Todd McLellan kept his job, but lost all of his trusted lieutenants.
The Oilers officially announced Friday that McLellan will return for his fourth season as head coach in Edmonton despite a disappointing 78-point 2017-18 campaign However, he will do so with a completely new group of assistants as Jim Johnson and Ian Herbers were relieved of their duties and Jay Woodcroft was named head coach of the Oilers' AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
"It's not something we take lightly or something any of us are happy about," McLellan said on 630 CHED Friday afternoon. "Based on our performance, changes were inevitable.
"It's now time for change, to refresh things."
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Woodcroft worked with McLellan for the past 13 years -- first as assistants together with the Red Wings then when McLellan became head coach of the Sharks and on to Edmonton the past three years. Johnson was on McLellan's staff in San Jose and Edmonton since the 2012-13 season. Herbers is expected to return to the University of Alberta, where he coached prior to joining McLellan's staff with the Oilers in July of 2015.
McLellan noted "this is an important step" for Woodcroft and that it is "time for him to branch out." He added that Johnson and Herbers are "two very good hockey minds."
The Oilers coach also told CHED "the bad season is on my shoulders as the head coach."
After navigating the Oilers to 70 points during the rebuilding season of 2015-16, McLellan guided the club to its first playoff berth in 11 seasons last year -- a 103-point campaign which generated talk of a Stanley Cup this season. However, the Oilers never found traction in 2017-18 and finished with the fourth-worst record in the Western Conference and in the draft lottery again.
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By stripping him of his longtime assistants, Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli clearly sends a message to McLellan his hold on the head coaching position is tenuous should the club struggle again next season.
McLellan said that he will begin the search for a new coaching staff immediately and that he will "look at different coaches", not just those with NHL experience.
In ten seasons as a head coach in the National Hockey League, McLellan owns a 425-272-89 lifetime record, and has the seventh-best winning percentage of current coaches in the NHL.