Rumor: Ken Holland may be bringing a new coach with him to Edmonton.

A new coach headed to Edmonton?

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HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumor: Ken Holland may be bringing a new coach with him to Edmonton.
Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports

The future of Edmonton Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock has been in limbo since the Oilers as an organization made the decision to fire general manager Peter Chiarelli and begin a search for a new general manager. That being said if the latest reports are too be believed Hitchcock's career in Edmonton may not be in limbo, it may be over.

Late on Saturday night Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman published a report in which he stated that a decision from former Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland was expected within the next day or so. If you are not familiar with what decision it is Ken Holland has to make, well in spite of the fact that there were early reports suggesting that Holland had turned down the Oilers job, the Oilers made Holland a major contract offer yesterday according to multiple National Hockey League insiders.

In case you missed it, reports surfaced on Saturday revealing that the Oilers had reportedly offered Holland a whopping $25 million dollars to come take over their franchise. That contract would break down to a 5 year deal that would pay Holland an average annual value of $5 million per season, although how the contract would break down year by year is still unknown at this time. Now that does not mean that Holland will accept the job, however you have to imagine that it will be difficult to leave $25 million dollars, a chance to build around the best player in the world, and the run of a franchise which he just lost the power to do in Detroit, all on the table. 

So why would that be bad news for Hitchcock? Well here's what Friedman had to say in his latest report:

As we sign off for the night, Ken Holland’s decision on EDM’s substantial offer to be GM is expected in the next day or so. If he does join the Oilers, it is believed Dave Tippett will be in the coaching mix.

That's right, according to Friedman Holland will be headed to Edmonton with perhaps a coach already picked out for the job. Considering the offer the Oilers have made to Holland for the job here I can not imagine that they would refuse him the hire of his own coach. None of this is official yet of course, but things certainly sound like they are heating up.


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