The Edmonton Oilers have announced that they have hired Dave Tippett to be their next head coach. The deal is three years with financial terms yet to be disclosed.
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Edmonton Oilers Name Dave Tippett Head Coach
Last season, the Oilers had a record of 35-38-9 and finished in the 7th spot in the Pacific Division. The Oilers started last season with Todd McLellan as their head coach before he was fired 20 games into the season. Ken Hitchcock took over as the interim coach for the rest of the season. The Oilers were 9-10-1 under McLellan and 26-28-8 under Hitchcock last season.
Over his 14-year NHL career, Tippett has split his time between the Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes. Overall he has 553 wins and 413 losses. His greatest success was with the Coyotes in the 2009-10 seasons. That year the team went 50-25-7 in the regular season but would end up losing to the Detroit Red Wings in seven games.
Tippet was an advisor with the new Seattle NHL franchise before taking the job with the Oilers. This is the first big move for new general manager Ken Holland since moving from Detroit.
Dave Tippett Looks To Turn The Oilers Around
This is the second time that Tippett has taken over a team that was coached by Hitchcock the previous season. Hitchcock was the coach for the Stars from 1996 until 2002. Hitcock was fired 32 games into the 2001-02 season after the Stars started the year 13-11-7-1.
For the Oilers, they will look to Tippett to get their team back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Connor McDavid is by far the main piece on the Oilers roster and has been rumored to possibly wanting out of Edmonton. Tippet was able to turn the Coyotes around in his first year with the team after they came off a 36-39-7 record in Wayne Gretzky‘s final year coaching the Coyotes. Expect Tippett to get the Oilers back on track and back to their winning ways.
GLENDALE, AZ – DECEMBER 17: Head coach Dave Tippett of the Arizona Coyotes watches from the bench during the NHL game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Gila River Arena on December 17, 2015 in Glendale, Arizona. The Blue Jackets defeated the Coyotes 7-5. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
