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Friedman: Todd McLellan To Coach Oilers After Worlds

The Oilers land a high profile coach.

"I shoulda had a V8"
"I shoulda had a V8"
Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

Big E is at it again. Elliotte Friedman, the only compelling thing about Sportsnet, is reporting that the Oilers are set to announce Todd McLellan as their head coach.  Over the weekend Friedman reported that Mike Babcock was likely headed to Philadelphia and that Edmonton was a "longshot", which meant McLellan was the highest-profile coach in the market.

Friedman told Toronto's Sportsnet 590:

...there are people who are a lot more knowledgeable than I am who think that the deal is going to get done. So that's kind of what I base it on...

He probably means Bob McKenzie.

If McLellan is the man for the job in Edmonton (who else have they interviewed?) at least we can expect him to fix the power play, broken for a decade thus far, with increased shot rates.  Increased shot rates and four 1st overall draft picks should finally remind fans of the 1980's Oilers, which should make Daryl Katz and Kevin Lowe very happy.  Given what he did with Brent Burns, it's possible he might also fix the Oilers Jultzing problem by moving Justin Schultz to the wing.

McLellan, Hall, Yakupov, McDavid and Hopkins on the power play.  Maybe things are looking up?