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3 Edmonton Oilers Who Should Be Worried Under Kris Knoblauch

By Devon Hladunewich

LONDON, ON - APRIL 14: Head coach Kris Knoblauch of the Erie Otters talks to his team during a timeout against the London Knights in Game Four of the OHL Western Conference Semi-final at Budweiser Gardens on April 14, 2015 in London, Ontario, Canada. The Otters defeated the Knights 5-2 to win the series 4-0. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
LONDON, ON - APRIL 14: Head coach Kris Knoblauch of the Erie Otters talks to his team during a timeout against the London Knights in Game Four of the OHL Western Conference Semi-final at Budweiser Gardens on April 14, 2015 in London, Ontario, Canada. The Otters defeated the Knights 5-2 to win the series 4-0. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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Edmonton Oilers Kris Knoblauch
LAVAL, QC – OCTOBER 30: Head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack Kris Knoblauch (C) watches from the bench with associate head coach Gord Murphy (L) and assistant coach David Cunniff against the Laval Rocket during the third period at Place Bell on October 30, 2019 in Laval, Canada. The Laval Rocket defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Yesterday the Edmonton Oilers fired Jay Woodcroft and replaced him with Kris Knoblauch. A new coach means a new way. There is no doubt that the Edmonton Oilers have been underachieving so far this season.

When it comes to specific players none are free of a bit of blame as so far no one has played their best hockey. When it comes down to it there are a couple of players that I think need to take a bit more blame than others.

In my opinion, Woodcroft let most of these players off a bit easy. It was his lineup and he decided who to play and how much. Now that Knoblauch is running the bench there are going to be some changes made.

Woodcroft had the guys that he trusted and that he would ride a bit more often than others. Even if a player made a mistake there was little to no cut back of ice time. There was no calling out of players after the game in interviews.

Related Story. Jay Woodcroft doesn’t deserve seemingly inevitable Oilers firing. light

Changes Need To Be Made By The Edmonton Oilers

I think this is one of the major areas I expect to see a change in under Knoblauch. The reason for that is because I think that was Woodcroft’s undoing.  This team has no accountability and when there is no accountability mistakes are going to keep happening.

If you keep making the same mistake at work is your boss going to keep talking to you about it? No, you are going to get into some sort of issue, maybe even fired. On Woodcroft’s team, it seemed like you could make the same errors over again and you would still end up with the same amount of ice time.

So with that being said, I think there are a couple of players that should be worried about a demotion in ice time under the new regime. Whether that be because of bad plays or just because Knoblauch doesn’t have the same level of trust with you.

Of the players that should be worried about their ice time I have compiled a list of the top I think that should be the most worried.

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