Over the last few weeks, there have been talks about potentially bringing back old Assistant Coach Paul Coffey to the Edmonton Oilers. Coffey ran the defence during his time here, which has now been designated to Mark Stuart, who still has his penalty kill duties. With the extra weight handed to him, along with the fact that Edmonton is running three coaches on the bench compared to the usual four, it seems like the team is having a hard time finding that cohesion and lacking details in parts of their game. Having one less coach makes prepping for games that much harder.

Today in this short piece, I’ll go over Stuart’s impact on both fronts this season compared to the last two years where he and Coffey split duties.

How the 2025–26 season is shaping up

First thing’s first, let’s look at the defence. This year, they have definitely regressed in almost every single aspect of the game. The puck-moving has been horrendous. They’re throwing these blind, long stretch passes through the Neutral Zone, which easily get picked off, compared to with Coffey, they got for the short-range, quick passes in the NZ, leading to more chances off the rush. The in-zone play has also seen a decline. They allow way too many chances and players to get in the low slot or get a quick rebound off their goaltenders.

Where this is the most noticeable is in their penalty kill. Yes, the Oilers were top 12 in the league in the penalty kill before this last stretch of games, but truthfully speaking, they were super lucky to be there in the first place. All year, as you can see from the heat chart, they suck at clearing the net front, they suck at preventing the chances in the slot, they allow way too many cross-crease HD passes, and again, every single rebound/tip option available makes its way through. 40.3 xG on the penalty kill is straight up laughable. This may be the worst penalty kill in NHL history.

Looking at how 2024–25 fared

The Oilers defence under Coffey in his last year was really, really good. They were a legit top three defensive team in the league. They were one of the best in suppressing high-danger chances in the league and made it super easy on Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner.

The penalty kill, again, was not great under Stuart. They finished 16th in the league that year, and were still super prone in allowing chances coming from the slot. They were better in clearing the net front, allowing their goaltenders to stop pucks through screens, tips, and rebounds, but still, not great results. In the playoffs, the penalty kill got torched, finishing 14th among the 16 teams, a woeful 67.1%.

Reviewing the 2023–24 season

The trend continues: the Oilers were again a very solid team defensively under Paul Coffey. It’s an exact replica of how they played in 2024–25. They were a stingy team to play against, and the quicker, shorter passing puck movement that Coffey preached helped work offensively and defensively. Opponents couldn’t contain the puck because the Oilers as a team were quick with it, and not just bombing passes up the ice, which can be picked off easily like they’re currently doing.

Again, though the penalty kill was just… mid. Sure, it had an insane run in the playoffs where they finished first with a 94.3% rate, and had a GF% of 25 (3–4) which is just unheard of, but, it seems more than anything it was just a flash in the pan. The Oilers group still finished 15th in the regular season in this area. At least, this time around, they had a much better time with clearing and preventing the HD chances.

What needs to change?

It’s quite clear that Edmonton needs a change on the bench when it comes to the assistants. I do not think Mark Stuart has done enough to keep his job, even with his decent results when Coffey was back there.

In my opinion, you bring in Coffey to help the defence and let Stuart handle the penalty kill for the rest of the season, and then in the offseason you bring in two new guys to fill those roles.

Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire

Like this:

Like Loading…