The Edmonton Oilers announced Monday they have fired general manager Steve Tambellini and hired former captain and head coach Craig MacTavish as his replacement.
“Despite showing areas of improvement over the course of the season, the face of the matter is we are not where we want to be right now, nor where we should be,” Kevin Lowe, president of hockey operations, said Monday at a news conference. “And because careers are short and opportunities for achievement don’t come along very often, we feel strongly that it is important that we make some changes right now.”
MacTavish was the head coach of the Oilers until he was fired by Tambellini on this day in 2009. Tambellini later hired him back, this time in a management role, last June. Also returning to the Oilers is former assistant GM Scott Howson, who was recently fired as GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Howson becomes the team’s senior vice-president of hockey operations.
I'm not shocked Tambellini got canned, he was way too conservative. But I am shocked that they brought in a dude with zero experience as a GM and a guy who's already been run out of town by this team once before.
I've said it before and i'll say it again Kevin Lowe has to GTFO already. I'm really getting sick of his good ol' boy, gotta be an ex Oiler to work for the organization BS routine. It's almost worse than the Canadiens having to hire people that speak french to run their team.