As Ken Holland prepares for a busy summer overhauling the Oilers on and off the ice, he’ll have room to hire a new top lieutenant. Craig MacTavish, previously Edmonton’s senior vice president of hockey operations, was announced Thursday as the new head coach of the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.



MacTavish was demoted from general manager to senior VP following Edmonton’s draft lottery win in 2015 and the hiring of outsider Peter Chiarelli to manage the Oilers. He stayed on in the lesser role, with varied responsibilities which included managing the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.



In his official statement taking the job, MacTavish noted his abiding interest in coaching and that his past few years in Oilers management had often taken him to Russia to see KHL games.



As landing spots go, Yaroslavl is a good one. Lokomotiv won 40 of 62 games last season and made it to the second round of the playoffs. The temperature and climate are roughly...