Oilers have fired head coach Dave Tippett: report
The Edmonton Oilers are parting ways with head coach Dave Tippett, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.
“Hearing Dave Tippett is out in Edmonton,” Dreger tweeted Thursday morning.
Dreger has also reported that current assistant coach Jim Playfair has also been fired.
Jay Woodcroft, head coach of the Bakersfield Condors — Edmonton’s American Hockey League affiliate — and Dave Manson, Woodcroft’s head assistant, will take over the Oilers’ coaching duties.
I’m told Woodcroft and Manson take over bench in Edmonton. Tippett and Playfair fired. https://t.co/1dONdlxckG
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 10, 2022
Woodcroft will be Edmonton’s ninth head coach since 2010, joining Tippett (2019-22), Ken Hitchcock (2018-19), Todd McLellan (2015-2019), Todd Nelson (2014-15), Dallas Eakins (2013-15), Ralph Krueger (2012-13), Tom Renney (2010-12), and Pat Quinn (2009-10).
The Oilers currently sit in fifth place in the Pacific Division at 23-18-3 and are five points back of the Calgary Flames for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Edmonton lost 4-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
Oilers general manager Ken Holland told media in January that he doesn’t believe in coaching changes mid-season.
“I don’t believe in it, I guess,” Holland said. “But I also understand there are times when possibly it needs to be done or should be done.”
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirmed Dreger’s report.
#Oilers have fired coach Dave Tippett.@DarrenDreger was first to report.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 10, 2022
The Oilers, who started the season with a 9-1 record and was first in the NHL in winning percentage at .762 on December 2, slumped through December and much of January with a 2-11-2 run.
Edmonton rallied to a four-game winning streak before dropping three of four, including a 4-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday and the 4-1 loss to the Blackhawks on Wednesday.
Tippett has been Edmonton’s coach for parts of three seasons and has a 95-62-14 record in 171 games behind the bench for the Oilers.
Edmonton was swept in four games by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs and was ousted by Chicago in four games in the five-game Stanley Cup Qualifiers in 2020.
The team has advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs just once, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs in seven games.
His firing comes one day after the Montreal Canadiens relieved Dominique Ducharme of his coaching duties.
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