Oil Kings make organizational changes

On Monday morning the Edmonton Oil Kings made some big changes to the organization. They revealed that they were not renewing the contracts of head coach Steve Hamilton and assistant coach Ryan Marsh. Also general manager Randy Hansch will be pursuing an NHL opportunity said Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli. The news came almost a month after the WHL draft on May 5th, where they selected first overall as they ended the season with the worst record in the WHL. It was interesting to see Peter Chiarelli making the calls for the other hockey club in Edmonton.

Marsh talking to Brandon head coach David Anning (photo- Andy Devlin)

Steve Hamilton took over the head coaching role in 2014 after spending four seasons with the Oil Kings as an assistant coach. He won two WHL Championships with the club as an assistant coach, and was a part of that Memorial Cup winning team in 2013-2014.

Hamilton came to the Oil Kings from the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints where he spent four seasons as their general manager and head coach. He had a record of 108-152-21-7 in his four years as head coach with the Oil Kings.. Edmonton made it to the playoffs in 2014-15 and 2015-16. Both times they fell to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Hamilton coached the Canada Pacific U17 team in 2014 and was an assistant for the WHL All-Stars at the Jr. Super Series in 2017 and an assistant for Canada’s U18 team at the U18 World Junior Championships in 2017.

Ryan Marsh joined the team in 2014-2015 after spending two seasons with the University of Alberta Golden Bears

Hamilton and Marsh (photo-Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oil Kings)

and the Spruce Grove Saints. Marsh has also head coached for the Hockey Canada’s U17 program.

 

Randy Hansch has spent 11 seasons with Edmonton Oil Kings, starting in 2007-2008 as the assistant GM and Director of Player development. Hansch is supposedly joining as an amateur NHL scout next season. He was previously an amateur scout for the Calgary Flames before joining the Oil Kings back in 2007.

 

We wish them the best of luck going forward. All three have been great to me and the Dubnetwork staff, as well as the DraftGeek crew.