UPDATE (2:15 p.m. on Monday): Todd McLellan is fully expected to be the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers next NHL season.
The organization is expected to make the formal announcement "sometime this week, possibly as early as Tuesday," according to sportsnet.com.
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McLellan is currently coaching Team Canada in Prague at the IIHF World Championships, but he already appears to have an NHL team to coach next year.
McLellan will likely be named as the next head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, according to a report by Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman.
The deal will get done “barring a major collapse,” according to Friedman, although nothing is official just yet.
“As far as I know there’s no signature. Until there is a signature anything can happen,” Friedman said on Wednesday.
The World Championships conclude on May 17, and an announcement could come soon after.
“The Edmonton Oilers, if Todd McLellan is the coach, and I think he will be, you don’t want to make the announcement while he’s coaching in Prague. You want to do it when he’s back in Edmonton,” Friedman said. “There are people who are a lot more knowledgeable than I am who think that the deal is going to get done. So that’s kind of what I base it on.”
The move would keep McLellan, who mutually parted ways with the Sharks on April 20, in the Pacific Division. The former Sharks coach would face his former employer at least four times (likely five) next season, including at least two at SAP Center.
It would also keep McLellan relatively close to the Bay Area, where his family will remain for the immediate future.
The Oilers are expected to draft highly regarded prospect Connor McDavid with the first pick in the NHL draft on June 26. They recently named former Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli as their president and general manager.
McLellan, 47, is the Sharks’ all-time winningest coach with a record of 311-163-66.
