So, Marc Crawford wants to throw his hat into the ring as a head-coaching candidate for the Edmonton Oilers. Considering Crawford was the 1995 Jack Adams Award winner for coach of the year, won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996 and has a history with Oilers GM Steve Tambellini dating back to when they were teammates with the Vancouver Canucks in 1985-86, he’s one of the favourites to take over from Craig MacTavish.
But one tip for Crawford, who is working as an analyst with Hockey Night in Canada: If you want make a good impression with fans and Tambellini, stop calling the Oilers’ best player “Alex” Hemsky, and their goaltenders Dwayne “Rolofson” and Jeff “Desjarlais.”
I’m not a fan of Crawford’s because, as a coach, he’s long had a habit of looking down his nose at media types, until, of course, he’s out of work and becomes one of us. Of course, playing patty-cake with reporters isn’t high on Tambellini’s list of prerequisites, so Crow has a shot.
My best guess is Crawford, Brent Sutter, Pat Quinn, Brent Petersen and Todd Richards end up on Tambellini’s short list.
MCSORLEY IN TOWN
Marty McSorley, Dave Semenko and Chris Joseph are hosting a hockey school at the Trans-Alta Tri-Leisure Centre in Spruce Grove April 28-30 in three sessions. It’s open to children aged 10-13 and also has men’s and women’s sessions. For information visit www.NHLTraining.com.
As an aside, and given that the status MacTavish’s assistant-coaching staff is up in the air, McSorley, who had a losing record as the head coach in Springfield of the AHL in 2002-03 (34-38-7) and 2003-04 (26-43-9), asked, perhaps, a telling question when we talked Saturday.
“How much does an NHL assistant coach make?” inquired McSorley.
WHILE I’M AT IT
Still no word on the fate of Charlie Huddy, Bill Moores and Kelly Buchberger, but I can’t see Tambellini saddling a new bench boss with a staff of assistants he hasn’t picked. … There’s more buzz about the Edmonton Capitals of the Golden Baseball League opening camp May 11 at Telus Field than there was at any time during the tenure of Dan Orlich, who sold the former Cracker-Cats to Daryl Katz last off-season. … The biggest name on manager Brent Bowers’ roster right now is Lou Pote, who pitched for the Triple-A Trappers and won a World Series with Anaheim in 2002.
– In a decade covering the Edmonton sports scene, Robin Brownlee has been the newsbreaker and insightful voice for sports fans in Oil Country; edmontonletters@metronews.ca.
