The Edmonton Oilers have ended Steve Tambellini’s stay with the team after a 16-18-7 start to the season. Former Oilers head coach and current vice president of hockey operations Craig MacTavish will take over GM duties.

The Oilers brought Tambellini on board in July 2008, during which time the team has never qualified for the playoffs.

The team lost its fifth straight game and has 39 points in the standings — eight points behind the final playoff spot in the West. It’s unlikely the team will qualify for the postseason this year.

Tambellini failed to build on an impressive core of forwards the Oilers have accumulated. If MacTavish can turn things around, he could lead the Oilers into the playoffs next year.

Steve Tambellini has been dismissed as Oilers GM. Craig MacTavish will take over.—
John Shannon (@JSportsnet) April 15, 2013

Edmonton Oilers’ left wing Taylor Hall has been suspended for two games for kneeing Minnesota Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck was helped off the ice after the incident, and is listed as day-to-day with a thigh contusion. He’ll need further tests to determine the full extent of his injury.

After the game Thursday, Hall told reporters he didn’t feel that the hit was knee-on-knee.

“It’s unfortunate,” Hall told reporters after the game. “You never want to see a guy sitting there on the ice. My first thought was I looked around to see if there was a penalty and obviously there was. I really didn’t feel it was knee on knee at all. I really felt like I got him with my hip or torso area.”

Following a 2:30 p.m. phone hearing on Friday, Hall has officially been suspended for two games.

Hall suspended for 2 games.—
Mark Spector Sports (@SportsnetSpec) February 22, 2013

Edmonton Oilers center Anton Lander has a broken foot and will be out of action for a month, according to a tweet from Sportsnet’s Mark Spector.

Lander out a month or so, broken foot. EDM has some injuries. Can they weather now better than in past?—
Mark Spector Sports (@SportsnetSpec) February 08, 2013

Lander suffered the injury in Edmonton’s 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. Lander took a puck off his ankle early in the first period and did not return to the game. According to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, Lander was seen on crutches on the stands later in the game.

Edmonton has already lost centers Shawn Horcuff and Eric Belanger to injuries this season, leaving them with a hole at the position. Lander is in his second NHL season with Edmonton, and has one assist through four games so far.

The Oilers’ Ben Eager is facing assault charges after a bar fight this weekend. (Andy Devlin/Getty Images)

Edmonton Oilers’ forward Ben Eager is facing assault charges after a bar fight in Toronto early Saturday morning, according to multiple reports.

CBC reports that Eager has been charged with assault causing bodily harm, threaten bodily harm and assault with a weapon. According to The Globe and Mail, the fight involved the doorman and came at The Quail and Firkin Pub in Toronto.

From The Globe and Mail:

The general manager of the pub told CityTV that her doorman “was brutally attacked and hurt.”

Video cameras caught the altercation and footage will be passed along to police, said Jennine Lombardo.

An ambulance took to the bouncer to hospital.

Eager, known as an enforcer on the ice, signed a three-year, $3 million deal with the Oilers in 2011. Eager was a part of the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks in 2010. He had eight goals and five assists in 63 games with the Oilers last season.

The Oilers’ No. 1 draft pick, Nail Yakupov, was barred temporarily from playing in the KHL because his international transfer card was not approved. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Nail Yakupov, who was taken as the overall No. 1 pick by the Oilers in June, was temporarily barred from playing in the Kontinental Hockey League, according to USA Today. The International Ice Hockey Federation requires that an international transfer card (ITC) be signed by the original country, the new country and the player; Hockey Canada did not sign Yakupov’s transfer card. The 18-year-old right winger had already played two games with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, and the Russian federation was fined 5,000 Swiss francs (approximately $5,300).

“The ITC was not signed by Hockey Canada and was thus not approved by the IIHF. Playing without an approved ITC following an international transfer request is a breach of IIHF transfer regulations,” the international federation said in a statement. “At this time, being that Hockey Canada did not approve Nail Yakupov’s ITC, his case is in appeal procedures. Until appeal procedures are complete and a decision regarding his transfer to Russia is made, an ITC will not be approved or denied by the IIHF.”

Yakupov is from Nizhnekamsk, a city in the Republic of Tatarstan, 500 miles east of Moscow. He played two season with the Sarnia Sting in Ontario to prepare for the NHL draft and signed an entry-level contract with the Oilers in July. Last season, Yakupov had 69 points and 31 goals in only 42 games with the Sting. He was the first Russian-born No. 1 draft pick since Alex Ovechkin was taken by the Capitals in 2004.

The timing of Wayne Gretzky attending the Packers-Seahawks game in Seattle and that city’s recent approval of a new sports arena caused a bit of a furor among Edmonton Oilers fans trying to connect the dots on Monday. On Tuesday, Gretzky told FAN 590 radio that he wasn’t there on behalf of the Oilers.

“That’s the last time I go to a football game,” Gretzky said.

On Sunday, Ian Furness of KJR radio in Seattle and Chris Daniels of KING-TV reported that new Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz and an ownership group, were in town to survey Key Arena and the market.

