Post by thedarkangel1975 on Jun 10, 2013 13:20:16 GMT -5
The NHL has gone high-tech in its firing procedures.
The Edmonton Oilers canned Ralph Krueger on Saturday, using Skype to break the news to the coach who was some 4,800 miles away in Switzerland.
“I'd never been fired in 24 years as a hockey coach, and it was the first time I'd had a conversation with Craig MacTavish by Skype," Krueger, 53, told reporters on Sunday.
“I definitely did not see it coming.”
The Oilers went 19-22-7 in 2013, Krueger’s one-and-only behind the bench, and missed the playoffs for the seventh-straight season.
“Philosophically, I differ somewhat with Ralph, and it doesn’t mean my strategy is right or Ralph’s strategy is right,” Oilers GM Craig MacTavish said. “But I’m the general manager, and it’s my job and my decision to make. That’s why I’ve made that decision.”
JASON FRANSON/AP
Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish says he wants to have a coach who is ‘more closely aligned with the way I (want) to run the team.’ Krueger said that his Skype conversation with MacTavish came Thursday and was matter of fact. The coach was planning on returning June 21 to Edmonton, but the new GM apparently couldn’t wait for Krueger to return to Alberta to break the news to him.
“The strange thing is one second you are 100% an Oiler, and then you are 100% out,” Krueger said. “It was a surprise.”
Kreuger joined the Oilers in 2010 as an associate coach and took over as head coach when Tom Renney was fired at the end of the 2012 season. He has two seasons remaining on his contract.
Before joining the Oilers, Krueger was the head coach of the Swiss national team from 1997-2010. He led the team to 12 world championship appearances and three Winter Olympics. He also coached VEU Feldkirch in Austria’s first division.
He told the Ottawa Sun that the news was still sinking in on Sunday.
“I woke up [Sunday] morning and started walking to my desk where I do my season preparations and stopped halfway there,” Krueger said. “I just sort of stood there and realized, ‘This isn’t a bad dream.’”
Read more: www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/oilers-high-tech-fire-coach-krueger-article-1.1368090#ixzz2Vq4PVLRJ
