Edmonton Oilers fire Todd McLellan, hire Ken Hitchcock to take over

The Edmonton Oilers have fired coach Todd McLellan and replaced him with Ken Hitchcock, with the team languishing in sixth place in the Pacific Division.

McLellan was in his fourth season behind the Oilers’ bench. The team missed the playoffs in two of his previous three seasons despite having superstar Connor McDavid on its roster. The Oilers were just 9-10-1 entering the game Tuesday night at San Jose.

Hitchcock announced his retirement in April after a 22-year coaching career, which included a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999.

McLellan is the fourth coach to be fired this year, following John Stevens with the Kings, Joel Quenneville in Chicago and Mike Yeo in St. Louis.