Todd McLellan likes what he sees in Edmonton.
The free agent head coach, who recently parted ways with the San Jose Sharks, is actively seeking a new job, and appears ready and willing to consider a possible vacancy behind the Edmonton Oilers bench, should the club decide not to retain Todd Nelson.
McLellan told Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun:
Edmonton has always been an interesting spot for many people, I think. It’s a team with a rich history and they have some good players there. Now you add in (Connor) McDavid, Bob (Nicholson) taking over and Peter (Chiarelli) coming in. I really do think there were good people there before. What job descriptions they end up in, I’m not sure. But there will be a very strong team and group of people there.
“For any coach to consider all of that, it has to be a positive. It has to be exciting, not just for myself but for anybody. With all those good players there, it will eventually get going the right way.
Admitting he had already spoken to Bob Nicholson and former Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish, he likened the search for a new coach to a courting process.
"I look at it when a coach joins an organization or an organization hires a coach, it’s like a marriage," he said. "You have to court your wife a little bit. You have to make sure she’s the right one for you and that you’re the right one for her. You have to know you have similar beliefs and ideas going forward.
"That takes some time and some dates, if you will."
McLellan will get a good look at some young Oilers - namely Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - as head coach of Team Canada at the World Championship in Prague, which begins May 1.
