Oilers fire McLellan, hire Hitchcock as head coach

McLellan out as Oilers head coach McLellan was replaced by Edmonton native Ken Hitchcock.

The Edmonton Oilers have fired Head Coach Todd McLellan and hired Ken Hitchcock to replace him.

In McLellan’s three full seasons as head coach, the Oilers had a 123-119-24 record. Edmonton got off to a 9-10-1 start in 2018-19, including six losses in the last seven games.

"I think the timing was right to do it," said Oilers General Manager Peter Chiarelli. "There's still a lot of runway left in the year and we felt that a new voice would be helpful."

An experienced replacement

Hitchcock, a native of Edmonton, is the third winningest coach in NHL history with 823 wins. He has coached Dallas, where he won a Stanley Cup in 1999, Philadelphia, Columbus and St. Louis.

Hitchcock announced his retirement in April 2018 after his second stint in Dallas last season. Seven months later, he is in charge of McDavid and the Oilers.

"His track record is impeccable," Chiarelli said. "He's going to be here for the rest of the year and we'll evaluate at the end of the year."

Hitchcock is already with the team in San Jose and will coach Tuesday night against the Sharks.

"I told the players today that I can take them to a place personally that they can't get to by themselves, but they got to buy into that," Hitchcock said.

Chiarelli, and McDavid, did not place all the blame on McLellan for the team's shortcomings, which date back to last season.

"This is a collective thing, and it's our job to get to the playoffs," Chiarelli said.

With files from Adam Cook