’s an understatement, to be sure, as the Oilers hit Winnipeg riding a four-game winning streak and were 8-2-1 since McLellan’s dismissal.
Hitchcock became the Oilers’ eighth head coach in a decade when he was hired Nov. 20. At the time, the club had lost five of their past seven games and was 9-10-1, five points below the playoff line.
Prior to Thursday’s NHL action, Edmonton occupied the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and was just a point back of the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division.
Maurice said players are definitely put on notice when the coach gets the axe.
“It’s an audition, for sure. When you’ve got a brand-new coach, there are opportunities,” he said.
“The guys that have been playing well want to maintain their status on the team and show the new guy that it’s no fluke. And then, there are a whole bunch of guys in the room who felt they were underappreciated or underutilized, that they could do more. At the very least, they got a fresh start here.
“Usually, the new guy doesn’t have a problem getting all of the eyes on the board and following the directions early.”
Hitchcock, who hails from Edmonton, is the third-winningest coach in NHL history with 831 wins to his credit. Only Scott Bowman (1,244) and Joel Quenneville (890) have more victories. He has also captured a Stanley Cup (1999) and has eight division titles during stops with the Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Hitchcock, who turns 67 on Monday, said he sees in the Jets a lot of what he wants his own club to bring to the rink each night.
“They go the distance, they don’t try to win early. They don’t just trust their skill — they’ve got great skill — but they trust their work, and when you trust your work, you win a lot of games late, you win a lot of games going away. You just wear down the opposition,” Hitchcock said.
Connor McDavid said the transition to a new man in charge has been a smooth one.
“It’s just a different voice, a different way to look at the game. He’s been really good,” the Oilers’ captain said.
“I think our guys are feeling confident, feeling good about themselves. We’ve been playing a solid team game.”
Veteran blue-liner Jason Garrison, who returned to the Edmonton lineup Thursday after being a healthy scratch since Nov. 27, said McLellan’s ouster was, indeed, a harsh wake-up call.
“You never want to see anybody let go or lose a guy who you’ve been with, so that part was tough. The guys in this room knew we could play to this level, but it was on us because we weren’t doing that. Something like that happens, it’s a huge reminder it’s a business about winning,” Garrison said. “Hitch came in and put a game plan together and guys have been showing it in games we can deliver.”
A coaching change is rarely a fix-all for a faltering NHL club. Three other teams that fired coaches in November haven’t responded nearly as well as the Oilers.
Willie Desjardins hasn’t been able to get the Los Angeles Kings moving since he replaced John Stevens, the Chicago Blackhawks continue to struggle under Jeremy Colliton since Quenneville was canned, and Craig Berube has the St. Louis Blues still playing below .500 since he took over from Mike Yeo.
jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPJasonBell
Jason Bell
Sports editor
Jason Bell wanted to be a lawyer when he was a kid. The movie The Paper Chase got him hooked on the idea of law school and, possibly, falling in love with someone exactly like Lindsay Wagner (before she went all bionic).
History
Updated on Thursday, December 13, 2018 11:02 PM CST: Full write through
Updated on Friday, December 14, 2018 7:10 AM CST: Writethru, new photo.