I can also confirm, as @IanKJR did, that Edmonton Oilers representatives are in Seattle, per source, "evaluating the market". #NHL—
Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) September 24, 2012

The Oilers released a statement confirming the ownership group was in Seattle for “meetings.” The team and the Edmonton city council have entered into a somewhat contentious standoff over funding for an arena.

Gretzky wasn’t a part of the Oilers’ contingent and he believes there’s little chance his former team will leave Edmonton.

“Probably zero,” he said, suggesting the club and city aren’t really that far apart in their negotiations.

“I just can’t imagine a deal not getting done.”

Gretzky reiterated the NHL’s patience with stabilizing the Phoenix Coyotes as a precedent for keeping franchises where they are, rather than shifting markets.

“The National Hockey League does not want franchises to move,” he said. “They want to build those franchises, stabilize those franchises, and keep those fans who have supported those teams comfortable.”

Free agent defenseman Justin Schultz, a former Wisconsin Badger who exploited a loophole to gain his freedom from the team that drafted him, has reportedly narrowed the list of teams that he will consider down to five:

NYR are in on Justin Schultz. @DarrenDreger confirms TOR is in, @Real_ESPNLeBrun confirms OTT is in. That makes it VAN, EDM, NYR, TOR, OTT.—
Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 28, 2012

Schultz, an offensive defenseman, is considered by many scouts to be the best player in the world not yet in the NHL. Twenty-six of the 30 NHL teams reportedly expressed interest in his services, and many believe that his home-province Vancouver Canucks are the team to beat.

He’s expected to meet with representatives from his five finalists over the next few days, although he could sign on Sunday, the first day of free agency.

UPDATE: Bob McKenzie of TSN now reports that a sixth team could still be in the running. It was believed that Schultz would cut his list to five, but no one has ever confirmed such.

Strongly led to believe MIN, as in Wild, are in on shortlist for UFA dman Justin Schultz. That would make 6 teams we know of. Maybe more?—
Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 28, 2012

Multiple outlets are reporting that associate coach Ralph Krueger will be named Edmonton Oilers head coach on Wednesday morning.

Krueger, 51, will succeed Tom Renney, who was fired in May despite securing the top pick in the draft for two straight seasons (read: he had the worst team in the league during his tenure). The Oilers also earned another No. 1 overall pick just before Renney was hired.

A Winnipeg native, Krueger arrived in Edmonton after 13 years as head coach of the Swiss national team. He has no other NHL playing or coaching experience.

The Oilers have selected three straight forwards at the top of the draft and are expected to make a push to sign Wisconsin defenseman Justin Schultz, who did not sign with the team that drafted him and is now an unrestricted free agent. Adam Kimelman of NHL.com says that many scouts believe that Schultz is the best player in the world not in the NHL.

Right winger Nail Yakupov is expected to be picked first by the Edmonton Oilers in next week’s NHL Draft. (Graig Abel/NHL/Getty Images)

The Edmonton Oilers don’t plan on trading the number one pick in next week’s NHL draft, according to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector.

The Oilers have not made a decision on who they will choose and sources say they won’t make that decision until later next week. The Oilers are picking first in the draft for the third year in a row.

The consensus number one pick on the board is right winger Nail Yakupov. Yakupov, 18, plays for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League where he scored 30 goals and had 38 assists this season for the Sting.

The 50th NHL Entry Draft is June 22–23 in Pittsburgh.

Tom Renney will not return as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, according to NHL.com.

The Oilers decided today not to renew Renney’s contract. In two seasons at the helm, the coach compiled a cumulative record of 57-85-22, finishing dead last in the Northwest Division both years.

“Tom’s done some great things for our hockey club,” Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini said. “But we felt it was the right decision to make a change.”

Renney was the third head coach the Oilers have had since Tambellini took over as GM, in July 2008. The team let go of Craig MacTavish after the 2008-09 season and then Pat Quinn the year after. It’s unknown at this time who will succeed Renney as the fourth coach under Tambellini.

“There are a few people we have interest in,” the GM said. “I would hope to have something in place prior to the draft.”

Edmonton Oilers left winger Taylor Hall was injured Tuesday during warmups before the team’s game with the Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL.com is reporting.

A team spokesman said that Hall ”fell and a teammate tried to avoid him and his skate cut him.” The report states that Hall, who was not wearing a helmet, had blood running down the side of his head.

Hall, 20, has 15 goals and 16 assists in 36 games this season.

Fines and suspensions are absolutely nothing new for Dan Carcillo, and tonight has brought more of the usual for the Chicago Blackhawks winger. Carcillo has been suspended for seven games for boarding defenseman Tom Gilbert in Monday night’s loss to the Oilers.

Early in the second period of the Blackhawks’ 4-3 loss, Carcillo and Gilbert each chased after a 50-50 puck behind the net, and Carcillo leveled his body at Gilbert and slammed him into the boards. A major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct were assessed on the play.

Carcillo will forfeit $66,158.54 in salary while suspended. He will not be eligible to return until Jan. 18, when the Blackhawks take on the Sabres.

This is the ninth time Carcillo has been fined or suspended in his six-year NHL career. Most recently, he was suspended for two games back in October for similarly boarding Hurricanes defenseman Joni Pitkanen.