3 Edmonton Oilers Who Should Be Excited Under Kris Knoblauch
Earlier today I posted an article about how the change in the Edmonton Oilers coaching staff will affect how players will be used. Jay Woodcroft had his players he liked to use in certain scenarios, but he also had players that were in the doghouse.
With Kris Knoblauch coming in, there is going to be a shuffling of which players will be in which spot. My last article focused on the three players that will now need to be worried about getting the new coach.
In this article, I will look at the players who will be excited to have a fresh start. There are several reasons for a player to be excited about a new head coach. The main one is there used to be a similar type of player who got an elevated role, because of a good relationship with the old coach.
Another reason is you are a younger player, but a veteran has been getting the ice time over them because of a long-standing history. If there was ever a time for these types of players who are stuck at the bottom of the lineup to make their move, it is now.
Edmonton Oilers New Coach Needs To Leave His Mark
With Knoblauch coming in it is time for players to prove their worth. Knoblauch will want to put his stamp on this team. That means he is going to make some changes. I think the easiest change for him to instantly make is a change in the lines and lineup.
There are only a handful of players that are safe from being moved around. The bottom six players on the other hand may see a lot of change. Knoblauch may want to give some players from the AHL a chance or he may just want to send some of the current NHL players down to prove a point.
This is a time of influx for the Edmonton Oilers, so expect some changes. With these changes, here are the three players I think should be excited to get a new coach behind the bench.
Philip Broberg
In my opinion, Philip Broberg is one of the players who will benefit from this coaching change the most. Broberg is currently playing in the AHL on the Bakersfield Condors after getting sent down a little while ago.
I think it is only a matter of time before Knoblauch brings back Broberg to the NHL team. Broberg is an NHL player. Not to mention he is at the age where he is going to need to show if he can be a full-time NHLer. If not he would be a good trade chip.
Having an extra defenceman on the NHL roster would also help with Knoblauch adding some accountability. For example, if Evan Bouchard plays a few terrible games in a row then the coach can put him up in the press box and play Broberg.
There are not many options when it comes to benching players due to the cap scenario the Edmonton Oilers are in, so bringing up an extra defenceman will put extra pressure on the existing defenceman to play smart.
One thing I am also looking forward to seeing is if Knoblauch will utilize the 11 and 7 that we saw Woodcroft use from time to time. If he does use the 11-7 then you would need Broberg. With the 11-7 you could just bench players during a game instead of placing a player in the press box.
I think with the talk of holding players accountable, you are going to see Broberg back with the Edmonton Oilers. Having the ability to cut ice time is a pretty big chip that Knoblauch will have in his back pocket. Right now the Edmonton Oilers only have six defencemen on the roster, so your hands are tied because you have to play all of them.
Dylan Holloway
Over the last few games, Dylan Holloway has been slowly working his way up the lineup. It took him way too long to find his spot in the top six if you ask me. The way this team was playing they needed some life in the top six.
Holloway plays hard on every shift. He finishes all of his hits and has the skill to be a top six player. Just look at where he was drafted. He was drafted 12th overall in 2020. Players that get drafted that high are supposed to have skill.
Holloway has the potential to be a very similar style of player as Zach Hyman. A player that will battle hard to bring the puck back if they lose possession. Look at the goal he scored against the Seattle Kraken. He was in the dirty area and was able to put the puck in a scrum.
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I hope Knoblauch uses this style of play as an example. If more players played with this type of edge then I think this team would be near impossible to beat. Hyman is given a top six role, so if you bump up Holloway it will show the team the way you want to play on a night-to-night basis.
If you watched the Oilers over the last few years you would have seen Woodcroft promote everyone else except Holloway into a top six role. I mean we have seen Devin Shore and Mattias Janmark in the top six over Holloway.
Hopefully, Knoblauch looks at this team and looks at the skills and abilities of the players and not the names on their jerseys. He needs to sit people who are struggling. Not everyone plays a perfect game every night. So there needs to be movement in the lineup nightly.
This should allow Holloway to move up higher on the depth chart as I think more times than not he plays really hard and this is exactly what the team needs to be playing like right now.
Warren Foegele
One of the most consistent players so far this season has been Warren Foegele. He just like Holloway, plays a very heavy and hard game. The only difference is he is an older player. So, if Knoblauch is worried about Holloway’s youth then Foegele will be getting a bump.
For some reason, Woodcroft didn’t throw out Foegele in almost every scenario for this team. In the past, Foegele has been a streaky player. That being said, when he is playing well like he is now he needs to be utilised to the max.
That is a two-way street when it comes to Foegele as well. When he is on bump him up your lineup, but when he is struggling you can move him down the lineup. Foegele could be the poster boy for accountability. That is exactly what Knoblauch needs right now.
At the end of the day, the Edmonton Oilers need to start winning games. Is changing the coach going to turn this team around? I don’t know, but it is one of the areas that they could address this early in the season.
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The Edmonton Oilers need to work harder and if they aren’t working hard there needs to be consequences. So far this season there has been none. Hopefully, Knoblauch can right this ship and get this team going in the right direction.
The Edmonton Oilers get a chance to start the turnaround tonight as they host the New York Islanders. The puck drops tonight at 6:30 PM down at Rogers Place. Will the Knoblauch regime start things off with a solid win? We will need to see what happens. They used a big bullet in the chamber, there wasn’t much left to do.