Kris Knoblauch had a winning record as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He made two Stanley Cup Finals, his players won several awards, and he oversaw the longest winning streak in franchise history. But he was missing the same thing that every other coach since John Muckler was as well. A recent Stanley Cup Championship. With apologies to Ken Hitchcock, who does technically satisfy the criteria, but his Cup win was twenty years prior to his tenure, and his results as Oilers coach suggest that times had changed.
Bruce Cassidy won a Stanley Cup in 2023. More than that, he replaced another Vegas Golden Knights coach who'd gotten more out of his roster than expected, and coached his team to the Finals, though falling short. Admittedly, his general manager had added some exciting upgrades to work with in player additions like Alex Pietrangelo and Jack Eichel, since the team's inaugural season Cup run.
History of competence
Looking earlier than Cassidy's time in Vegas, we see a pretty strong run with the Boston Bruins. His three full seasons behind the Bruins bench saw the team win its division once, finish second twice, and capture the Eastern Conference Championship as well. The team's results were slipping by the time he left, but its fair to say that the Bruins' window was closing around that time, with organizational greats like Zdeno Chara leaving.
Cassidy's NHL head coaching resume has a pretty large gap in it prior to 2016. He coached the Washington Capitals in 2004, finding the bottom of league standings and the exit door, but that disappointing season did land the Caps a young Russian player called Alex Ovechkin. Cassidy then went back to his junior hockey roots. Following a brief stint as an assistant in Chicago, he coached the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League, and then the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League.
Strong regular seasons
Cassidy seems to inspire very strong regular season play from his players. That's something the Oilers could use, because they've never managed a divisional title during Connor McDavid's career, let alone a Western Conference one. Home ice advantage throughout the playoffs might be the lift the team needs, and Cassidy could be the guy to see that done.
Cassidy may be out of a job at the moment, but not so long ago, he was considered a top three coach in the league based on his strong results with multiple franchises. Personally, I'd see who else might shake free from other teams before making any offers, but amongst the currently available options, Cassidy looks like the leading candidate.
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