OVER TO YOU, STEVE

Robin Brownlee
May 17 2012 06:07PM

How many coaches does Edmonton Oilers GM Steve Tambellini get to send down the road before he takes the fall and joins them on the unemployment line? I'd hope Tambellini reached his limit with today's announcement Tom Renney won't be back.

Having pulled the trigger on a good man and a good coach in Renney, the next bullet in the Oilers organizational gun has to have Tambellini's name on it -- a lot of fans would add the name of president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe -- if the rebuild doesn't move forward into the new phase the GM talked about at his availability at Rexall Place today.

It's time for some buck-stops-here mentality and that means that Tambellini, who has a new contract in his pocket from owner Daryl Katz, had better get it right with his next coaching hire. I believe that hire, all circumstances taken into account, will be Brent Sutter.

That won't play out, we’re led to believe by Tambellini, immediately. He'd only say today he wants to have somebody in place before the NHL Entry Draft, which is June 22. Every instinct I have tells me we'll have a new man in the hot seat before June 1 and that Sutter is the leading candidate.

I don't know for sure if that's the right move, but it better be because the next guy out the door if the rebuild goes sideways absolutely has to be the guy who delivered the bad news to a good man today.

Over to you, Steve.

Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TEAM 1260.

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A sports writer since 1983, including stints at The Edmonton Journal and The Sun 1989-2007, I happily co-host the Jason Gregor Show on TEAM 1260 twice a week and write when so inclined. Have the best damn lawn on the internet. Most important, I am Sam's dad. Follow me on Twitter at @Robin_Brownlee. Or don't.
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Reply #101 Hambone May 18 2012, 11:53AM
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Maybe this is a moot point but.... was Tambo's contract extension ever made public? It seemed like a foregone conclusion but I seem to have missed it in the news.

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Reply #102 The Beaker May 18 2012, 11:57AM
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Can stocc do one of his fancy text gimmicky dealies and make a picture of a cherry and a DSF picking said cherry?

That being said.... at least he keeps things lively around here.

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Reply #103 dawgbone98 May 18 2012, 02:06PM
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@DSF they proved they were real? They were losing by 2 or more goals at one point in 5 of the 7 games (they lost 4 of them).

Getting down by that many early is not the mark of a good team and in doing so they played with fire (and of course ended up losing).

Them having $24 mil in cap space is rather meaningless when they won't spend to the cap, especially when they have to sign some of those good young D and pay Versteeg for a career year.

You mention that their GD is worrisome. Yeah, I'd say so. They managed to make a modest improvement of +10 in their GD and made up 22 points based on that, most of which had to do with their division mates dropping off (Tampa & Washington) than it did any real improvements by Florida.

I mean I guess the good news for the Panthers is that their division doesn't look to be any better next year, so they have that going for them, but their -24 is the worst GD of a playoff team since the 96-97 Montreal Canadians. That's one hell of an outlier.

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Reply #104 DSF May 18 2012, 06:15PM
+1 1 props
dawgbone98 wrote:

@DSF they proved they were real? They were losing by 2 or more goals at one point in 5 of the 7 games (they lost 4 of them).

Getting down by that many early is not the mark of a good team and in doing so they played with fire (and of course ended up losing).

Them having $24 mil in cap space is rather meaningless when they won't spend to the cap, especially when they have to sign some of those good young D and pay Versteeg for a career year.

You mention that their GD is worrisome. Yeah, I'd say so. They managed to make a modest improvement of +10 in their GD and made up 22 points based on that, most of which had to do with their division mates dropping off (Tampa & Washington) than it did any real improvements by Florida.

I mean I guess the good news for the Panthers is that their division doesn't look to be any better next year, so they have that going for them, but their -24 is the worst GD of a playoff team since the 96-97 Montreal Canadians. That's one hell of an outlier.

How do you know what their spending plans are?

Versteeg made $3.3M last season...can't see him getting more than $4M.

That leaves $23M in cap space.

Kulikov and Ellerby are RFA's so likely won't hit the jackpot.

Suggesting Florida will be in tight signing them is just silly.

Of course, you totally ignored the young, cheap help they have coming.

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Reply #105 steelymac May 18 2012, 07:02PM
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DSF your doing alot of homework.For what?Get a life dude!

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Reply #106 Wäx Män Riley May 18 2012, 10:45PM
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russ99 wrote:

That's real easy to say now after the kid's career has been sidetracked.

Give him a coach who has his back and puts him in situations where he can succeed, with the tolerance for some of the more showboaty aspects of his game and a firm yet non-judging correcting hand and I'm convinced he can live up to his potential, even at 25.

BTW: The reason he was in OKC was his broken leg.

He broke his leg after he got there, and he was 25 and couldn't make a 30th place club. Then went to OKC where his should be if he wants to develop.

Todd Nelson is applauded for his ability to develop, right?

Plus,

Didn't make team Sweden, so....

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Reply #107 Wäx Män Riley May 18 2012, 10:55PM
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Mike Modano's Dog wrote:

Brule couldn't play hockey last year. This year he can.

That is a problem for a hockey player.

I stated I didn't know why.

End of discussion.

3 Points in 12 playoff games.

He had a decent run after being traded, but you can't attribute that to Lowe.

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