Article content

The Sask Boys Club rules the Oil

This in from TSN1260’s Jason Gregor, confirmation that the Oilers have hired Glen Gulutzan and Trent Yawney as asst. coaches, with one more hire to come: “I have it confirmed that Gulutzan and Yawney have signed with the Oilers. There’s another coach they’re going to sign, they’re just waiting, and there will be an announcement with that in the near future.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Edmonton Oilers hire two former head coaches to help Todd McLellan next year, Gregor confirms Back to video

TSN’s Ryan Rishaug added: “I like this staff they’ve put in place. I think they were aggressive. They spent some money. They brought in two high-end legit guys and I think they’ve really done a good job beefing up this coaching staff.”

My take

The hiring of Yawney was the worst kept secret in Edmonton, followed closely by the hiring of Gulutzan. Numerous insiders and reporters, includingThe Cult’s Kurt Leavins, have linked those two names to the Oilers for about a month now. I’d give credit to whichever reporter first broke each hiring, but there’s been so many tweets, radio comments, blog posts, stories and suggestions, that I’m not entirely sure who first broke each hiring. One advantage the Oilers have is the the strong revenues for the team, which allows them to spend extra money on things like asst. coaches. We can only guess here, but I bet Gulutzan and Yawney are nearer to the top than the bottom of the pay scale for NHL asst. coaches. That is certainly what their credentials would suggest. You can’t have enough strong coaches so it’s great that the Oilers just signed two former NHL head coaches to help out Todd McLellan. If McLellan can’t get the job done as head coach this year, the Oilers now have two candidates to replace him on his own staff. Gulutzan’s stock is low because of his team’s performance in Calgary. At the same time, he has been entrusted with being head coach of two NHL teams, Dallas and Calgary. He’s been a coach at the pro level for 15 years, reports HockeyDB. He’s been an NHL asst. in Vancouver for three years. He clearly is qualified to be McLellan’s assistant coach. Yawney gets a lot of credit for running excellent PK units in San Jose and Anaheim, and also for developing attacking, puck-moving d-men with the Ducks. There’s no doubt that the Ducks have developed a plethora of that kind of player in Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen, Brandon Montour, Josh Manson and Shea Theodore. Just today on Oilers Now, Bob Stauffer of the Oilers was implying it might be wise to go longer term on a deal with Darnell Nurse, given how d-men improve under Yawney, which could lead to yet another jump in Nurse’s point production (he went from one of the league worst point producing d-men at even strength as a rookie to the top third in his second and third years). The Sask Old Boys is now in charge of the Oilers, and if the final worst kept rumour is true, Emanuel Viveiros of the Swift Current Broncos will also join this staff. Viveiros is also an experienced head coach with plenty of time behind the bench in European leagues. Or maybe it will be yet another Sask-rooted long-time head coach in Todd Nelson rounding out the staff? One interesting thing about Viveiros is he helped a young Finnish attacker Aleksi Heponiemi to have a lot of success this year. Here’s what Stauffer tweeted about him: “One sign of good coaching is getting you team to play right thru to the bitter end. Injury-riddled (no Steenbergen) and fatigued (101 GP)… Manny Viveiros’s @ SCBroncos never quit. Viveiros has done a stellar job last 2 seasons in Swift. He is a lock to go to the next level.” So along with McLellan, the Oilers will have all kinds of coaches used to running their own shows, though Yawney and Gulutzan also have long records as asst. coaches. Lots of chefs, but I can’t help but think this will be good for the broth.

Staples on the city

Accidental Beach needs to become Permanent Beach, and today good day to start at council hearing

At the Cult

STAPLES: Will a hot dman prospect like Dobson fall to Oilers in draft?

Staples: Has Darnell Nurse earned a long term deal with the Oilers?

LEAVINS: Strome miscast with Oilers until late in season

STAPLES: Gerard Gallant’s secret super power? Maybe it’s this: “I’m not holding my players accountable for making mistakes.”