Despite a convincing victory last night, the Edmonton Oilers are making a surprising coaching move. They are expected to relieve head coach Jay Woodcroft of his duties, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch will be named the next Oilers head coach.
The Oilers have now officially announced the moves, alongside one more change: Dave Manson is out as an assistant coach for the team, and legendary former Oilers blueliner Paul Coffey has been hired as an assistant coach in Manson’s place. Coffey was previously a senior advisor to the club.
A Zach Hyman hat trick lifted the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken last night, though the team still sits second to last in the NHL with a 3-9-1 record. In a Stanley Cup-or-bust season, The Oilers atrociously bad start to the season—highlighted by the team’s dispiriting loss to fellow basement-dwellers, the San Jose Sharks— has now cost Woodcroft his job.
Per the Edmonton Sun’s Terry Jones, this move will be the fifth head coaching change of the Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl partnership. Of all the coaches to man the bench for McDavid and Draisaitl, its Woodcroft who has arguably had the most success.
Woodcroft rose from Bakersfield Condors bench boss to the big job in Edmonton, and posted a .643 points percentage across 133 games. That’s the highest in Oilers history, above even the .616 mark posted by legendary coach Glen Sather.
Woodcroft took the Oilers to the Western Conference Final in 2022, where they would fall to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. He lost to the eventual champions once again in 2023, dropping a hard-fought battle with the Vegas Golden Knights.
But with their season on life support, the Oilers needed to make changes in order to resurrect their Stanley Cup hopes. With no cap space to make trades, the easiest path to major change in Edmonton was via a coaching change, and the Oilers have now taken that route.
This is an attractive job due to the presence of the best player in the world on their roster, but there are some issues here. After this season, Draisaitl will have just one year remaining on his contract. If the Oilers fall well short of the playoffs this season, Draisaitl could reasonably question whether he’ll be able to win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton should he commit what is likely to be the rest of his prime years to the franchise.
McDavid has an extra year on his contract, so there will naturally be questions regarding his future as well, though the hire of his former agent Jeff Jackson as the team’s CEO of hockey operations position makes it more likely he’ll eventually reach a deal on a contract extension.
Those questions are all for the offseason and beyond, though. The Oilers have a more immediate problem to wrestle with: how are they going to revive their playoff chances in a season where they were viewed by many as a true Stanley Cup contender? Now with Woodcroft out, it appears the Oilers believe the first step to answering that question is a coaching change.
The choice of the next Oilers coach appears to be at least somewhat McDavid-oriented. Knoblauch was McDavid’s coach in the OHL with the Erie Otters, and he won an OHL title with the team in 2016-17. A two-time championship-winning coach in the CHL, Knoblauch, 45, is in his fifth season as the bench boss of the Wolf Pack.
He led the team on a run to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, upsetting the favored Providence Bruins along the way. He leaves Hartford this season with a 7-3-1 record.
The New York Post’s Mollie Walker reports that Wolf Pack assistant coach Steve Smith will take up head coaching duties in the immediate term, although the search for the team’s next head coach will “begin immediately.” Smith is actually a former Oilers coach himself, having served as an assistant on three separate coaching staffs from 2010 to 2014.
Knoblauch hasn’t been an NHL head coach before, save for a short stint during the pandemic when health-related absences put him behind the Rangers’ bench due to necessity. But despite his lack of NHL experience, he was viewed as a contender for the Rangers’ vacancy before they hired Peter Laviolette. Now, he gets his first shot behind an NHL bench with some former players on his roster and an immediate, pressing task ahead: save the Oilers season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Maybe now they’ll do something compound stupid, like bringing in Darryl or Babs. The team has a hard time comprehending the notion of “team defense.”
Can you imagine if they bring in Darryl? Calgary slides south past them and Oiltown makes the playoffs….
I think they bring in Bruce here if they go for a name.
@Dave — I’d love seeing Gabby back behind a bench. I’m just not sure that even he could get them to defend properly. I wasn’t happy when it was first reported that Jay wanted to change up the system so drastically. These guys can’t seem to get the “pack mentality” idea when it comes to defending. The successful coaches in recent years keep saying, “attack with speed, and defend with speed” because it works.
I hope keefe is next
TURK GALLANT…YES I SAID HIM ….
Probably the best short term fix for them to turn the season around and maybe, just maybe go on a run.
@Bucky76 – I wouldn’t be against Turk, either, if they couldn’t get Gabby.
Ken Holland is an irresponsible coward!
Turk was never giving a full term chance..
more coaches still no fixes.. they need to fix that D Core which is overpaid garbage
Can this new coach stop pucks??? Isn’t that Edmontons problem?? How about Holland try to swing a trade for a goalie?
