I'm ok with him as a Skills or as a PP coach. I'm fairly selective in previous Oilers I'd want back with the org, but he is one of them and I'm not one to look at running away from former Oilers or actively look at hiring them, it should just be a case by case basis.I understand the stigma that our front office is more of a country club for former Oilers and a play thing for Katz to surround himself with the glory days Boys on the Bus, that accusation is well founded, but not every former Oiler is a bad hire.
Former Oilers I'd be ok with having back in these roles (obviously not advocating hiring all of them):
- Shawn Horcoff- Player development or strength/conditioning coach.
- Fernando Pisani - AHL assistant coach
- Todd Marchant- Player development or PK coach.
- Chris Pronger- Defense coach and probably could handle either half of the special teams. I have a sneaking suspicion he might be a good GM as well.
- Doug Weight- Seems like a great head coach ATM.
- Craig MacTavish- AHL head coach, good at developing role players which is the primary export of the AHL. Supplement the coaching staff to cater to the one or two special offensive talents on the AHL team, generally high end talents skip through the AHL pretty quickly so I wouldn't worry about him ruining them.
- Dwayne Roloson- Goalie coach
- Kelly Buchberger- AHL assistant coach
Quite a lot of former players would potentially make good scouts. As always though just look at hiring the best person available for the job at hand and obviously in most cases that won't and shouldn't end up being a former Oiler, but occasionally the former Oiler will be the best person for the job.