The Edmonton Oilers are the only team left with a head coaching vacancy across the entire NHL as of right now.
This comes after the Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Wednesday that they hired Jim Hiller to take over as head coach, replacing the fired Craig Berube. As well, after the Vegas Golden Knights let go of John Tortorella and hired his replacement, Ryan Craig.
Now, that leaves the Oilers as the sole team left without a bench boss for next season. Although there are plenty of candidates, it seems the one they want is out of reach, especially after their permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy had been withheld.
During his end of season media availability, Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon was asked about whether he will grant permission for Cassidy to speak with other teams now that the season has ended. He revealed that he granted permission for one team to speak to Cassidy but that it dd not result in him being hired. Saying "We did grant Bruce permission to speak with another team, that didn't come to fruition but we'll deal with that on a case-by-case basis."
Oilers and Cassidy saga continues
In arguably one of the most stunning and egregious power plays that the sport has seen play out so publicly, the Oilers apparently continue to be withheld permission to speak with Cassidy. It is a situation that the former NHL coach has admitted he is upset by and one that likely causes the Oilers management themselves a lot of stress and frustration.
When it was revealed that the Oilers were not granted access to speak with Cassidy, it came as a shock to the hockey world since they still had a head coach employed. The repercussions of this cost them that head coach, Kris Knoblauch who has since been fired by the Oilers. It forced their hand, especially when they may have just intended to do their due diligence.
This whole situation has put the Oilers in an unenviable position and given the NHL does not seem keen to step in, there seems to be no end in sight for the Oilers to speak with Cassidy aside from waiting for next summer when his contract expires with the Golden Knights.
As of right now, Mike Babcock is the likeliest man to take over as the bench boss in Edmonton because Stan Bowman and Co. seems to love cartoonishly stepping on rakes every chance they get.
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