EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Edmonton Oilers fired coach Dave Tippett on Thursday with the star-studded team scrambling to secure a playoff spot.
Jay Woodcroft, the 45-year-old head coach of the Oilers' AHL affiliate in Bakersfield, California,
After beginning the season 16-5-0, the Oilers have gone 7-13-3 in a head-scratching performance for a team led by stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Edmonton (23-18-3) stands fifth in the NHL’s Pacific Division, five points out of a wild-card spot, and has lost its last two games.
The firing is the seventh coaching change in the NHL this season and second in the past two days after Martin St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme in Montreal, which is at the bottom of the standings after reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season.
Tippett, 60, was named Oilers coach in May 2019, three weeks after Ken Holland was hired as GM and president of hockey operations. Tippett received a three-year contract but the Oilers have never advanced past the first round of the playoffs on his watch even as Draisaitl (2020) and McDavid (2021) won the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL MVP.
Tippett coached the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes from 2009-10 through 2016-17. He earned the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in his first season.
He arrived in Edmonton with a record of 553-413-120 with 28 ties in 14 seasons with the Coyotes and Dallas Stars, whom he coached for six seasons. Tippett, who played more than 700 NHL games, was a senior adviser with the Seattle Kraken before joining Edmonton.
It is the second coaching change in Edmonton in less than four years: The Oilers fired Todd McLellan in November 2018 after a 9-10-1 start. Ken Hitchcock coached the team for the final 62 games of the season.
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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.
