The Edmonton Oilers did what all bad teams do: blame the coach.

Dave Tippett was fired as coach of the Oilers on Thursday morning with Jay Woodcroft taking over in his place. The Oilers are, ostensibly, in their Cup window and have looked nothing short of average-to-bad for three months now. Whether the problem is actually with Tippett or with a team built by someone who thinks Duncan Keith is a top-4 defenceman in the year 2022, well, we probably have our answer. But, coaches are the ones that lose their jobs so here we are.

As for Woodcroft, many Oilers writers that I respect seem to have respect for him:

That is just one guy, yes, but that seemed to be the prevailing sentiment. These are writers who've followed this team through some very dark days, so seeing them excited about a hire actually tells me much more about him than 10 000 words from The Athletic ever could.

It is a matter of what, exactly, can be done with this roster. Both Keith and Cody Ceci aren't really number-3 and number-4 defencemen for Cup-contending teams, but it's all they have to work with. Beyond just this season, if the general manager keeps dropping the chili pot whenever he walks into the room, it doesn't matter who is behind the bench.

As for immediate turnarounds, it's the power play that needs as much help as possible. Since Christmas, the Oilers PP is worse than the Islanders, Sabres, and Canadiens. It should not be worse than those three teams for any reasonable stretch of time. If he can make big changes there, maybe we see some fantasy value rebounds over the final 30-or-so games? That's a big if.

For now, this could be a step in the right direction and give the team a short-term boost. But all the people making the (usually bad) decisions are still in place and that's all that really matters for the future of this team.