from David Staples of The Cult of Hockey,
If Eakins fails to speak up now and bring in the necessary help, an experienced assistant or two like Cory Clouston, Craig Ramsay, Perry Pearn, Todd Nelson and/or Rob Daum, then he’s setting himself up for more of the same losing. He himself has paid his dues as a coach and was adept enough to identify what is wrong with his team: a lack of sound hockey habits.
But if Eakins doesn’t take decisive action now, this is on him as much as it’s on everyone else in the Oilers organization.
If the Oilers followed the lead of an outstanding team like St. Louis, they would axe one or two or three of these assistant coaches and the would have brought in a more able and experienced crew to help Eakins.
St. Louis axed head coach Ken Hitchcock’s long-time friend Gary Agnew and goalie coach Corey Hirsch. They brought in a former NHL head coach, Kirk Muller, to not only act as Hitchcock’s assistant, but also to be on hand as an heir apparent.
That is the tough-minded way to run an NHL team, where friendships don’t matter.
But this isn’t St. Louis, where winning has become a habit.
This is Edmonton, where losing has become the norm.
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