The Copper & Blue, an Edmonton Oilers community

Steve Tambellini and Tom Renney have gone outside the box in hiring long-time Swiss national team bench boss Ralph Krueger as Associate Coach. The 50-year-old Krueger is a Winnipeg native and WHL grad, but has spent the last three decades as a successful player and coach in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. During his 13 year tenure with Switzerland - the longest stint by any national team coach since Viktor Tikhonov - the Swiss moved up from 15th to 7th in the world rankings. Krueger also authored a book, "Team Life: Over Setbacks to Success", and is a frequent motivational speaker. The advantages of having a European voice in the room were recently discussed by Copper & Blue readers dazzer64 and Andrew W in the comments section of this post. Krueger brings both European sensitivities and Canadian upbringing to the position as Renney's second-in-command, and is an intriguing choice to fill this important post.