Did I Not Wake Up?? – Oilers Hire Craig Ramsay

So I’ve been feeling under the weather the last few days, and decided to take a nap this afternoon. First thing I did when I woke up around 3:00 P.M. est was check twitter, and I thought I was still sleeping when I saw the following tweet pop right up from TSN’s Darren Dreger.

@DarrenDreger: Oilers have hired Craig Ramsay as an assistant coach. Buchberger re-assigned. Smith considering options.

This is great news on all three fronts, and something that I must admit, I did not expect to happen. There were rumblings, and MacT did say that Eakins had control of his staff, but I really didn’t think they would pull the trigger. This is a really solid move, and one that’s going to help the Oilers in a big way.

Buchberger has been in the organization forever and has survived a few different head coaches in his time as an assistant. He was a good solider, but was he a good coach? Before taking an assistant coaching job in Edmonton, he only had one year of head coaching experience, and that was with a terrible AHL team in Springfield many years ago. Kelly was a good player, and a good leader, but it was clear that as a coach there was something wrong here.

Same goes for Steve Smith, who simply did not teach the defense with any level of success. The last time Edmonton was properly able to develop a young defender was under the lead of Charlie Huddy, which was many moons ago. The Oilers’ defense has routinely been one of the worst under Smith, and development on this front has gone flat. One has to wonder how this has impacted the young career of Justin Schultz to this point.

Again, like Buchberger, Smith was a good player and seems to be a really good guy, but it’s clear that as a coach there are significant warts here, which can’t happen when on the staff of a young team that badly needs teaching.

For Buchberger, a move to the player personnel department is a good fit for him, while for Smith a move would do him good as well. As mentioned, Smith is considering his options, but one would imagine he too will be off the coaching staff in short order.

This alone was a positive for Edmonton, but “the new guy” coming in is a big positive himself.

Ramsay:

Craig Ramsay is a lifer in the sport, and a really smart guy. Ramsay had a lengthy playing career, and more importantly has had a lengthy coaching career that has seen him be a head coach multiple times, and an assistant coach. He’s a guy Eakins openly admitted that he looks up to, and is a guy that comes from the Roger Neilson school of thought, like Eakins.

Ramsay is a guy that is a great teacher of the game, and has had an impact everywhere he has gone. As Tyler Dellow pointed out on twitter, in his first season as coach in Atlanta, The Thrashers saw their open play corsi rise by three points.

Ramsay really helped the development in Boston when he was an assistant coach there in the early days of the Julien era, helping guys like Johnny Boychuk and Adam McQuaid really develop on the back end. He was a big help for Zach Bogosian too in Atlanta, and helped Dmitry Kulikov quite a bit in Florida.

According to Eakins, Ramsay will be on the bench, coach the defense, and help run the power-play. The Oilers badly need to be able to learn defensive play, and there really wasn’t a better teacher on the market than Ramsay. Consider this a major plus for Edmonton.

We talked about adding new assistants many times on this blog over the last year, and Craig Ramsay was always near the top of that list. I’m impressed by this move, and think it really makes Edmonton a better club. Anytime you can add a teacher like Ramsay, you absolutely have to do it.

What Comes Next?:

With Ramsay running the defense and Smith being in limbo, I think the writing is on the wall there too. I think Steve Smith will take a new role in the organization, and another coach will be brought in to complete the staff. There are two guys within the organization that make a ton of sense. Todd Nelson, head coach of the Barons, has done a great job winning wise and development wise in OKC, and served as an assistant coach in the NHL before.

That said, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug tweeted this afternoon that he does not expect Nelson to be on Edmonton’s coaching staff this season.

The other option is Derek Laxdal, the head coach of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, the now defending Memorial Cup Champions. Laxdal has coached a WHL powerhouse for three straight years now, winning two WHL titles and a Memorial Cup, and he also has won a Kelly Cup coaching in the ECHL, so he’s done it at the pro level too.

Both are great options for promotion, and will likely get poached by other organizations the longer they sit in their current roles. Personally, I believe Smith will be out and one of these two will answer the call to complete the coaching staff. I’d prefer Nelson, but am thinking it will be Laxdal.

The hiring of Craig Ramsay is a great step forward for the Oilers’ coaching staff, and it certainly looks like this is only the start of a summer of change in Edmonton.