Dave Tippett is about to enter his 15th season as a head coach in the NHL. He’s been behind the bench for hundreds of games, but he’s never been a head coach in a Canadian market.
Edmonton is a bonafide hockey town and Tippett knows life will be much different for him in the Alberta capital. He got a sense of that already as he mixed with fans in the sixth annual Mark Spector Golf Classic.
"Yeah, there's lots of GMs out here today. We haven't even lost a game yet and guys were changing things. It's a lot of fun," Tippett said.
The 57-year-old has spent most of the summer doing extensive research on his new team, watching Oilers games from last season.
“I’ve watched parts of 50-plus, just lots of research, trying to figure out what happened and the bigger side is trying to figure out what is going to be successful.”
Tippett has already decided that he wants his star-players, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, to spend less time on the penalty-kill and more “quality minutes” on the power-play and at even-strength.
He also plans to play them together, but Tippett told The Athletic the recent addition of James Neal could alter the plan.
Neal was acquired earlier this month from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Milan Lucic.
The 31-year-old played under Tippett as a rookie in Dallas and joins the Oilers after a sub-par season in Calgary.
"I know James has had a real good off-season. He's worked hard. The two years prior he went to the finals both years. Didn't feel like he had a chance to let his body heal or workout to extent he normally did, so he's excited to be an Oiler and I think he'll fit well in the lineup.”
Tippett says he likes the new additions to the roster and suggests that General Manager Ken Holland isn’t done tinkering.
The new Oilers bench boss also expects Zack Kassian to have a big year. The forward scored a career-high 15 goals last season, and will be given another opportunity to play alongside McDavid and Draisaitl.
The duo finished Top 5 in league scoring last season.
“I think Kassian is going to be a very motivated player," Tippett said. "He’s an unrestricted agent after this year. How would you like to be right-winger, that those guys like playing with, and coming into your final year?”
Tippett has been in frequent contact with McDavid and plans to visit him soon.
The Oilers captain suffered a serious leg injury in the final game of last season and Tippett says McDavid is recovering nicely.
