Bob Stauffer planted the seed for Kris Knoblauch becoming Oilers coach

When Kris Knoblauch took over from Jay Woodcroft as Edmonton Oilers head coach, the team was in absolute disarray. Picked as pre-season favourites in various media outlets to win the Stanley Cup, they had endured their worst start in franchise history through 12 games.

Yes we'll readily admit that at the time of Knoblauch's appointment, we believed the Oilers had been too hasty in getting rid of Woodcroft. However, this assessment turned out to be entirely incorrect.

Knoblauch revitalised the team to almost ridiculous levels, as he became the first head coach in NHL history to have two eight-game winning streaks in his first 25 games in charge. And of course there was also the 16-game winning run, which came within one victory of the all-time record held by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Oilers' regular season after Knoblauch took over was the best in the league, at 46-18-5. Then he took them on a run to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2005-06, with them coming heartbreakingly close to their first championship since 1989-90.

Knoblauch's first brush with the Oilers brand

Given all of this success, it almost seems like Knoblauch was destined to be Oilers head coach. Which leads us nicely into the reason for this article, with credit to Jonathan Larivee of Hockey Feed.

Larivee made reference to a recent appearance by Bob Stauffer on the What Chaos! podcast. In particular, about a meeting the Oilers Now host had with Knoblauch, back in 2015.

Stauffer was working at the 2015 NHL entry draft for the Oilers and Knoblauch was also in Florida, at the time still coaching the OHL's Erie Otters (which included a certain Connor McDavid). They two men had arranged meeting up, to go for a drink.

A hot and humid day in Florida

Knoblauch had made the ill-advised decision to walk to the meeting, on a particularly hot day in Florida. As a result, by the time he met up with Stauffer, he was sweating to such an extent that he needed a change of shirt.

Speaking to the What Chaos! podcast, Stauffer said: "All I had that was gonna fit (Knoblauch) was an Oilers TV shirt, an orange one. ... There were a couple of teams there and they are all looking like 'Is Kris Knoblauch working for the Edmonton Oilers, what's going on here?'"

As someone who knows how to have a joke, Stauffer finished off the anecdote perfectly. He said: "I would say all great broadcasters are about eight years ahead of everybody else."

Some people would call the incident a sign of fate, others would say it was just pure coincidence; we would lean on the side of coincidence, but would add that there are actually a lot of similarities between two seemingly different outlooks. Regardless, it's a fun story of Knoblauch's first connection to the Oilers, with him now leading a team which has genuine hopes of finally bringing the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton.

Recent Posts