Scott Arniel (Right) and his teammates (R to L) Laurie Boschman, Dale Hawerchuk and Tim Watters were loving life and 7-Up in Winnipeg in the mid 1980s. Fast forward 25 years and Arniel finds himself as a rookie head coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He isn't promoting 7-Up and he's replaced his teammates with assistant coaches, Brad Berry, Bob Boughner and Dan Hinote. You think the 18, 19 and 20-year-old rookies have pressure in the NHL, imagine being a rookie head coach on a team that has never won a playoff game.

It's fair to argue Pat Quinn did much of his best work last season in post-game meetings with the media down the hall from the Edmonton Oilers dressing room. The new bench boss, Tom Renney, can't hold a candle to the Mighty Quinn when it comes to that.

The Edmonton Oilers have been out of balance since TC 2006-07. In fact, the one time in the last ten years that the team boasted a veteran goalie, quality top 6 blue with a range of skills and a strong group at forward the team made the SCF's. If they know the template, why can't they repeat it? Is the pursuit of a lottery pick dependent on the thin blue line and lack of penalty kill?