The two head coaches for the NHL’s Alberta-based teams enter the 2025-26 seasons looking for new deals.
“The Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers are going to ultimately have to worry about Ryan Huska, the head coach of the Calgary Flames, Kris Knoblauch of the Edmonton Oilers are both entering the final years of their contracts,” TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger said Tuesday on Insider Trading.
Dreger adds that no formal offers have been made to either coach.
“Now, they’re in the very early discussions on both fronts, but no formal contract offers have been made by either club. It is something that we have to keep an eye on. I mean Ryan Huska, we can understand that, they’re still trying to plan things out in Calgary. But Kris Knoblauch and the Edmonton Oilers have enjoyed a ton of success in the last couple of seasons.”
The 47-year-old Knoblauch has found plenty of success in Edmonton since taking over for former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12, 2023.
Knoblauch led the Oilers to a 46-18-5 record over the last 69 games of the 2023-24 season before guiding the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final where they fell to the Florida Panthers in seven games.
In his first full season as Edmonton’s bench boss, Knoblauch and the Oilers finished third in the Pacific Division last year with a 48-29-5 record. Once they again Edmonton marched to the Stanley Cup Final before dropping the championship series to the Panthers in six games.
Knoblauch, who previously held head coaching jobs in the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and American Hockey League, owns a 94-47-10 regular season record and a 29-19 playoff record over two seasons with the Oilers.
Edmonton is Knoblauch’s first head coaching stint in the NHL.
In Calgary, the 50-year-old Huska was named head coach of the Flames ahead of the 2023-24 season.
The Flames finished last in the Pacific Division with a a 38-39-5 record during Huska’s first season in Calgary.
Last season, the Flames were vastly improved under Huska as they finished with a 41-27-24 record, barely missing the playoffs after losing a tiebreaker with the St. Louis Blues.