Obstacle halts Oilers’ new head coach announcement

Some people believe that it is a done deal: Dave Tippett is the new head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

It was first believed that the announcement would be made official today after new general manager Ken Holland and Tippett completed the deal on Thursday in Vancouver, however, one insider reveals it isn’t in the bag yet and work still needs to be done before we can call Tippett the new coach of the Oilers. 

Live on TSN 1260 on Friday morning, Bob McKenzie reported that the deal with Tippett is not finalized just yet. It is believed that “he  has not agreed to terms and the process continues.”

If more work does indeed need to be done, we could have the announcement on Tuesday, in between Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals as Holland and the Oilers do not wish to overshadow the league’s big finale between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. 

Tippett hasn’t coached since the 2016-17 season and has been a “special advisor” to the Seattle expansion group. But he does have quite a bit of experience behind an NHL bench, spending 14 years as an NHL head coach with just two teams. That’s 1,114 NHL games and a record of 553-413-28-120. 

Let’s see when this is made official and what the term, which is holding this up, will be.