Oilers fire HC Dave Tippett after two-plus seasons
Following a red-hot first seven weeks of the 2021-2022 season, the Edmonton Oilers have cooled off considerably. The team's most recent slump has seen them drop three of their last four games, and ultimately cost their head coach and associate coach their jobs.
The Oilers entered December at 16-5 and leading the NHL's Pacific Division. Since that time, they've only won seven of their last 23 contests, are now 23-18-3 overall, and sit five points out of the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Tippett began his head-coaching career with the Dallas Stars during the 2002-2003 campaign and was with the club for six seasons, making the playoffs five times. The 60-year-old was then at the helm for the Arizona (and previously Phoenix) Coyotes from the 2009-2010 season through the 2016-2017 campaign, and helped them secure three postseason berths.
The native of Moosomin, Saskatchewan took over for Edmonton ahead of the 2019-2020 campaign and led them to the playoffs each of his two full seasons. The Oilers were 95-62-14 under Tippett with a points percentage of .596 over three seasons.
In 1,285 career regular-season games, Tippett has registered a 648-475-28-134 record (.567 points percentage). He's gone 34-48 (.415) across 82 career playoff contests.
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