Jamie Nye: Oilers hot seats getting warmer

By the time someone talks about not firing their coach, they’ve already thought about firing their head coach.

That is the case in Edmonton, where Peter Chiarelli has said he has no intention of firing head coach Todd McLellan.

The Oilers have found their way back to the pre-McDavid years and the blame game is going around on who should get the axe.

McLellan has done good things in the NHL, no doubt. As has Chiarelli.

But for some reason, the mix isn’t working and some players who had career years last year, to no one’s surprise, have not followed that up this season. Hence, why they call them career years. They usually don’t become regular.

So was it Chiarelli over-valuing his talent for this season? Or has McLellan not been able to inspire his locker room?

With xs and os things like a putrid penalty kill, you look at the coaching.