So yesterday the Oilers fired Kris Knoblaugh after he was behind the bench for three season and two runs to the Stanley Cup finals. Too cap it all off, Edmonton's front office made this as bush league as possible by asking Vegas for permission to speak to Bruce Cassidy before informing Knobauch he was to be let go. Of course, this leaked and proves once again that the Oiler's front office lacks any sort of patience and decorum.
THE SEARCH FOR A COACH
Now, the Oilers are within their rights to ask permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy, but why the rush? The logical way of doing things would be to part ways with your current coach, and afterward begin searching for a new bench boos. It seems that this front office always do things backwards, impulsively and without any longterm plan. This is absolutely embarrasing, and does little to show McDavid that the Edmonton Oilers have any semblance of a cohesive plan to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals. There is no rush to name a new coach, do a cohesive search, there is no need to always have the same old guys behind the bench.
BIG CONTRACTS WITH LITTLE WISDOM
Another embarrassing pattern that had developed with this front office is how they give out contracts, only for them to sour on it 6 months later. They signed Knoblauch to a three year extension in October. He's been fired. They signed UFA Andrew Mangiapane to a two year contract in July. He's been traded to the Hawks. They signed Trent Frederic to an eight year extention. He was a healthy scratch and the Oilers could not find any takers for him on the trade block. The lost Noah Philp for nothing on waivers. The Skinner Jarry trade was a joke.
This is a brutal track record the front office has displayed in the past 10 months. I have no clue what they are thinking, but clearly they have little to no instinct, forward thinking and patience.
CLEAN OUT THE FRONT OFFICE
At this point I would clean out the front office entirely. Enough is enough, as this has been a dumpster fire for 10 years. These guys cannot evaluate talent, cannot put a cohesive plan or culture in place and just seem completely out to lunch. They need to emulate the Montreal Canadiens who have put patient, cerebral, professional people in place at each position. They need to think outside the box and not just put in the same old mules. They need to put people in place who will have credibility in the eyes of the players, like the Habs have in St-Louis.
Right now the front office is an absolute joke and is definitely one of the worst in the entire NHL.