Woodcroft fired as Oilers coach, replaced by Knoblauch

Jay Woodcroft was fired as coach of the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.

The Oilers (3-9-1) are coming off a 4-1 win at the Seattle Kraken on Saturday but are seventh in the Pacific Division, ahead of only the San Jose Sharks (2-11-1). They are 2-7-1 in their past 10 games and 0-4-1 at Rogers Place, their lone home win coming when they hosted the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium on Oct. 29 (a 5-2 victory against the Calgary Flames).

Edmonton plays the New York Islanders on home ice Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, MSGSN).

The 47-year-old was 79-41-13 in 133 regular-season games over three seasons with the Oilers, and 14-14 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He replaced Dave Tippett as coach Feb. 10, 2022, after guiding Edmonton’s American Hockey League affiliate in Bakersfield for four seasons.

Kris Knoblauch was named Woodcroft’s replacement. The 45-year-old coached the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate for four seasons and will guide an NHL team for the first time. He coached Oilers captain Connor McDavid for three seasons (2012-15) at Erie in the Ontario Hockey League, where the forward had 285 points (97 goals, 188 assists) in 166 games, including 44 goals and 120 points (2.55 points per game) in his final season before Edmonton chose him No. 1 in the 2015 NHL Draft.

The Oilers also fired assistant coach Dave Manson and replaced him with Paul Coffey, a 2004 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, four-time Stanley Cup champion (three with Edmonton) and three-time Norris Trophy whose 48 goals for the Oilers in 1985-86 are an NHL single-season record by a defenseman.

Under Woodcroft, the Oilers qualified for the playoffs in each of the past two seasons but were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion each time. They were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 Western Conference Final and lost in six games to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Second Round last season.

This season, Edmonton ranks 29th in the NHL in goals allowed per game (3.92), ahead of only the Minnesota Wild (3.93) and San Jose (4.43). McDavid has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 11 games and is without a goal in 10 straight coming off a 65-goal, 153-point season. Leon Draisaitl, a 50-goal scorer in consecutive seasons and three times in the NHL, has five in 13 games.

After a 3-2 loss to the Sharks on Thursday, Woodcroft said he wasn’t concerned about his job status.

“No. I worry about taking care of my daily business and my daily process and making sure that I give my players something to focus on and concentrate on,” Woodcroft said. “No one’s happy with where we’re at. We all own it. We can better, and that’s where my focus is.”

Hartford assistant Steve Smith, a three-time Cup-winning defenseman with the Oilers (1987, ’88, ’90), takes over for Knoblauch on an interim basis with a search for a new coach beginning immediately.