The Edmonton Oilers have an opportunity here. I wonder if they’re willing to go out and grab it?

Former Edmonton Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger has spent most of the past 6 years as Chairman of Southampton, a soccer club in the English Premier League. Until this week,

that is.

A thoughtful man with a gift to be able to inspire people and an ability to extract the best from talent, Krueger not only survived the indignity of being unceremoniously fired by the Edmonton Oilers via Skype in 2013. He moved on and thrived on a much bigger, high-stakes stage.

But now fate has caused the paths of the Edmonton Oilers and Ralph Kruger to once again cross. The club is hunting for someone to overhaul this shipwreck and get her tattered sails righted again. The man is looking to set his next course.

Could they end up on the very same voyage?

9 Things

9. It is quite possible that Ralph Krueger simply considers the Edmonton organization a bridge burned. While time heals the fact remains that Darryl Katzis the man who owned the club when Kruger was tossed to the curb in the Summer of 2013. And Mr. Katz still holds the purse strings today. But lets assume that this is not the case…

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8. It is pretty easy to blame Peter Chiarelli for the exodus of skill from the Oilers roster. After all he left plenty of breadcrumbs. But that’s not where the bleeding started. In order to trace the path of this destructive anti-skill pattern we need to go back in Oilers history one General Manager prior to Chiarelli: Craig MacTavish.

7. Under MacTavish’s watch the organization had a #1 NHL caliber starting goaltender in Devan Dubnyk but mismanaged him and shuttled him out-of-town. MacTavish also had not one but two developing top-end NHL D-men in the persons of Jeff Petry and Justin Schultz but lost both (Petry literally, Schultz badly mishandled although it was Chiarelli who eventually moved him). But it didn’t end there…

6. When Ralph Krueger took over as Head Coach from Tom Renney he removed former Assistant Coach Kelly Buchberger from the bench. Why? Because to Ralph, Buchberger was a constant negative influence. And that did not fit Kruger’s outlook or style at all. But apparently it fit MacTavish’s. Because when Krueger was fired and Dallas Eakins brought in, guess who was right back behind the bench soon after? Yep. Kelly Buchberger. That says something about how MacTavish views skill and how to handle it.

5. People in and outside of the dressing room at this time recall how between Eakins and Buchberger the atmosphere behind the Oilers bench went from sweet to sour. Players with offensive flair often found themselves beneath the heel of the coaching staff and their G.M. The casualties mounted. After his best season to date under Krueger (14-24-38 in 48 GP) Sam Gagner’s game fell off and he was finally dealt. Jordan Eberle’s offensive output plateaued. Young Nail Yakupov enjoyed most of his productive time as an Edmonton Oiler under the tutelage of Krueger but circled the drain with Dallas Eakins & Co. By the time Chiarelli arrived, Nail was damaged goods.

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4. But the most affected of all by this whole attitude was Taylor Hall. Because for all of the autonomy that Peter Chiarelli is said to have been given the Taylor Hall trade was one of the few exceptions. I believe that both MacTavish and Buchberger were very loud voices in Peter Chiarelli’s ear when the latter decided to move Hall to New Jersey. It was ultimately a culmination of the abuse that Hall had faced a nightly basis on the bench from Eakins and Buchberger. Now Todd McLellan was not enamored with Hall either. But McLellan did not foresee the return that his All-Star winger would fetch. I’ve always said, it wasn’t Adam Larsson’s fault…

3. The Taylor Hall trade was the latest and worst example of how the Oilers department of player personnel treats skill like a renewable resource. But it still didn’t end there. On July 2nd, 2016, Duane Sutter was promoted to Vice-President of Player Personnel. Sutter and Chiarelli really saw eye-to-eye when it came to the concept of heavy hockey. I believe that it was at this point that Sutter almost exclusively started advising Chiarelli on the pro side, while Keith Gretzky and Craig McTavish trained their sites on Bakersfield. And to be fair to MacTavish…some good work has been done on the AHL side since then. And Gretzky’s draft record has been strong.

2. Under Chiarelli and Sutter, Jordan Eberle was deemed expendable and dealt to New York. Jordan’s replacement Ryan Strome was also subsequently traded. When Ken Hitchock arrived the Heavy Hockey trifecta in Edmonton was complete and returning with Hitch was an incendiary atmosphere behind the bench. Then when both Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell went down hurt after a game against the Colorado Avalanche the pro side of the organization (led by Chiarelli, Sutter and Hitchcock) panicked. A 3rd round draft pick and Chris Wideman were shipped to Florida for Alexander Petrovic. Then Drake Caggiula and Chicago’s Brandon Manningbasically traded places. Slow, plodding defenders, Petrovic and Manning had been healthy scratches both by their previous clubs. They soon were that for the Oilers as well. Secondary scoring (skill) dried up. And the rest, including a 12th post-season absence in 13 years, is history.

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1. Peter Chiarelli is thankfully gone. But if Bob Nicholson is really, truly committed to giving the organization a fresh start in the new skill-driven NHL? Then all of this is why Ralph Krueger should at the very least be on the list of people to interview. Ideally, Krueger would come in as President of Hockey Operations and hire the new G.M. I think Gretzky would be a good choice but that’s a different column. I suggest Ralph specifically as POHO because that title would give him the power and cause to do the one thing that actually needs to be done: Clean house in Oilers Player Personnel and Pro Scouting. And Nicholson can’t pretend that he doesn’t have Krueger’s number. After all Bob hired Krueger as a special advisor to the Team Canada coaching staff for the 2014 Winter Olympics. They have a history.

But alas, I am lead to believe and by people who would know such things that it would be very unlikely for Ralph Kruger to return to Edmonton. And to me if that’s true and Krueger is really not on Bob Nicholson’s radar then that can only mean one of two things, or both:

One, Ralph just said “no thanks”, and considering past circumstances who could blame him? And/Or Two, Nicholson is unwilling to do the tough (and expensive) thing and challenge the prevailing culture surrounding professional player personnel for the Edmonton Oilers.

Because by hiring Krueger Bob Nicholson would be all but signing the papers on both Craig MacTavish’s and Duane Sutter’s time with the Edmonton Oilers. And I’m just not sure there is an appetite for that in the organization.

Maybe I’m wrong. Ball’s in your court, Bob.

Find me on Twitter @KurtLeavins

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