According to Dan Muphy of Sportsnet, former Washington Capitals bench boss Adam Oates will join the Red Wings for the next three days to work with the team:
#RedWings have brought Adam Oates in to work with their team for the next three days.
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) December 18, 2015
Oates is a skills coach with 18 individual clients including Stamkos and Parise. Started the business this past off season. #RedWings
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) December 18, 2015
Per Jeff Blashill, he said he asked Adam Oates to come to town to pick his brain. Blashill big on getting different thoughts on things.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 18, 2015
Initial thought is that Oates will come in and consult with special teams, more specifically the power-play.
Detroit’s power-play has been awfully lackluster since being tops in the league last season. They currently sit at 18th (18.2% efficiency), and have really struggled to score when having the man advantage. My guess is that Oates will work with skill players on the systematics of running their 1-3-1 scheme on the power-play. At this point, judging by Murphy’s comments on Twitter, it seems as if this will be nothing more than a consulting period, and not an addition to the Red Wings coaching staff.
This story is developing.
