This Is Not The Jay Woodcroft Edmonton Oilers Anymore

At the start of this NHL season, the Edmonton Oilers were one of a few teams that most experts picked to win the Stanley Cup. Then after 13 games the Oilers record was 3-9-1 and then the Oilers moved on from their then Head Coach Jay Woodcroft. Then they hired Kris Knoblauch and since then their team has gone 46-18-5 and the team has gone from the basement back to being in the conversation for Cup winners.

Under Jay Woodcroft, prior to this season, the Oilers had one of the best win percentages in the league. in the 21-22 season when he took over he had a 0.724 point percentage and in 22-23, he had a 0.665%. Then something happened in the offseason and at the start of this season, the team played terribly under Woodcroft putting up only a 0.269 winning percentage.

Since the coaching change to Kris Knoblauch, the Oilers have had a point percentage of 0.703%. He was able to pull this team from near the bottom of the Pacific to right near the top. The one main change that Knoblauch was able to make was on the goals against.

During the first part of the season, the Oilers were bleeding goals and as much as the goaltending wasn't very good the defensemen were not doing anything to help them. Since Knoblauah though I have noticed that the Oilers have cut down significantly on their big defensive miscues.

For that reason, I think the Edmonton Oilers are going to find more success in the postseason this year. In the Vegas series last year it was those big mistakes that cost them the series. They weren't defeated by the Golden Knights they defeated themselves. That was the case early this season as well.

Whatever changes Knoblauch has implemented with the help of Paul Coffey have really helped with the major issues in the Oilers' own end. Under Woodcroft, the Oilers were able to outscore their problems, but under Knoblauch, there haven't been many problems for them to have to outscore.