Jay Woodcroft Appreciation Thread

[Soundwave]

He took out a heavily favored Flames team and knocked his mentor out of the playoffs twice.

Kenny put him behind the 8-ball by not giving him a full 23 man roster to work with.

Yeah he had flaws but we all do. I genuinely feel bad for him.

Yup, people will forget now, but the Flames were definitely favored to beat us, even Gretzky picked them to win.

To win that series and two hard fought series' against Kings ... he deserves some respect put on his name for that.

Also to Manson, very sorry to hear about his wife passing away, we are all passionate about hockey, but those things are much bigger than any kind of game.

This doesn't feel great, I wish it hadn't come to this even if logically there were things continuing on that from a hockey POV just weren't great but a lot of the blame for that has to rest at the feet of management for not doing their job.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

I'm sure the team will play better in the near term for the new coach and that often comes with disparaging the old coach, as if its their fault when the reality is it's a wake up call for the players and they collectively try harder.

Of our last 10 coaches, the 3 I'm willing to openly defend as being overall good coaches for the team and organization are Tom Renney, Todd McLellan, and Jay Woodcroft. I'm not sure if Jay was the guy to lead this team to a Cup, but even if he isn't he brought us closer to that goal being a reality than his predecessors (not taking MacT's SC run from him, but that was very much a one and done run heavily supplemented by some top tier mercenaries, not an Oilers squad that was a legitimate perennial threat).

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Help them beat the shit out of Calgary in the playoffs so I am forever grateful.

Solid modern era coach who airlifted into the Oiler meat grinder and helped them elevate to regular season and some playoff success. By all appearances Woody seems to be a quality person and positive by nature. Full credit that he swallowed his pride after being fired the first time by this organization to reset himself as a head coach in Bakersfield. This is a sign of high character imo.

He has clear development gaps which I won't dwell on here. But I think he'll self-assess honestly and continue to deepen his toolkit to improve. Mentioned above, I can see Woodcroft reset in an organization like Ottawa earlier in its development cycle and growing with a younger core towards playoff contention. Wishing Woody best of luck in his next NHL job.

 

[PariseNation]

love the mannequin man, we could use him in MN

 

[Cloned]

love the mannequin man, we could use him in MN

We’d take Dean Evason in return please and thank you.

 

[MoontoScott]

Yup, people will forget now, but the Flames were definitely favored to beat us, even Gretzky picked them to win.

To win that series and two hard fought series' against Kings ... he deserves some respect put on his name for that.

Also to Manson, very sorry to hear about his wife passing away, we are all passionate about hockey, but those things are much bigger than any kind of game.

This doesn't feel great, I wish it hadn't come to this even if logically there were things continuing on that from a hockey POV just weren't great but a lot of the blame for that has to rest at the feet of management for not doing their job.

I was unaware that his wife had passed away.

I don't feel that his firing was fair and this certainly doesn't make me feel any better about this situation. My deepest sympathies to the Manson family. In reading about her its obvious she was a wonderful wife and mom. Tragic.

 

[Leafshater67]

McDrai are coach killers who’ve killed a long line of coaches.

… yet somehow, Dustin Schwartz still has a job

 

[North Cole]

He will do well elsewhere. Has some things to learn from but did very well with what he had, which doesn't go unnoticed.

In true Oilers fashion he'll end up somewhere and his team will take our lunch money for years lmao.

 

[LTIR]

Great coach... If only he had the balls to bench Draisaitl /Nurse.. The team would be better and him likely still employed.

 

[Da McBomb]

I'm gonna miss Woody. Really liked him as a person and his character. He'll find another coaching job in no time.

 

[RattsSSV]

Was a big fan of Woody in the A and was excited to see what he could do on the big club.There were times I questioned his decisions (particularly not playing Campbell at the end of the Vegas series), but all in all he did well.

I think Katz has his fingerprints all over this. Another mistake in a long line of f*** ups during his tenure as owner.

 

[9GWG9]

Woody getting the short end of the stick here.....the knob if you will.....

Good man for taking one for the team. Hope he finds a home.