Todd McLellan Favored to be 1st NHL Head Coach Fired This Season

• Online sportsbooks have released odds on who will be the first NHL head coach to lose his job
• Todd McLellan of the Oilers has the shortest odds at +200
• Other interesting names among the odds include Jeff Blashill, Randy Carlyle (+950), and Mike Yeo (+3000)

While a new NHL season gives hope to everyone, there are some coaches who enter it with a cloud over their head.

Like Guy Boucher, who finds himself in one of the most confusing situations with the Senators. Or Jeff Blashill, who has missed the playoffs in two of his three years with the Red Wings.

But especially Todd McLellan, who, despite having the best player in the game grace his team, faces a make-or-break year with the Oilers. And according to online sportsbooks, he owns the best odds at being the first head coach to lose his job.

Odds to be First Coach Fired in the 2018-19 NHL Season

It’s Been a Rocky Road for McLellan with the Oilers

When you look at McLellan’s time with the Oilers, his first two seasons went exactly to plan.

He joined the team in May of 2015, just a month before Edmonton landed generational talent Connor McDavid. Despite a six-point improvement, McLellan’s team actually slid backwards, finishing seventh in the Pacific.

The following year, with a healthy McDavid, the Oilers made the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06. They were a game away from the Western Conference Finals, falling to the Ducks in seven.

Everything was looking rosy.

#Oilers Today w/ @TomGazzola: An impressive 2016-17 campaign comes to an end as the Oil are eliminated in Game 7 against the Ducks. pic.twitter.com/N4CfloYyfu

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 11, 2017

In 2017/18 the Oilers entered the season as Stanley Cup favorites.

It certainly didn’t finish that way.

The Oilers stumbled to a 36-40-6 mark. They notched 78 points, finishing nearly 20 points out of the second Wild Card spot in the West.

McLellan was left searching for answers.

And the Oilers? They didn’t exactly do much in the off-season to try to help him find them.

Oilers, McLellan banking on internal improvement

Edmonton’s big-name adds included Tobias Rieder and Kyle Brodziak. They aren’t going to change the game upfront.

Instead, guys like Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi will have to significantly improve on the wings. They’ll also have to hope their defense gels and Cam Talbot plays like it’s 2016/17 rather than 17/18.

It’s a tough spot to be in when your roster features the best player in the league. How do you surround him with talent in a salary cap world?

It’s a question the Oilers’ brass has yet to answer.

Will McLellan be the NHL’s first coach to be fired?

Right now it’s too early to say anything definitively. The Oilers have played just one game, and they dropped it 5-2 to the Devils. That game was also in Sweden.

As of right now, he deserves to be the favorite. But he isn’t going down alone.

If McLellan goes down,  Peter Chiarelli will go with him. He built the roster, he signed Leon Draisaitl to his contract. He picked the wrong player to trade away in Taylor Hall.

Same team….same result. Someone should tell Peter Chiarelli that when give $2.5 million to an unproven back up, do nothing about your D & add zero scoring to help McDavid this is what you can expect all season long. Way to go @EdmontonOilers ???? #Oilers #getanewGM

— InsideTheRink (@InsideTheRink) October 6, 2018

Simply put, the Oilers can’t waste Connor McDavid’s prime. If this front office and coach can’t do it, someone else needs to.

And finally…

Biggest surprise team: Carolina Hurricanes
Biggest disappointment: Columbus Blue Jackets
Breakout player: Scott Darling
Disappointing player: Sergei Bobrovsky
First coach fired: Todd McLellan
GM fired: Peter Chiarelli

— Scott Burnside (@OvertimeScottB) October 3, 2018

If it isn’t McLellan, who will be fired first?

The name that sticks out in the odds is Jeff Blashill.

Blashill made the playoffs in his first year in the NHL. But the highly-touted AHL bench boss hasn’t found the same success the last two seasons.

The Red Wings are getting to a point where they’ll need a new voice. If they flounder this year, a change behind the bench isn’t out of the question.

But until the Oilers turn it around and leave the Wings in their dust, the spotlight will shine on Todd McLellan.