Oilers Release Goaltending Coach Pete Peeters

Courtesy of Jim Matheson at the Edmonton Journal:

Pete Peeters won't be returning for a ninth season as the Edmonton Oilers' goalie coach.

Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini has decided not to renew Peeters' contract, which runs out June 30, despite the job he's done working with the National Hockey League team's young goalies, Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk.

I don't know why Matheson feels Peeters has done an exceptional job; despite the investment of high picks in Deslauriers (31st in 2002) and Dubnyk (14th in 2004) neither is excelling.  Deslauriers is a question mark at this point, a goaltender who is either an AHL starter or an NHL backup but who has yet to show much seven years after being drafted.  Dubnyk, meanwhile, is putting up mediocre numbers in the AHL, although he should get some slack for playing on such a miserable team for the past two seasons.  The other two prospects who have spent significant time in the Oilers' system (Pitton and Fisher) have also disappointed.

Given that Peeters also views goaltending prospects in a scouting capacity, it seems that much of the blame should fall on him, and this decision seems completely reasonable to me.

As for Peeters' successor, Matheson suggests that Tambellini might turn to Corey Hirsch, who he worked with in Vancouver. 

As for who else might be available, it's difficult to guess as goaltending coaches don't get a ton of press; Jeff Hackett was recently let go by Colorado and has a decent track record.  One option who deserves serious consideration is Rollie Melanson - Montreal has a strong track record of developing goaltenders and Melanson was there for better than ten years before being fired this summer.