Fresh off his stint helming Team Canada to an absolutely dominant IIHF World Championships victory, former San Jose Sharks bench boss Todd McLellan will officially be named the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers sometime this week, according to a report from Sportsnet.ca, with an announcement potentially coming as early as Tuesday.
It was reported last week that new Oilers president/GM Peter Chiarelli had settled on McLellan, but that he didn't feel it was right to make the announcement while McLellan was busy leading Team Canada in Prague.
The formerly moribund Oilers franchise has seen a run of good fortune recently, starting with the addition of Chiarelli who oversaw a stretch of consistent playoff success in Boston before being relieved this offseason, continuing with emerging victorious from the draft lottery and securing the right to select once-in-a-generation prospect Connor McDavid and now being capped by the addition of McLellan.
The 47-year-old McLellan is a former disciple of long-time Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock. McLellan operated as the bench boss for the Sharks for the past seven seasons, bringing the team continuous regular season success but also developing a reputation for faltering in the postseason.
During his time in San Jose he amassed a 311-163-66 record and three division titles.
