Morning Flurries: Dave Tippett and the LOilers

The Edmonton Oilers have tried seemingly everything.

They’ve gone with old-school coaches like Craig MacTavish and innovative young minds like Dallas Eakins, storied former divisional rivals like Todd McLellan and Stanley Cup coaching champions like Ken Hitchcock.

So far, no one has seemed capable of overcoming the team’s managerial incompetence on a long-term scale, but they’ll give another name a try next year with the official hiring of Dave Tippett.

Tippett has been out of the NHL coaching game since 2017, when he mutually parted ways with the Arizona Coyotes following yet another playoff-less season in the desert.

He’s been credited as one of the coaches in the NHL best known for spinning straw into gold, getting a budget-conscious Coyotes team to the Western Conference Final in 2012 and nearly pushing the team into the postseason in both 2013 and 2014 as well. His defense-heavy coaching style could be what Edmonton sorely needs, given the team’s lack of stability on the blue line and inconsistent goaltending depth chart.

The question, though, will be whether or not he’s still the kind of coach that can thrive in a faster, more offense-heavy NHL. [Yahoo Sports]

What remains unquestioned, though, is the fact that the NHL’s officiating has been a miserable shitshow as the postseason has progressed. At this point, no one is sure what anything is — and that includes charging, sparking a bizarre debate following Torey Krug’s hit in game one against the St. Louis Blues. [CBS Boston]

The NWHL is in flux following the announcement by dozens of star players that they’re taking a ‘gap year’ to focus on improving conditions for the women’s game. But despite dozens of questions left for the women’s pro game in the 2019-20 season, at least one team has been moving forward as if things are all operating normally. [The Ice Garden]

Finally, the state of Colorado is currently playing host to dozens of goaltenders, goaltending coaches, and experts up in the mountains for the Goalie Guild annual Global Goaltending Retreat.

The coaches have been providing dozens of unique new drills for the goaltenders and the workshops have been enlightening and positive. But perhaps the most fun has been the goaltending drills coming out of Switzerland:

And in case we needed more evidence that goalies are nuts:

SB Nation Mock Draft

We’re though the top-5 picks:

1. New Jersey Devils - Jack Hughes
2. New York Rangers - Kaapo Kakko
3. Chicago Blackhawks - Alex Turcotte
4. Colorado Avalanche - Kirby Dach
5. Los Angeles Kings - Dylan Cozens