It seems as though the Edmonton Oilers have gone through head coaches as often as Spinal Tap has gone through drummers. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Oilers firing head coach Jay Woodcroft and assistant coach Dave Manson on Nov. 12, 2023, the question is: Are the 2024-25 Oilers really that much further ahead?
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I don’t want to take away from the fine work that current Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has done. He did help turn the fortunes of the Oilers team around last November and led them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. But wasn’t the firing of Woodcroft and Manson supposed to be a turning point for the franchise? Wasn’t it meant to be the shock to the system that woke the team up? Well, that worked last season, but what about this season? Because this Oilers team seems to be trending more downhill than up, and another season of having a generational player such as Connor McDavid is ticking away.
Jay Woodcroft Replaced Dave Tippett Who Replaced Ken Hitchcock…
Woodcroft boasted a points percentage of 0.643 while former head coach Dave Tippett had a .596 points percentage. The numbers don’t lie. Those are good winning percentages. Both coaches were sacrificed during losing streaks or bad stretches of play for the Oilers. But it still seems like the Oilers can’t live up to the expectations put on them by fans and pundits throughout the NHL. Knoblauch has a 0.663 points percentage but this season the team has the worst penalty kill in the NHL and their power play isn’t much better. What’s it going to take to turn things around this season, or have we seen the best of what we’re going to get from this team during the McDavid era?
The ball is now in the court of new general manager (GM) Stan Bowman. Bowman joins a growing list of Oilers GMs since 2015 as Peter Chiarelli, Keith Gretzky (interim), Ken Holland, and Jeff Jackson (interim) have previously held the position. But here we are once again in the early parts of another NHL season with the Oilers not living up to their potential or expectations, and miracles are expected from the new GM. Why do the Oilers always seem to need booster cables to kick-start their season?
Oilers’ Hunger Is Missing
The majority of changes made on paper in the offseason may have looked good, but haven’t translated to wins on the ice. You can talk about the Oilers lacking speed now and being an older team, but something that seems to be missing is a hunger to do whatever it takes to win. Sorry, but this is entirely on the shoulders of the players. Changing the coach or the general manager isn’t going to light a fire under this group – history has proven that. Maybe the shock to the system this season has to be a big trade.
It pains me to say this, but the Oilers might need to consider a trade for a goaltender. Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner is letting in too many backbreaking goals at inopportune times. As much as I like Calvin Pickard, the current Oilers goaltending duo is not putting fear into the opposition on most nights. I don’t blame Skinner, because he was never really properly mentored as most great goaltenders should be, but he needs to turn his season around right now or there is no hope that the Oilers will advance as far as they did last season. We could discuss moving other players as well but the point is, every change the Oilers make, whether it be the coach, general manager, or players, has to be the right move. Maybe it is time to shock the dressing room and trade a popular player not named McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or Mattias Ekholm.
Related: Oilers’ Lack of Team Chemistry Costing Them Points
A year ago, the Oilers fired a good young coach in Woodcroft and replaced him with another good coach in Knoblauch. But here we are in another November where the team needs to go on another extended winning streak to save their season. Why can’t the Oilers be like other good teams like the Florida Panthers, or Vegas Golden Knights and come out firing on all cylinders right from the start of the season? Is it too much to ask or is the Oilers’ culture now built around being the underdog who has to come from the back of the pack in order to make noise in the postseason? Stan Bowman, you’re up next. We need to hear what your answers are. Please don’t say we need to fire another coach.
