This preseason, Edmonton finished with a 6-1-1 record thus proving Peter Chiarelli has drastically improved the team and one of the improvement includes the firing of Dallas Eakins and hiring of Todd McLellan. Many Oil fans are optimistic for this season because "Connor McDavid" or more some more Connor McDavid but I personally, am more excited to see McLellan coach. As lame as that sounds I think hiring Todd was the best thing to happen to Edmonton this offseason, well, except for Connor McDavid. The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Todd McLellan is his experience behind the bench. For example he coached seven years in San Jose and the team made the playoffs six times, including two Conference Final appearances during is tenure. The fact of the matter is Edmonton has been lacking a consistent coach and in fact only Tom Renney has reached the two season plateau since Craig MacTavish was fired as coach after 2008-09 season. Todd McLellan brings actual experience to the bench which Edmonton has been lacking for a long time.…show more content… Consequentially Edmonton's home town talent has developed a tendency to be liable defensively and make unwise plays. An example of these issue can be found in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, until the second half of last season I personally found he didn't back check hard enough. Not to mention he contributed to those aforementioned terrible plays but under both Todd Nelson and Todd McLellan he has seemed to improved. As a result of this, he plays harder, he's more defensively aware and his all around game has been improved. In contrast, McLellan coaches grit and heart which has been the missing ingredient to grasp a playoff