I woke up this morning to the news that the Oilers head coach was watching practice from the stands again and that Glen Gulutzan was running the show yesterday. This struck me as highly unusual behavior from a soon-to-be hall-of-fame coach. Why would Ken Hitchcock with all of his know-how and expertise all of a sudden start removing himself from the practices? Was it his choice? Did he really need to take a step back and see how the players were performing during the morning sessions because he thought it would be a good idea? Or is it possible that the players have already grown tired of his “schtick” and let the new management know?
Hitchcock today on why he didn’t run practice.
"We were missing guys so I like to be on when it's a full team. Plus they got to see some drills not seen since camp"
Gulutzan ran skate today in Raleigh.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) February 14, 2019
I call BS… Why in the world would they be doing training camp drills this late into the season? I get that it was an optional practice but this isn’t the kind of normalcy that happens at a professional hockey club. In my opinion at least.
I contacted someone who is close to the franchise and has been around hockey for a very long time to see what they thought was going on and this is what I was sent back.
Sometimes a coach needs to be told to back off.
Whoa!
Now I know that Hitch is a pretty demanding coach when the cameras and microphones are off but one has to wonder how bad it is if he’s being told to let the assistants run the practices?
I know that Kurt Leavins from the Cult of Hockey briefly spoke to this in one of his “9-Things” posts recently and this is what he had to say there,
I’m not on the bench. So I don’t know exactly how Ken Hitchcock is with his players, especially when they are losing. But I know enough about him to know that the veteran coach isn’t nearly as charming there as he is in front of a microphone. Look, there’s no question that the players are responsible for their actions or lack thereof. But when I see this club fold and lose leads, I immediately wonder what type of reinforcement they are getting from their head coach. There is a Senior Hockey mentality in some corners that the best thing for a player is to give them a good, hard kick in the ass.
Well, go to any coaching accreditation seminar today. Talk to the best young minds in the profession. The world has changed. There’s a very good reason why there are fewer and fewer Ken Hitchcock’s and John Tortorella’s in the league today. That act doesn’t work. I’m not sure how well it ever did. There’s an off-switch and young players who grew up in a different age in particular use it. I wonder how much of that is at work here? If you think for a second that Hitch’s outburst into the mics last night was the first time he’s said any of that stuff? I have some swamp land to sell you…cheap. (source)
In my whole life, I’ve never witnessed the head coach of a hockey team watch practice from the stands. It’s almost wrong to me but I guess Glen Sather used to do it back in the day. He’d watch from above while John Muckler sorted out the session.
I reached out to a couple of other folks who are my senior and have followed the Oilers since before I was born, these are their quotes,
- “I do think the Hitch sitting up top in Edmonton was unusual.”
- “Players sick of him maybe”
Now couple ALL of this with what Friedman said,
16. With Ken Hitchcock watching practice from the seats one day and then blasting the Oilers’ effort following Saturday’s 5–2 loss to San Jose, that there were rumours he’d had enough and would step down. That obviously didn’t happen, but it underlines how tense things are in Edmonton. (source)
Andy Strickland, a St. Louis scribe who’s covered the Blues for many years refuted this comment from Friedman yesterday on Twitter,
The rumor of Ken Hitchcock is considering or had considered stepping down is completely false. He’s often taken in practices from the stands in the past. Watched practice up high after running a long meeting. #Oilers
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) February 14, 2019
Now, if you can find me some proof of this, I’d be happy to say I’m wrong but it’s never been reported that I can find. Maybe this is true or maybe it’s an old friend sticking up for a mentor. It makes sense either way but how come nobody else is coming to Hitch’s aid?
Things are coming to a head here and the conclusions that I’m coming to are thus,
- The players are tired of these old-school coaches. They’re calling the shots.
- Hitchcock is tired hasn’t got it in him anymore. He’s not getting the support from above.
So everyone is tired. Tired of the BS. Tired of the losing. Tired of being tired…
I can’t say for sure if Hitchcock will be with the team for the rest of the year but I’m VERY confident in saying he won’t be part of the organization after this season.
