{"id":44940,"date":"2026-05-14T13:43:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/44940\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:43:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:43:06","slug":"edmonton-oilers-fire-kris-knoblauch-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/44940\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers Fire Kris Knoblauch \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers have fired head coach Kris Knoblauch, reports Ryan Rishaug of TSN<\/a>. A three-year contract extension signed by Knoblauch has yet to begin, meaning the coach is set to be paid by the Oilers through the 2028-29 season.<\/p>\n

This past season was Knoblauch\u2019s third behind the bench in Edmonton. He was hired away from the AHL\u2019s Hartford Wolf Pack early in the 2023-24 season, after Edmonton fired former coach Jay Woodcroft amid a disastrous start to the season. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Knoblauch, who was Connor McDavid<\/a>\u2018s head coach in the OHL and a WHL and OHL championship-winning bench boss, immediately turned the Oilers around. Knoblauch led Edmonton to a 46-18-5 record in the 69 games he coached, and the Oilers went to the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n

In the 2024 Final, Knoblauch\u2019s Oilers stormed back from a 3-0 series deficit to the Florida Panthers, nearly accomplishing one of the most stunning championship victories in the history of the sport \u2013 but they ended up falling in a nail-biter seventh game.<\/p>\n

The following season, Knoblauch\u2019s Oilers, who went 48-29-5, made it to another Stanley Cup Final, but once again lost to the Panthers, this time in six games.<\/p>\n

This past season, Knoblauch and the Oilers took a decided step back. Bogged down by roster issues, most pressingly in goal, the Oilers struggled to find their identity all season. They went 41-30-11 and lost in the first round to a young, upstart Anaheim Ducks team. After the loss, McDavid was critical of the Oilers, saying they were \u201can average team all year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The signs that Edmonton would eventually make this decision emerged a few days ago, when reports indicated that the Oilers had requested permission to speak with former Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy. Cassidy remains under contract with the Golden Knights despite being fired during the season. While requests for permission to speak with fired coaches are usually a formality, the Golden Knights, according to reports, have withheld permission to speak with Cassidy. It is unclear if that has changed or will change.<\/p>\n

But the reasons for the Oilers\u2019 interest in Cassidy are clear: he is generally considered the most accomplished coach without a job at the moment, and this is a hire the Oilers can\u2019t afford to get wrong. McDavid signed a two-year contract extension this season, one that would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency after the 2027-28 season. The 29-year-old\u2019s extension officially put the Oilers on the clock \u2013 they have to prove to McDavid that he can still win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton. In other words, they have to\u00a0earn his continued loyalty.<\/p>\n

Cassidy, a Stanley Cup champion with Vegas in 2023, would give the Oilers a demanding coach who is still widely considered to be among the league\u2019s best. But even if Edmonton doesn\u2019t end up hiring the former Golden Knights, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals head coach, they still have now guaranteed they\u2019ll be making a change behind the bench.<\/p>\n

The list of other available veteran coaches doesn\u2019t inspire as much confidence \u2013 especially after the New York Islanders took Peter DeBoer off the board late in the regular season \u2013 but it would still be a major surprise to see Edmonton turn to another first-time NHL head coach after parting ways with Knoblauch.<\/p>\n

As for Knoblauch himself, one would have to imagine he will draw some league-wide interest in his services. The 47-year-old doesn\u2019t have a Stanley Cup ring, but has been able to bring his teams as close as a team can possibly get without winning it all. His contract extension means Knoblauch doesn\u2019t have to rush into his next gig, but it\u2019ll be interesting to see if he\u2019s considered for the vacancy of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings, or potentially even in Vegas if current coach John Tortorella decides not to return for a full campaign.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers have fired head coach Kris Knoblauch, reports Ryan Rishaug of TSN. A three-year contract extension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[52,263,1378,15042],"class_list":["post-44940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-kris-knoblauch","tag-newsstand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}