On Tuesday, it was reported by NHL insider Frank Seravalli that the Edmonton Oilers were withheld permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy by the Vegas Golden Knights, who they fired on March 29th.
This caused a major stir in the NHL news cycle for a variety of a reasons, with some people wondering exactly what the report meant. As well, it made headlines because the Oilers had not yet parted ways with head coach Kris Knoblauch, making for an embarrassing and awkward situation for all involved.
Now unsurprisingly, it is expected that a formal announcement will be made, announcing that Knoblauch is out as Oilers bench boss.
As of this moment — 11:37 a.m. MT — Kris Knoblauch has not been fired by the Edmonton Oilers.
— Mark Spector🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@SportsnetSpec) May 13, 2026
We are expecting that to happen however, likely by day's end.
Kris Knoblauch found great success in Edmonton
NHL coaches have an incredibly short shelf life with the average lifespan of a coach being roughly 2.5 seasons. That means that the average NHL club will go through roughly four coaches in a ten year span. However, this is not a direct rule with plenty of teams holding onto coaches longer when they find success and continue to push the limits of their hockey club.
In the case of Knoblauch, there is an undeniable track record of success. Through not even three full seasons behind the bench for the Oilers, he has made the Stanley Cup Finals twice. No Oilers coach has done that since the legendary Glen Sather in the 1980s during the Oilers dynasty.
If the reports are true and Knoblauch is actually out, he will leave the Oilers as the second best coach in terms of points percentage, sitting only behind Jay Woodcroft. In the regular season, he will also stand fourth in terms of raw wins and fifth in terms of games behind the bench.
He will also hold the third highest win/loss percentage through the post season behind the aforementioned Sather and John Muckler, the only two coaches in franchise history to win a Stanley Cup with the team.
This season was a disaster for Knoblauch
Despite the success that Knoblauch has had, there were plenty of problems with him behind the bench. Namely this season, seeing the Oilers stumble at many times this season with plenty of on-ice issues. The club lacked consistency throughout much of the year, they struggled to string together wins and blew leads constantly. They were also ousted in the first round against a team they should have beat in the young Anaheim Ducks.
In that first round series, Knoblauch was simply outcoached in multiple facets, including struggling to insulate captain Connor McDavid from being shutdown by the defensively deficient Ducks. Speaking of the Oilers stars, there were plenty of times that they hung the coaching staff out to dry with their comments to the media. Including heading into the Olympic break when Leon Draisaitl said their struggles 'start with the coaches'.
The rifts inside the organization with Knoblauch have been very evident if you pay attention. As the saying goes "where there is smoke, there is fire" and there is plenty of smoke surrounding the reported issues between Knoblauch and general manager Stan Bowman amongst others.
Tom Gazzola speculated that Kris Knoblauch put out specific lineups for the Edmonton Oilers during the season in SPITE of Stan Bowman.
— The Mug NHL (@TheMugNHL) May 8, 2026
Added that management and the staff don’t see eye-to-eye.
Gazzola & Dustin Nielson believe Kris Knoblauch is done behind the Oilers’ bench.
One of those is the apparent power struggle, which caused the Oilers to kick assistant coach Paul Coffey upstairs before desperately bringing him back into the fold after the defence showed to be an utter disaster for much of the season. The Coffey debacle is the tip of the iceberg however, with many reporting an overall stubbornness in his style and demeanor.
Mishandling of young players
This type of mindset seemed to bleed into his line combinations, which have not worked out well for the Oilers in the past at times, costing them valuable young players. This partially happened this year with rookie forward Isaac Howard and his major struggles in the NHL. Funnily enough, he was recently named to the US IIHF World Championship roster after a successful rookie pro season in the American Hockey League with the Bakersfield Condors.
In addition to Howard, even rookie Matt Savoie struggled to find his offensive game until late in the year when he finally received top six playing time on a consistent basis.
Knoblauch has a repeated history with struggling to properly utilize his depth, especially as young players who may be prone to mistakes. Although you do need to make players earn their position in the lineup, you also need to put players in a position to succeed. Something that Knoblauch will have to bring to his next role, assuming he is let go in the near future.
Bowman's offseason of tough decisions rolls on and with all signs pointing to Knoblauch being ousted as head coach, they will only just continue from here. He will need to be bold if he wants to improve the Oilers and take them back to their Stanley Cup contending ways.
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