Throwback Thursday: One year ago today, Edmonton Oilers hired Dave Tippett

One year ago today, the Edmonton Oilers announced that Dave Tippett would be the 16th head coach in club history.

With him, Tippett brought over a decade worth of successful coaching experience. Known as a great communicator, he’s shown his ability to do that with the Oilers.

In just one year, he was able to turn the club from well out of the playoffs, to a team making serious noise in a playoff race.

The Oilers finished the 2019-20 season with a 37-25-7 record. With that record, the Oilers posted a .585 points percentage — the second-best number since the 1987-88 season.

Edmonton’s second most successful regular season since 87-88 was 2016-17 season when they posted a 47-26-44 record and a .628 points percentage.

The turnaround in the Oilers has been tremendous under his tutelage, and it’s a good sign of what could be to come in future years. Edmonton has a very good young core and are growing in the right direction.

With Tippett behind the bench, anything is possible.

On Twitter: @zjlaing