Before they were ousted from the playoffs -- and especially after their drive for the post-season hit a dead end -- the focus surrounding the Edmonton Oilers has been the future of the head coach Craig MacTavish. Today wasn't a day for that to be cleared up.
"I'm not going to say anything further today about my future," is the way MacTavish started his post-season post-mortem with the media. "I'm not going to talk about it but if you want to talk about the team then that's fine."
With Edmonton playing its final game of the regular season on Saturday against Calgary, the 2008-09 campaign came to an end the same way the previous two years finished with Edmonton, and that's without any playoffs.
Thus the status of the eighth head coach in Oilers history has become the hot topic. And one that MacTavish is discussing... just not publicly.
"I have had some preliminary talks with (Oilers GM) Steve (Tambellini) about how we move ahead and those will continue over the next couple of days," MacTavish said. "And I don't want this to drag out any longer than necessary."
He went on to add he expects to announce his plans by Friday.
Despite winning his 300th game behind the Oiler bench it has been a tough year for MacTavish and the Oilers. His pre-season predictions of being a candidate for division champion fell short. The team could never find a necessary level of consistency. And, according to the coach, their selflessness and work ethic wasn't nearly as prominent in an attempted post-season run in March and early April.
All those late-season television bench shots of MacTavish showed a coach who was beat up as badly as some of his players. His disappointment, frustration and playoff heartbreak were hard to mask.
Yet despite all that, and you may find it hard to believe, he's still a coach who has a joy for the job.
"I enjoy the challenge," is the way he put it. "And I love the job and the Oilers."
We'll find out exactly how much in the days to come.
