{"id":448493,"date":"2026-02-06T07:35:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448493\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T07:35:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:35:41","slug":"oilers-coach-admits-that-changes-are-likely-over-olympic-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448493\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers Coach Admits That Changes Are Likely Over Olympic Break"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t expect the Edmonton Oilers to return on March 3rd with the same roster or setup as the team had on Wednesday night. Following the team\u2019s third-straight loss, head coach Kris Knoblauch not only faced criticism from one of his best players <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EdmontonOilers\/status\/2019293657355207041?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">but also spoke with the media<\/a> about using the break to reassess and hold a mini training camp. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need a little break right now. We can reset, we\u2019ve got this time to refocus, and also, you know, make any adjustments that we might want to make. You know, coaches have a long time to look at, really evaluate what we want to do, and we\u2019ve got a little mini train camp coming back, where we\u2019ve got about a week to focus on things that we need to get better at or any changes that we need to make.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not as good right now. We\u2019re not even close\u2026 We need to understand that it\u2019s time now, but when we come back, we\u2019ve got to get going,\u201d said a frustrated <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/draisle01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=nhltradetalk.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-05_hr\">Leon Draisaitl<\/a> after the loss. \u201cWe\u2019ll take the break and regroup,\u201d Draisaitl said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He knows this team needs change. \u201cWe\u2019re not consistent enough, and this league\u2019s too hard to just lollygag through games\u2026 You need everybody. It starts with the coaches. Everybody. You\u2019re never going to win if you have four or five guys going, and it starts at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Could the Coaches Be on the Hot Seat?<\/p>\n<p>Draisaitl calling out everyone, including the coaching staff, has to be a wake-up call for management. <\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Kris-Knoblauch-Oilers.jpg\" alt=\"Kris Knoblauch Oilers\" class=\"wp-image-99413\"  \/>Kris Knoblauch Oilers<\/p>\n<p>Things like the penalty kill and the defensive structure have been awful for the Oilers of late. Knoblauch said it\u2019s \u201cgoing through a very cold stretch right now.\u201d  He added, \u201cWe got to be a little more cognitive about how we play.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>A lot of the criticism is coming because of the line deployment and the minutes going to the big guys, while a few Oilers in the bottom six are contributing. As much as that might be on the roster being weaker than in past seasons, Knoblauch should be looking in the mirror to see if he\u2019s partly responsible for why only four or five guys are contributing. <\/p>\n<p>Next: <a href=\"https:\/\/nhltradetalk.com\/tristan-jarry-changes-tune-after-oilers-4-3-loss-to-flames\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tristan Jarry Changes Tune After Oilers\u2019 4\u20133 Loss to Flames<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/NHLTradeTalkweblogo4.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t expect the Edmonton Oilers to return on March 3rd with the same roster or setup as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,2854,370,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-448493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-edmonton","9":"tag-edmonton-oilers","10":"tag-edmontonoilers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-kris-knoblauch","13":"tag-leon-draisaitl","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116022537853445021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}