Newly hired head coach Pat Quinn, right, and Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini meet the media Tuesday afternoon. (Ben Lemphers/Canadian Press)Pat Quinn will take over as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, with former New York Rangers head coach Tom Renney as an assistant, the team announced on Tuesday.
"If I think of leadership, I think of Pat. If I think of the way you want to be treated as a player, I think of someone like Pat Quinn," said Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini.
"I'm very excited that he accepted this job as head coach."
Former Oiler Kelly Buchberger was also retained as an assistant.
Quinn was last seen behind the Team Canada bench at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, where he won gold with the squad over Sweden.
Before that, Quinn led Team Canada's entry in the 2006 Spengler Cup to a finals appearance.
Knows area well
He knows the area well from his junior days, as he played for the Edmonton Oil Kings and was a member of their Memorial Cup-winning squad in 1963.
"The tradition is very, very important to this organization," said Quinn. "But I'm looking to the future obviously ... We're here to help this team win."
Quinn's last NHL coaching stint was a seven-year run with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 66-year-old has spent 19 seasons behind NHL benches, also coaching in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. The Leafs made the playoffs in the first six years he was head coach, and went to the conference finals twice in that span.
But he was fired in 2005-06 after Toronto missed the post-season for the first time under his watch.
His record stands at 657-481-154, with 26 OT losses. He made it to the Stanley Cup final twice (once with Philadelphia in 1979-80, and again with Vancouver in 1993-94).
Jack Adams recipient
Quinn has won the Jack Adams award for NHL coach of the year twice, in 1980 with Philadelphia and again in 1992 with Vancouver.
Quinn also has an Olympic gold medal to his name, winning the prize as head coach of Team Canada at the 2002 Olympics. He also led the team to victory in the World Cup of Hockey two years later.
Renney coached the Rangers from 2003 to the middle of the 2008-09 season. He was fired in mid-February and replaced with John Tortorella.
His first job as NHL head coach came in 1996, when he was hired by then-general manager Quinn to coach the Canucks. Tambellini knows both Quinn and Renney from their days in the Canucks organization.
"I think any of us in this game understands the opportunity when it presents itself," Renney said. "It's something I completely embrace, without a doubt. ... It comes down to the people that you're able to surround yourself with."
The Oilers had been without a bench boss since they fired Craig MacTavish in mid-April, after nine years of service. Edmonton has missed the playoffs for three straight years, and only really got going under MacTavish's watch in 2005-06, when they made a memorable Stanley Cup run that came up one game short of the championship.
It was also the only season that the Oilers won a playoff series with MacTavish as coach.
Tambellini also interviewed Marc Crawford and San Jose assistant coach Todd Richards for the job.
With files from The Canadian Press
