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Blues, Oilers fire coaches after woeful NHL starts

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid says the NHL team's players must take responsibility for Tuesday's firing of coach Todd McLellan

Todd McLellan was fired Tuesday as coach of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers and replaced by Ken Hitchcock only hours after the rival St. Louis Blues dumped coach Mike Yeo. The latest ousters raised the number of axed coaches this season to four after seven weeks, following a campaign in which no coaches lost their jobs. The Oilers have dropped six of their past seven games, falling to 9-10 with one over-time loss for 19 points, sixth in the Pacific division. Edmonton's frustrations come despite having one of the NHL's top young stars in 21-year-old Canadian Connor McDavid, who ranks third in the league in total points with six goals and 12 assists. "Obviously disappointed," Oilers captain McDavid said. "Todd was a guy that everyone liked, but ultimately we're a team that's underachieving right now and no one likes where we're at, so the change is necessary." Edmonton's 3.3 goals a game ranks 24th in the 31-team league while the penalty-killing unit ranks 27th. "It's tough to pinpoint what we need, but we're all to blame here," McDavid said. "This obviously isn't on Todd at all. It's on us as players. That's just how the business works sometimes. We got to wake up here." Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli began pondering the move after Edmonton's 6-3 home loss Sunday to Vegas. "I felt like it was time," he said. "I saw levels of flatness and levels of non-responsiveness and when that happens, the radar goes up." McLellan, 51, was named Oilers coach in May 2015 after seven seasons with the San Jose Sharks. He was 123-119-24 with Edmonton and in 2017 guided the Oilers to their first playoff berth in 10 seasons. Hitchcock, 66, ranks third on the all-time NHL coaching win list at 823-506-119 with 88 drawn over 22 seasons with Dallas, Philadelphia, Columbus and St. Louis. He guided Dallas to the 1999 Stanley Cup. "I know what's wrong but it's not going to get fixed overnight," Hitchcock said. "I think I can clear the deck. I think I can help this team turn it around." Hitchcock had retired from coaching last season after Dallas went 42-32-8 and missed the playoffs. - Midnight strikes on Yeo - Yeo was fired just before midnight after a 2-0 Monday home loss to Los Angeles, leaving both teams level at the bottom of the NHL with only seven wins, and replaced by associate coach Craig Berube on an interim basis. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said Tuesday he might hire a new full-time coach before the end of the season. "I'm going to throw my full support behind Craig and his staff right now as we try and cauterize the wound and get back into the playoff picture," Armstrong said. "Ultimately it comes back to our record," Armstrong said. "Mike is paying for the sins of our collective group." Yeo, 45, went 73-49-11 as St. Louis coach after he replaced Hitchcock in February 2017. He exited after three shutout losses in four games. Berube, 52, coached Philadelphia to a 75-58-28 record from 2013-15. McLellan and Yeo departed following John Stevens of the Los Angeles Kings and Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks being dropped earlier this season.