OHL playoff contenders Oshawa have fired their Head Coach, Steve O'Rourke, despite being one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference through the first half of the season. Former NHLer Brad Malone named as his replacement
The Oshawa Generals shocked the OHL community and their fans Monday afternoon when they announced that they had fired Head Coach Steve O'Rourke. Something you don't normally see one of the top teams in the league do.
The Generals are coming off a weekend where they ended the London Knights' 19-game-long winning streak but lost the following game 6-1 to the Saginaw Spirit.
This is a very odd firing, and a lot of people question why O'Rourke was canned. Did Steve deserve this faith? Oshawa's record would certainly say he does not.
Oshawa had a rocky start to the season, going 4-5-1 in their opening ten games and a -9 goal differential. They've gone 14-5-1 since then and are back to looking like a squad that could be in for another deep playoff run.
The Generals are currently in first place in the East Division with 38 points, closely followed by the Kingston Frontenacs, who have 37 points.
In the Eastern Conference, the Generals are in second place, just two points behind the Barrie Colts. Overall, they rank fifth in the entire league.
So why was O'Rourke fired? His team isn't having a bad season by any means and essentially has done exactly what they did last season. Oshawa overcame a slow start in 2023-24 and went on to exceed expectations and play in the OHL Championship Series.
Steve was in his first year behind the bench for Oshawa after taking over for the OHL's 2023-24 Head Coach of the Year Derek Laxdal, who moved on to coach for the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the AHL.
Ex-NHL forward Brad Malone has been named the interim head coach.
Malone, 35, was hired as a Player Development Coach for Oshawa before the start of the season. He was drafted in the fourth round, 105th overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche, and played 217 games in the NHL split between the Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, and Edmonton Oilers.
He brings a wealth of professional playing experience, playing an additional 552 games in the AHL to his NHL experience.
Usually, it's the bad teams that fire their coach.
This firing is a puzzling one that makes you wonder if something happened behind the scenes internally with the organization or if Oshawa has already fancied what Malone has brought as a coach and believes he can be the sheriff behind the bench that leads them on a lengthy playoff run.
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