@buffalobob88 — He’s probably tried, but the other team(s) isn’t (aren’t) interested in what he’s offering them in return. That, and he would have to talk to the player he’s targeting, to make sure he actually wants to play there, if traded. I think they also need a different goalie coach, as Schwartz may not be the right guy for the job there. Finding a better replacement may also be challenging.
Holland should have been allowed to
Make this move. He should have been removed prior to this taking place.
Coffee will help Bouchard but can he really get This group to play D…doubt it.
Manson was given glowing reviews for his ability to teach D and well that worked out beautifully for them.
Remove Holland and sure bring in a new voice to the room but if you don’t make personnel changes nothing is going to change. The entire group can’t play D.
Folks blaming the Goalie coach but he doesn’t play Defense not his fault in the least.
Campbell was never and has never been a number 1. Holland decided he was. Campbell says he didn’t think he was playing all that bad. Maybe he wasn’t but he sure wasn’t playing like a number 1. Add that to the fact this group can’t spell Defense let alone play it.
This smells of Jackson not Holland tbh. He has a much greater relationship to the new coach then Holland does, dating back to McDavids time in Erie and Jackson being McDavids player agent at that time. I think Jackson orchestrated this not Holland
Holland should have been allowed to
Make this move. He should have been removed prior to this taking place.
Coffee will help Bouchard but can he really get This group to play D…doubt it.
Manson was given glowing reviews for his ability to teach D and well that worked out beautifully for them.
Remove Holland and sure bring in a new voice to the room but if you don’t make personnel changes nothing is going to change. The entire group can’t play D.
Folks blaming the Goalie coach but he doesn’t play Defense not his fault in the least.
Campbell was never and has never been a number 1. Holland decided he was. Campbell says he didn’t think he was playing all that bad. Maybe he wasn’t but he sure wasn’t playing like a number 1. Add that to the facts this group can’t spell Defense let alone play it.
Holland should not
have been allowed to
Make this move. He should have been removed prior to this taking place.
Coffee will help Bouchard but can he really get This group to play D…doubt it.
Manson was given glowing reviews for his ability to teach D and well that worked out beautifully for them.
Remove Holland and sure bring in a new voice to the room but if you don’t make personnel changes nothing is going to change. The entire group can’t play D.
Folks blaming the Goalie coach but he doesn’t play Defense not his fault in the least.
Campbell was never and has never been a number 1. Holland decided he was. Campbell says he didn’t think he was playing all that bad. Maybe he wasn’t but he sure wasn’t playing like a number 1. Add that to the facts this group can’t spell Defense let alone play it.
Sorry for double post stupid thing said error
@oilcntryrdnk — Misery loves company. That has been happening more frequently in recent weeks with comment duplication (or more). Dustin Schwartz hasn’t produced big results with Koskinen, Skinner, and I’m not sure if Mike Smith paid much attention to him, let alone Jack, so we disagree a little there.
The Oilers are such a joke of a pro sports organization.
@wreckage — I don’t know that I’d say they’re a joke, but they are finding ways to do less with more, and so the turmoil continues.
They’re doing everything to appease 1 person. Just relocate the team to Erie and rename them the McDavid’s. It’s got to be upsetting to the other 22 guys on the roster.
Knoblauch is not the answer either I know give him a chance but come on even Bruce Bourdeau would be a better pick…
So the Oil have:
The fall for Hall
Lose huge for Nuge
Fail for Nail
No honour for Connor
And now slacking for Macklin
Slack for Mack
Yeah, the first big We Have To Be Seen To Be Doing Something For The Sake Of Doing Something move of the season. Bringing in Paul Coffey is the big glaring red light highlighting that up. Oh! Hey, look, fans! We’re bringing in an Oilers’ legend to coach, so it must be right, eh? Short of bringing Slats back …
First McDavid agent now favorite coach. McDavid is looking more Like ovechkin less like crosby every day. Lots of records but no championships. Think captain is overrated unless you pick wrong guy. It should not be your best player just because He is the best player.
Finally win and then fire woodcroft? Why. Doesn’t make sense. Woodcroft has done pretty well except for this early stretch. I’d be looking at G in case skinner can’t reign things in and definitely at defence and depth scoring.
Great point. He’s been a great coach excepting the times when he wasn’t.
I mean sure Connor likely approves of the Kris hiring but I wouldn’t for second think it was his decision. Jackson made the decision and Jackson won’t re up Holland either so that in itself is a positive.
Everything I read and heard about Jackson says he is fit to be the head of a NHL team. So why not the one his biggest client was a part of. I think folks are reading to much into this.
I don’t think the franchise is a joke either but they need to gain some momentum towards the positive soon.
Always a guessing game as to whether the Leafs or Oil posts draw more babbling know-it-alls. Currently the Oil yappers are in the lead but it is always subject to change, generally on a daily basis. Keep going guys and gals, you never fail to disappoint with you incessant rambling.
This is the Wolfpack juggernaught Kris Knoblauch?