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.

It's not often we see a coach for a European national team get a shot at the NHL, but after stepping down as head coach of the Swiss national team after the 2010 Olympics, Ralph Krueger will now be the associate coach of the Edmonton Oilers, working with Tom Renney. Renney is also a familiar name in international hockey circles, as he has been part of Canada's coaching staff for 10 World Championships and the 1994 Olympics. Renney was the associate coach to Pat Quinn last year in Edmonton. In Krueger's tenure as head coach, Switzerland failed to make the playoffs (final 8) only 5 times at 15 major tournaments, despite taking rosters that were almost entirely from Switzerland's National League A. The Swiss' best showing was 4th in the 1998 IIHF World Championships. The Swiss' consistent showing under Krueger have helped Switzerland improve their world ranking to 7th, ahead of Krueger's national side from his playing days, Germany, as well as Slovakia. His son, Justin, was a forward for Germany at this past year's IIHF World Championships as well.