The Edmonton Oilers have relieved head coach Kris Knoblauch of his duties on Thursday morning, ending a 3 year run with the franchise.
Knoblauch departs with a 135-77-21 record, along with back to back Stanley Cup Finals appearances. Edmonton reached the postseason this year, but were eliminated in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks.
In the Oilers players exit interviews, several members, including Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl, were critical of the direction of the team and openly questioned some of the moves that were made. McDavid told reporters that Edmonton was simply an “average team” in 2025-26. A sentiment that wasn’t disputed by either Knoblauch or GM Stan Bowman afterwards.
“I thought we were trending in the right direction,” Bowman said in his final media availability. ”You look at how we played the last few weeks of the regular season, it looked like we had bought in and were determined to play a good, defensive game. In the playoffs we got away from the way we played the last few weeks and played more like we did most of the season.”
The 47 year old was entering the final year of a 3 year deal that paid him $7.5M in total compensation over the contract. Rather than let him play out the final year of his contract, Bowman & Co. opted for a fresh voice in the locker room as the team looks to retool for another run at the Cup.
What remains to be seen in the fallout in Alberta is what the club opts to do with Bowman himself. The former Hawks executive has been serving as GM and Executive VP of Hockey Operations since 2024 when he replaced Ken Holland in the role.
While the team initially saw some immediate success, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in consecutive seasons, Bowman’s short term gambles are now having long term repercussions on the future of the team.
When St. Louis presented offer sheets to both Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg in the summer of 2024, most hockey insiders assumed that Edmonton would need to make a choice between the two prospects in terms of which to keep. Instead, the front office allowed both players to walk, opting instead to try to replace them in the lineup with cheap veteran additions.
That may have served as a band aid solution in the short term, but with Holloway coming off back to back seasons of 20+ goals and registering nearly a point per game, Edmonton may be having second thoughts about letting the 24 year old go.
Meanwhile Broberg is a minutes eating blue liner who can chip in offensively with size to boot. He scored 6 goals along with 28 assists while posting a +14 mark on a St. Louis team that was “defensively challenged” to say the least in 2025-26.
Then there was the ill fated Jake Walman trade which the team gave up its 2026 1st rounder to acquire, followed by the Tristan Jarry debacle in net. While Jarry hasn’t been the long term solution between the pipes Oilers fans hoped he would be, the real crime here are the assets given up to acquire him, when only a few months prior he could have been had for free on waivers.
While it hasn’t all been bad, swapping a 4th rounder to acquire Vasily Podkolzin has panned out well, fans are well within their rights to question whether Knoblauch is the only one who should be cleared out this offseason in Edmonton.
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