Somewhere Dustin Penner and Robert Nilsson are doing cartwheels. It is a sad statement; but a coach with Craig MacTavish's tenure rarely gets himself fired.

MacTavish said in his recent end of season address that when he needed more out of his players this year, there was nothing in the tank. A scary proposition for any coach because it doesn't mean the players were already at 100 percent. It's an indication that his players had tuned him out. Follow that up with Ales Hemsky, who rarely says anything at all, publicly accusing MacTavish of turning him into a checker and the writing was on the wall.

So none of what happened to MacT in Edmonton was a surprise. What will be a surprise is the first new head coach the Edmonton Oilers have seen in nearly a decade when Steve Tambellini and his brain trust decide on a new bench boss.

While Tambellini did not rule out bringing in a coach with no previous NHL head coaching experience, he also said that his organization needs a coach that commands respect. Charlie Huddy has clearly earned respect from his blue line, after molding the unit into what is now the strength of the team, but Huddy may not fit the mold of a commander of respect. Ditto for Kelly Buchberger.

This means the Oilers may finally broaden its search to outside the organization. Meaning outside the "old boys club" as it commonly referred to by those that have been screaming for change over the last eight months.

Two names immediately come to mind.

The first is Pat Quinn. Talk of Quinn originated in December as he was guiding the world juniors to another gold medal, all the while showing that contrary to popular belief he can coach kids and quite enjoys it. We already knew of his affinity for NHL veterans, and on a team with an apparent uncomfortable mix of young and old, Quinn could be the answer. He would command respect from each and ever player in that room, no matter what the age on their birth certificate.

The second is Marc Crawford. While he has never been known to get particularly tight with his players, he coaches an up-tempo, exciting brand of hockey and wins games doing it. He brought Stanley Cup success to Colorado, and if not for Brian Burke's inability to find a goaltender that could stop something other than a beach ball in Vancouver, the Canucks under Crawford may very well have made a run at its first Cup. Crawford coached back-to-back 100-point seasons out of the Canucks in 2002/03 and 2003/04, but the sub-par goaltending was the fault of the GM, not the coach.

And Tambi knows, first hand, what these two candidates are all about, having worked both during his tenure on the west coast. But more importantly, the next head coach needs to know what this Edmonton Oiler room is all about.

Something MacTavish is at a loss to explain right now.