More NHL Coaching Changes
Just 2 weeks after the Chicago Blackhawks made one of the worst decisions in recent memory by firing their head coach, Joel Quenneville and allowing Stan Bowman to remain as GM, 2 more teams parted ways with their head coaches. Mike Yeo of the St. Louis Blues and Todd McLellan of the Edmonton Oilers were both canned today after both teams lackluster start to the season.
Photo: The Sports Daily
The Blues currently sit dead last in the Central division and 2nd to last in all of the Western division with a measly 17 pts from 19 games. But it’s not as if this team doesn’t have any talent. One bright spot for the Blues has to be the goal differential which surprisingly sits at only -3 considering their record of 7-9-3. Of those 12 losses 7 of them are by a single goal. The major struggle for the Blues this season is goal scoring. They rank 24th in the league with 56 goals and it definitely doesn’t help when your star Vladimir Tarasenko only has 6 goals in 19 games so far. The Blues have been solid defensively ranking 11th in goals allowed. If this team is able to start scoring some more goals or even add a offensive threat via trade, all is not lost for this team. I think the coaching change mid year was the right move to make.
Photo: NBC Sports
In Edmonton the story is much of the same as the Oilers sit 6th in the pacific with 19 pts in 20 games. Unlike the Blues who have been decent on defense thus far, Edmonton has been bad on both sides of the puck. The Oilers current rank 22nd offensively and 23rd defensivly. Of course Connor McDavid is lighting it up with 12 goals and 28 pts, along with solid start to the season by Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins. But the rest of the team not so much, and Cam Talbot continues to struggle. I’m honestly not sure a coaching change is going to make much of a difference for this team as they have too many holes on defense and need a new number 1 goalie. Looks like it’s going to be back to back seasons that Edmonton misses the playoffs.
Will either of these teams be able to entertain Quenneville enough to bring him in? My guess is Quenneville sits out the rest of the year and takes over a team next summer.