It seems that new Edmonton Oilers president and general manager Peter Chiarelli really isn't interested in letting the head coaching issue drag into the offseason.
According to a recent report from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, Chiarelli has his sights set on filling the bench boss vacancy in Edmonton sooner rather than later.
"Edmonton Oilers hope to have a new coach in place by the end of the month, am told," LeBrun tweeted.
Among the candidates to have already interviewed with Chiarelli and the Oilers brass are former San Jose Sharks head coach and Mike Babcock disciple, Todd McLellan, along with Todd Nelson, the former coach of the Oilers AHL affiliate in Oklahoma City.
Nelson, forced to deal with the aftermath of a downtrodden organization which had already fired head coach Dallas Eakins, was seemingly never able to gain much traction in the locker room or with the franchise and seems unlikely to stick long-term under Chiarelli and Craig MacTavish.
McLellan, on the other hand, also dealt a losing hand by his old GM Doug Wilson, the too-strong personality of "Jumbo" Joe Thornton and a whole host of other in-house problems in San Jose, is being widely touted as the favorite to land with Edmonton this offseason, per ESPN's Craig Custance.
Even with the persistent problems in the Sharks dressing room, McLellan was still able to helm the team to six playoff appearances in seven seasons, three first-place finishes in the Pacific Division and two Western Conference Finals berths.
He'd likely be able to take much better control of an Oilers team with a whole host of young, inexperienced talent just begging to be pointed in the right direction - talent that will soon include Connor McDavid as well.
Interestingly though, while the Oilers have made it known that they're not willing to wait around on McLellan's former mentor, Babcock, Chiarelli reportedly did make certain overtures to Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland regarding the soon-to-be highest-paid coach in the NHL.
"Oilers prez/GM Peter Chiarelli also had a chat with Wings GM Ken Holland about Mike Babcock but at this point hasn't requested permission," LeBrun revealed.
Since Chiarelli did not request permission to speak to Babcock, it could ultimately mean nothing.
The fact that he inquired though, means Chiarelli may be willing to wait at least a little while to see if Babcock is interested in something other than a Day One winner.
