Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Ex-Oilers coach Krueger was fired via Skype

Ladislav Smid, Eric Belanger

Edmonton Oilers coach Ralph Krueger talks with Ladislav Smid, left, and Eric Belanger during the NHL hockey team’s training camp in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jason Franson)

AP

It’s not easy being a head coach in the NHL. It’s especially not easy to be one in a bad situation. For now ex-Edmonton Oilers coach Ralph Krueger, not only was the job rough but how he was let go was particularly unkind.

Krueger tells reporters he was fired by GM Craig MacTavish via Skype, the Internet program that allows you to make face-to-face calls anywhere in the world. Krueger was on summer vacation in Davos, Switzerland and apparently it was the easiest way to reach him.

TSN’s Ryan Rishaug shared his conversation with Krueger over what happened.

“This past Thursday he requested that I accept him on Skype so he could Skype me,” Krueger said. “When the conversation began he got right to the message that he felt it was necessary to hire a new head coach. That’s the way it went. The conversation was short.”

If nothing else, he took the bad news like a champ.

He told the Oilers when the season ended he wanted an experienced associate coach to join the staff next season which may not have given MacTavish the best impression in the first place. Krueger says he is grateful for the chance and he’s eager for the next step in his career.

If only we could all be that positive when we’re let go from a job.