NHL coach fired via Skype: Ex-Oilers coach Ralph Krueger let go online

Plenty of employers use Skype to have conversations with prospective employees, so it was only a matter of time before they'd use the video-messaging service to fire someone.

Former Edmonton Oilers coach Ralph Krueger found that out the hard way, when the NHL team's general manager used Skype to fire him over the weekend.

"I'd never been fired in 24 years as a hockey coach and it was the first time I'd had a conversation with Craig MacTavish by Skype," Krueger, who was on vacaation in Switzerland at the time, told the Edmonton Sun.

MacTavish reportedly friended him on Skype just to let him go.

"This past Thursday he had requested that I accept him on Skype so he could Skype me," Krueger told TSN, via Mashable. "When the conversation began it went to business very quickly and he was quite clear with the message that ... he felt it was necessary for him to hire a new head coach."

The message was a blow for the 52-year-old Canadian, who said he was "100 percent oiler" before his Skype firing.

“Until three days ago, I was 100 percent an Oiler and was fully engaged in doing the off- and on-ice planning for the season,” Krueger told the Edmonton Journal on Monday. “I can move forward as quickly as anybody, but I would be kidding you if I said it doesn’t sting. It definitely stings.”