Google News Edmonton Oilers fire head coach Dave Tippett, Jay Woodcroft is the new coach
by SEAD DEDOVIC | VIEW 1968
The Edmonton Oilers have decided to fire Dave Tippett, the club's coach, after several poor results. The new coach will be Jay Woodcroft, who will have a hard job. Oilers general manager Ken Holland was thinking of ending the story with Tippett, and in the end, it happened.
We played a great second period, and I hoped we could rally in the third, but we didn't," Holland said of the Oilers' loss to Chicago, as quoted by upi "As the third period wound down, then, after I went home and I was by myself, I thought.
"And then I talked to a couple of people [Wednesday] night, and then I got up in the morning and I talked to [Oilers owner Daryl] Katz and said that I felt I needed to make a change."
Ken Holland had some other plans, and was a big optimist before the coach came, but there didn’t seem to be any chemistry between the coach and the team “Three months ago my hope was I was going to be signing Dave Tippett to an extension … we were going to make the playoffs and go on a long playoff run,” said Holland, as quoted by edmontonsun Holland is by no means satisfied with the team's results, but he also takes responsibility “Just a gut feel.
I’ve been around National Hockey League teams a long time and just felt I had to make a decision,” said Holland, “It’s been like a toilet seat,” “After Dec. 1, in the 23 games, we’ve scored the first goal three times.
We’ve been chasing the game for two months,” he said. “I built the team and I take full responsibility for where we’re at, if the team is not good enough, that’s on me,” said Holland.
Team and expectations
The players did not meet expectations, and their expectations were much higher "We’re not winning.
We’re not meeting expectations." "It’s disappointing when you lose out to Winnipeg in a playoff sweep but you want to believe your team’s heading in the right direction and you want to believe you’re growing the team and for two years and 20 games, we were doing that,” said Holland.
“It’s a bit of a funeral feeling. They’re massively down. They’ve worked together closely for three years and they’re saying good-byes and Tip’s leaving and they’re cleaning out their offices,” said Holland.