Holland spoke about the difficulty of relieving Manson of his duties following the death of his wife Lana from cancer in August:
“It was incredibly difficult. I can tell you it was emotional. You build relationships with people, right? I went to Prince Albert in August for Mance’s wife and his wife Cindy’s celebration of life. They were good friends. So, in addition to the decision, there are certainly factors in the decision that made it even more difficult. That’s why today is an incredibly difficult day.”
Jackson said of the coaching changes the management group is making together.
“Kenny said it best. I think we’ve talked a lot every day since the season started, ever since we lost the opener in Vancouver, and that conversation has continued. We agree on a lot of things. But the only thing we agreed on was that we were very inconsistent. We played 13 games. I think we probably played really well in the eighth or ninth period. We looked dominant. We had some good stretches and games, but then we kind of fell off. I mean, that was the theme of our discussion. Our consistency isn’t where it needs to be. And the last couple of days. , we talked a lot. There was no final decision maker. We talked about it. I said, “What do you think?” , we made the decision together.
Holland spoke about the small mistakes that cost the Oilers and whether liability is an issue for Woodcroft’s group:
“You know? That’s a great question. I don’t know if I got it. [the answer]. If I had a concrete answer, I probably would have dealt with this much sooner. The coaching staff was videotaped every day. I’ve been in a number of meetings here this past week where they’re working on this, working on that, and they’re trying to hold them accountable. I think all coaches try to hold their players accountable. Some people are better at it than others. Because no matter what their message is or how they do it, I think when you have a 21-man roster, it’s a little bit more difficult than when you have a 23-man roster. For the most part, only healthy players can be dressed for almost every game. With a 23-man roster (14 forwards, 7 defensemen, 2 goalies), you can have a healthy scratch on a few forwards or a healthy scratch on a defenseman. Because of the salary cap and the decisions I made with the team in the offseason, I wasn’t able to use it freely. So that’s one of the tools that coaches use that Jay didn’t have in his hands. Indeed, some games see players sitting out for half a period or period of time to get attention. It’s not like we didn’t talk about it because Woody and I talked about it. In the end, he didn’t do it. So he was fine. I understand why.
“It was a consistent mistake – I call them boo-boos – mental mistakes, and I could have done a lot of good things, and then all of a sudden, one mental mistake, a terrible A pinch or a bad miss or a bad turnover happens. , And it’s on the net. There’s more than just a “1” on the board. That’s the effect it has on the whole team. Psychologically, it’s like drip, drip, drip, and the same thing probably happened last year.”And when we acquired Ekholm at the deadline, we became the ninth-ranked team in the league in points scored.” I think it’s over. But sometimes it affects the team mentally. They really responded to it. Now we’re kind. “It’s back to drip, drip, drip. I don’t know if that’s what Woody has.Obviously, we’ve changed the coaching, and I hope with the coaching change we’ll make fewer of those mental mistakes.”
Knoblauch says of his approach to accountability and limiting mental errors:
“Probably the most difficult thing in coaching is holding the players accountable, because as a coach you don’t want them to play in fear. Every time they pass the board, it’s like, ‘This is what I did. I don’t want you to think, ‘Did I make a mistake and be out of the lineup?’ Is it when I sit on the bench? We want to give our players confidence that they can play and contribute to the team. But obviously responsibility is very important and as a coaching staff, we empower our players to play confidently and correctly, to know what to do in each situation and if there is a mistake. Providing guidance and direction is very important. As a coaching staff, you have to be able to live with them. But if it’s a mistake that’s repeated over and over again, or if it’s just a lazy mistake, then of course you have to take responsibility for it. And the biggest part of holding players accountable is taking away ice time. Even if they’re out of the lineup, even if you’re holding off on your next shift, that’s ultimately the currency that a head coach has. ”
