Jay Woodcroft Fired As Edmonton Oilers Coach; Kris Knoblauch Is In

After a 3-9-1 start to the season, the Edmonton Oilers fired coach Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12, 2023. … [+] (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

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A 4-1 win in Seattle on Saturday night couldn’t change the course of events.

On Sunday morning, the Edmonton Oilers pulled the trigger on the first in-season coaching change of the 2023-24 campaign. Mike Babcock, of course, was also replaced by Pascal Vincent. But that came on Sept. 17, before training camp began, and before Babcock coached a single game for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Sitting second-last in the NHL standings with a record of 3-9-1, the Oilers announced on Sunday that they have fired head coach Jay Woodcroft and assistant Dave Manson.

Replacing them: new head coach Kris Knoblauch and assistant Paul Coffey. Coffey, 62, is an Oilers legend and Hockey Hall of Famer who has served as a special advisor to owner Daryl Katz since 2022, a role that has kept him involved in all aspects of the Oilers organization.

Before his hiring, Knoblauch, 45, was in his fifth season at the helm of the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. That team is off to a 7-3-1 start this season, good for second place in the league’s Atlantic Division. In the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, Knoblauch also coached eight games in an interim role for the Wolf Pack’s parent club, the New York Rangers, stepping in for David Quinn (six games) and Gerard Gallant (two games) when they entered COVID protocol.

Before his time with the Wolf Pack, Knoblauch served as an NHL assistant for two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, working under Dave Hakstol and Scott Gordon. That was preceded by two stints in junior hockey, where Knoblauch won a WHL championship with the Kootenay Ice in 2011, then an OHL championship with the Erie Otters in 2017.

For the first two-and-a-half years of his tenure in Erie, Knoblauch also coached Connor McDavid, guiding his development on the way to becoming the first-overall pick by the Oilers in the 2015 draft.

Connor McDavid #97 of the Erie Otters in front of assistant coach Jay McKee (L) and head coach Kris … [+] Knoblauch (R) on October 22, 2014. (Photo by B Wippert/Getty Images)

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It’s often said that when a new general manager takes over, he gets the opportunity to hire his own coach. In this case, that adage might apply to the Oilers’ new CEO of Hockey Operations, Jeff Jackson.

Hired by the Oilers in August as their top hockey man, Jackson had spent the better part of the last decade working as McDavid’s agent. Their relationship dates back to those junior hockey days, so Jackson has a clear understanding of what brings out the best in the NHL’s reigning MVP — and has seen McDavid and Knoblauch work together before.

Through that lens, perhaps the coaching change seems less surprising. But before the Oilers’ disastrous start to the season, Woodcroft, 47, had a number of things working in his favor.

When he was promoted from AHL Bakersfield after Dave Tippett was fired on Feb. 10, 2022, Woodcroft and his assistant Dave Manson, who ran the defense, guided the Oilers to a 26-9-3 record for the remaining 38 games of the regular season. Edmonton’s 104-point finish was its best since the 1986-87 campaign, in the heart of the Gretzky Dynasty era. Then, in the 2022 playoffs, Edmonton reached the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2006 before being swept by the eventual champion Colorado Avalanche.

In his first — and only — full season behind the bench, Woodcroft guided the Oilers to a 50-23-9 record for 109 points in 2022-23, and established a new benchmark for the best power-play in NHL history, converting at 32.4%. Once again, Edmonton’s playoff run was ended by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, but it came one round earlier — a six-game, second-round loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Now 26, McDavid posted a career-best 64 goals and 153 points last season, and is widely believed to be in the prime years of his career. And Leon Draisaitl, 28, has been hot on his heels. The 2020 Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP already has four 100-point seasons on his resume, topping out at 128 points last year.

If the Oilers are going to win a championship while McDavid and Draisaitl are at their peaks, there’s no time to waste. So when the Oilers came out of the gate ice-cold this season and dropped into a tie for last place in the league after their 2-1 loss to the cellar-dwelling San Jose Sharks last Thursday, something had to be done.

The urgency is cranked up another level because of the contract status of the two superstars. Per CapFriendly, Draisaitl has one year remaining on his current deal after this season, at a cap hit of $8.5 million per season. McDavid has two additional years remaining at $12.5 million. That’s second in the league this year behind Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million) and will fall to third in 2024-25 when Auston Matthews’ new deal at $13.25 million kicks in. Both Draisaitl and McDavid will have the opportunity to become unrestricted free agents at the end of their current contracts.

McDavid missed two games in late October due to an unspecified upper-body injury. Since returning for the Heritage Classic outdoor game on Oct. 29, he has just two assists in six games, and no points in his last three, which puts him at an uncharacteristic 2-8-10 for the year. Draisaitl is the Oilers’ leading scorer, with 5-10-15.

Woodcroft leaves Edmonton with a record of 79-41-13 for 171 points in 133 games, good for a winning percentage of .671, and was 14-14 over 28 playoff games in two seasons. But with just seven points in 13 games this season, the Oilers are already eight points out of a wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference and have the second-worst goal differential in the league. Sitting 26th in goals per game (2.69) is, perhaps, at least as troubling as being 30th in goals against (3.92).

In a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, it’s hard to say whether the Oilers have been poor defensively because their goaltending has been sub-par, or whether the team’s netminders have been thrust into a particularly difficult environment. Either way, their $5-million-a-year projected No. 1, Jack Campbell, was placed on waivers on Tuesday after a 1-4-0 start where he posted a .873 save percentage, and is currently playing with Bakersfield.

For now, the Edmonton crease belongs to Stuart Skinner, the 25-year-old who was runner-up for the 2023 Calder Trophy after posting a record of 29-14-5 and a .913 save percentage in 50 games last season. This year, Skinner is 2-5-1, with a save percentage of .861.

Will the new-coach bump provide the change of fortune that the Oilers desperately need? The hockey world will be watching when Knoblauch takes the reins as the Oilers return home to host the New York Islanders on Monday.