The Edmonton Oilers fired head coach Craig MacTavish just three days after the end of another disappointing season.
The Oilers finished the 2008-09 campaign with a mark of 38-35-9, which was good for just 11th in the Western Conference. It marked the third straight season that the team missed the playoffs.
Since taking over behind the bench as the eighth coach in team history at the start of the 2000-01 season, he amassed a record of 301-252-103 and a 19-17 mark in the playoffs. He ranked second among Edmonton coaches in games coached, wins, losses, ties/overtime losses and winning percentage.
"On behalf of the entire organization, I would like to thank Craig and his family for their outstanding commitment to the Edmonton Oilers and the city of Edmonton over the past 10 years," said Edmonton general manager Steve Tambellini.
The most successful season the team had under MacTavish's leadership was in 2005-06, when the team advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals as the eighth seed and eventually fell in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes.
During that run, Edmonton's first appearance in the finals since 1990, the team defeated Detroit, which won the Presidents' Trophy that season, San Jose and Anaheim.
MacTavish had the rare distinction in the league of being one of the top tenured coaches. He ranked third and was behind just Barry Trotz, who has been the coach of Nashville since its inaugural season of 1998-99, and Lindy Ruff, who has been in Buffalo since the 1997-98 campaign.
The last player to skate in the NHL without a helmet, MacTavish totaled 213 goals and 267 assists in 1,093 career games with the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues and Edmonton. He won four Stanley Cups, three with the Oilers and one while in New York, before retiring after the 1996-97 season.
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