Kr55 wrote on Fri, 11 July 2025 13:24

Skookum Jim wrote on Fri, 11 July 2025 13:10 Off to Dallas.. David Pelletier.. Oiler skating coach.. as Dallas Assistant Coach ???? Skating development is a key requirement for franchise prospects.. hope the Oil have an even better option than Pelletier.. like a full department/institute dedicated to player skating analysis and development https://x.com/DallasStars/status/1943701825841934668 Looks like the Oilers have broken the brains of Dallas management after taking them down 2 years in a row. Nice to see.

I played a beer league hockey game against David Pelletier once. Georges Laraque and he joined one of our rival teams for a game in I think the summer of 2003. Laraque was nigh unstoppable. Couldn't be touched in the faceoff circle, could dangle beer leaguers with ease. Absolutely massive human, so incredibly hard to get off the puck even when guys were basically hanging off him. However, his Achilles' heel in that game is that he wanted to walk through our whole team and then feed Pelletier - and Pelletier, despite skating beautifully, had exactly zero when it comes to hands. He fluffed chances, missed empty nets, etc. We ended up winning 3-1. Laraque scored their only goal on a short-handed end-to-end rush where he roofed a backhand under the bar, but otherwise they were shut down (in big part due to an out-of-body experience from our goalie who had the game of his life as Big Georges tried to turn it up in the third). I also had two goals that night, but that's just bragging up past accomplishments.

Anyhow, the moral of the story is Pelletier isn't going to teach anyone to score. I'm a little surprised about that hire for Gulutzan. Maybe he envisions an assistant who is more just the guy who opens the door for the players?

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
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