First Star, Worst Star: December 28, 2014

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, ate your weight in delicious food and spent way too much time arguing with your relatives about your opposing political viewpoints. You know, the TRUE meaning of the holidays! 

LET’S GO CANADA! *Clap Clap Clapclapclap* 

I know it’s only been two games, and those two games were against the Slovaks and the Germans, who could probably muster up a solid 4th place finish if you combined the two teams, but #Visually this is the best Canadian junior team I think we’ve seen in a number of years. They’re fast as hell. They control the pace of the game for pretty much the entire 60 minutes. They’re physical enough to win puck battles without taking too many penalties. And they’re skilled from top to bottom! 

Over the last few years it seems like Hockey Canada has been trying to build their WJC teams like a pro team; this guy is your shot blocker, and this guy is your 2nd line PK specialist, this guy is your number 6 D-man who plays 4:13 a game, this guy is a shootout specialist etc, etc, etc. Now it appears they’ve simply taken the best players available and trust them to be able to adapt and play in basically any situation. 

I mean, you know your team is pretty stacked when in an 8-0 win your top two forwards don’t even record a single point between the two of them. 

As an Oilers fan it’s been very refreshing to cheer on an exciting team that you actually expect to win! 

Where the hell did this new trend come from where NHL teams fire their head coach and then replace him with some kind of coaches committee? First it was MacT riding shotgun with Todd Nelson in order to get a better feel as to what exactly is wrong with the Oilers (Hint: everything). Now that’s turned into an extended co-coaching position because I’m guessing it feels way better to be able to yell in Justin Schultz’ face immediately after he makes a horrible play rather than having to call him into your office after the game. 

And now the Devils have upped the ante by deploying a three headed coaching hydra with Lou Lamoriello stepping into the coaches role, flanked on his wings by Adam Oates and Scott Stevens. And what could go wrong? I know personally I like having as many bosses as possible, and ideally they’ll all tell you the same thing over and over again, in slightly different ways. 

Though on the other hand it has a very Slapshot feel to it, which I love. Your team is SO BAD and out of sorts that you need multiple coaches, player/coaches, GM/coaches, mascot/coaches, owner/coaches, guy who plays the drums outside the LRT/coaches, etc, just to try and whip your sad sack of a team into somewhat respectable shape. 

If you’re hiring a new coach I’m of the mind you should let HIM coach the team. There’s no need to go down there and meddle in his plans like some kind of bored middle-manager trying to kill time and wield their tiny bit of power. It just reeks of “I don’t fully trust you with this team” which is probably GREAT for a rookie NHL coach like Todd Nelson! And it’s worked out pretty well for the Oilers so far, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the GM/Coach craze catches the NHL by storm! 

Let the coaches coach, and let the GMs continue to make horrible signings and no trades ever.