Oates and McPhee gone!

Too bad it didn't work out.  McPhee has been with the team for 17 years and has had much success starting a youth movement in bringing in Ovi, Semin, Backstrom, Green, etc.  He also took a chance on an unknown coach in Bruce Boudreau and they saw tremendous regular season success culminating with a President's Award a few years back. However, the regular season success never translated into playoff success.  The aging of the "young guns" and the firing of Boudreau seemed to be the start of the end for McPhee.  In came Dale Hunter whose defensive minded approach was a vast difference to Boudreau's high flying offense didn't seem to fit with the personnel.  After he left, in came Adam Oates who seems like a brilliant tactician but not sure he connected well with the players.  Under Oates, we became a one trick pony.  The PP was fantastic but we were not great 5 v 5 and the constant shuffling of defenders, lines, and goalies seemed to create an atmosphere of distrust with the team.  After a number of interviews with people throughout the team and organization, Leonsis felt it was in the best interest to remove both McPhee and Oates.  For me, it seems like the right move.

What made matters more difficult was that apparently, Oates and McPhee did not see eye to eye on things.  So what is done is done.  The question is what should be done now?  I think the search for a GM takes precedence.  The draft is coming and we need a GM prior to the draft.  The GM will need to evaluate our current roster and see what are our needs and then make decisions on the draft and FA based on where we need help.  The GM also needs to find a coach that he can get along with and shares his vision of the team.  Ideally, we need a coach similar to the Chip Kelly school of thought.  Not bring a system and force it on the players but rather look at the players and build a system that suits the players.  I also think it will be important to find a veteran coach.  Given that this is mature team with a proven superstar, it will be important to find a guy that is proven and has had success and can work with the stars on this team.  The guys that immediately come to mind are Barry Trotz and Peter Laviollete.  I don’t know these guys well but I do know that they have experience and have had success.  Should Pittsburgh falter in the playoffs and Bylsma get fired, he too would be another potential candidate.  In any event, will be interesting to see where the Caps go from here.