Oilers management did not mishandle the firing of Kris Knoblauch

It was announced Thursday morning that the Edmonton Oilers have relieved head coach Kris Knoblauch and assistant coach Mark Stuart of their duties with the club.

When it was revealed earlier this week that the Oilers had been withheld permission to speak with free agent head coach Bruce Cassidy, it was an eyebrow raiser. Despite plenty of negative fan reactions to Knoblauch and media speculation on the future of his employment, he was still the head coach.

DId the Oilers mishandle the Knoblauch firing?

This leak has caused a divide amongst the fans and media with some feeling that the Oilers mishandled the situation. Either way you cut it, it is awkward but on the outside looking in, nothing seemed malicious from the Oilers standpoint.

That is, unless someone high up in the Oilers organization specifically was leaking out that they had been withheld permission. Especially knowing that it could get out and knowing that the team had not yet parted ways with Knoblauch (and may not depending on their coaching search). However, if it was leaked from another party -- like the Vegas Golden Knights -- or somebody else, then the Oilers do not have a lot of control over that.

There are some suggesting that the Oilers should have fired Knoblauch before reaching out to start a search for a replacement. Although this would not be a completely crazy order of operations, it seems a little revisionist. Knoblauch was secure and under contract and with the history of back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals appearances with him at the helm, they likely wanted to ensure they were getting an upgrade before firing him and being left "holding the bag" so to speak.

The Oilers were simply doing their due dilligence before making an irreversible move like they have been forced to do now with the leak. We will likely never get a surefire answer whether the team planned to make changes behind the bench regardless of the leak or not but at this stage, it does not really matter. It is not a great look but not something that should cost Bowman his job outright -- assuming there was no gross neglegance -- at least from what we know now.

Firing Knoblauch is the right choice

Looking back at the Oilers season, it was an extremely disappointing campaign and looking at their season critically, there are plenty of holes that can be poked. There is plenty of blame to be thrown around with Knoblauch taking a lot of it.

The team struggled to find consistency through most of the season. They also struggled in almost every facet of the game. Special teams were not the same, they struggled defensively in terms of both suppressing shots against and allowing goals and struggled to produce offence, especially from their depth players. This is something that is largely on the player personnel but also on the coaching staff.

On top of the on-ice product, there have been plenty of reported issues behind the scenes that seemed like it could have made it a toxic work environment. The team needed a change and that is what they will get moving forward as Bowman is set to make his head coach hire in place.

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