Todd McLellan is not in danger of losing his job as Edmonton Oilers coach, general manager Peter Chiarelli said Sunday.
"I have no intentions of firing Todd," Chiarelli told Sportsnet. "I want to work with the coach, and I think he's a very good coach. As far as Todd goes, and (his staff), I am not considering firing them. At this point we're going to solve it together."
Following a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, the Oilers are 18-22-3, in sixth place in the Pacific Division and eight points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They won four straight games from Dec. 16-23 but have not won more than two in a row at any other point this season.
"Everyone is under evaluation, including myself," Chiarelli said. "We've had our challenges from a coaching perspective, and we've had our challenges from a player personnel perspective. We went into the season with certain expectations, and we're not even close to them."
The Oilers finished second in the Pacific last season (47-26-9, 103 points) and made the playoffs for the first time since 2006. They lost in seven games to the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Second Round.
In three seasons with the Oilers, McLellan is 96-91-20.
Edmonton plays at the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVA Sports, SN1, SNE, SNO, NHL.TV).
"I see the situation we're in," Chiarelli said. "I see levels of improvement, but I also see the losses piling up. There's a plan in place, and a plan to bring up through the ranks, at the proper time, younger players."
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