Call Up Nelson from the Farm

It’s well known that I’m an advocate of axing the Oilers assistant coached Steve Smith and Kelly Buchberger. I’m indifferent on whether or not Kevin Lowe stays because I don’t think he is the reason for the team’s performance on the ice. The assistant coaches however are directly related to player performance, and it’s time for a change. Now I’m not saying I’m going to start a facebook page calling for their heads, nor am I going to sell bumper stickers. What I am going to do is give my opinion on who I think the replacement should be, and yes I know I’m just a fan, I don’t work for the organization and I am not qualified to run an NHL team.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Todd Nelson. Nelson, whom I sure you all know, is the coach of the Oilers farm team in Oklahoma City. Nelson took over the team in 2010 and hasn’t looked back since, his win-loss record is REALLLY GOOOOD. The players the organization has drafted and sent to Nelson for development are starting to turn out. He’s familiar with the organization, the system and even the big clubs head coach Dallas Eakins.

The Barons since Nelson took over have a record of 141-96-37 (I combined the OT and shootout losses, because I always have a calculator handy for the hard math). He’s never missed the playoffs as a head coach, in fact he’s only missed the playoffs once in his entire career as an assistant and head coach.

He’s got experience coaching too, the OKC Barons aren’t his first gig. Nelson started coaching professional hockey with the Muskegon Fury in the United Hockey league, he’s got AHL assistant coaching experience with the Grand Rapids Griffing, and the Chicago Wolves. The two years before coming to the Barons he was an assistant coach under John Anderson. During his career he’s won three championships, two with Muskegon and one with the Chicago Wolves.

Nelson knows a thing or two about winning. The other thing he seems to have a good handle on is player development. The last number of years the Oilers have had a bevy of draft picks and have sent many of them to Nelson to further develop their games. A lot of people complain that the Oilers picks aren’t playing in the NHL yet and it’s another sign of organizational failure. But I beg to differ, head scout Stu MacGregor has picked well, and as detailed by many articles on the Oilogosphere some of these prospects are showing some good up arrows.

Anton Lander – The centerman drafted in the 2^nd round 40^th overall in 2009 is currently leading the Barons in points, he’s playing in all situations and is doing so well. When he’s been called up to the Oilers he’s been decent, nothing crazy but he hasn’t been bad playing a 4^th line role with the team. Being a 2^nd round pick he wasn’t picked to play on the 4^th line, but I believe the under Nelson’s guidance he’s beginning to understand exactly the type of game he’s going to have to play to be successful. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to see him with the big club again before the season is out, hopefully he can transfer the success from the minors to the big league when it happens.

Tyler Pitlick – Another 2^nd round choice for the Oilers this time in the 2010 draft. The reports from Pitlick have been both good and bad the last 2 seasons, but this year he’s seen his play improve quite a bit. He was called up from the farm earlier in the season and played well, he managed 1 goal in 3 games but was doing the little things right. Pitlick was physical, good defensively and seemed like he knew what he had to do to make an impact each game he played. Pitlick suffered a nasty knee injury in a game against the Coyotes and has since returned to the Barons and again is having success. This is a prospect I’m excited about and I’m sure if you asked him he’d give a lot of credit to Todd Nelson.

Martin Marincin –Well what can I say about Marincin. The big rookie defenseman has come in to the NHL and done very little to disappoint, he’s composed, responsible and has a knack for making the smart plays. This shows nightly in the fact that he’s one of the few even players on the Oilers and he has quickly risen to top four ice time. Nelson talked in many interviews on local Edmonton radio about how he worked with Marincin to remove the rough edges from his game. Looks like it’s paying off for the Oilers.

I could go on about each prospect that seems to be trending upwards because there are more. Jonathan Willis has an excellent report from Oklahoma on some of the prospects I’ve mentioned and a few more, give it a read it’s well worth your time. Listen not every draft pick is going to make the NHL but if four or five of these picks play in the NHL, a coach like Todd Nelson is going to play a large part in that.

Nelson is going to be a hot commodity in the coaching world here very very soon, and I think he’d be a perfect fit to come in as an assistant or an associate coach with Eakins. Nelson is familiar with the core players and the bubble guys too. I don’t see how a move like this wouldn’t help the Oilers in there hunt for the playoffs in the coming years.

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