{"id":538865,"date":"2026-04-03T17:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/538865\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T17:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:52:18","slug":"edmonton-oilers-named-shock-fit-for-stanley-cup-winning-coach-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/538865\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers Named Shock Fit for Stanley Cup-Winning Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Regardless of what happens during the upcoming playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> are heading for a massive offseason. At the moment, the reigning two-time Western Conference champions sit fifth in the standings. While they are heading towards the postseason, hopes are not exactly super high within the fanbase.<\/p>\n

Edmonton now has to deal with a stacked conference that includes the Colorado Avalanche<\/a>, Dallas Stars<\/a>, and Minnesota Wild<\/a>. On top of this, superstar forward Leon Draisaitl is dealing with a fairly significant injury<\/a>. Although he is expected back at some point during the playoffs, he has not played since March 15. There have also been reports of tensions between head coach Kris Knoblauch and star duo Connor McDavid and Draisaitl.<\/p>\n

Both players seemingly took shots at their current coach in recent weeks. Draisaitl previously claimed that the club\u2019s issue\u00a0\u201cstarts with coaches<\/a>\u201d in February. McDavid then emphatically praised Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> coach Jon Cooper following a matchup in March. The comments were widely seen as a dig towards Knoblauch<\/a>. The superstar did, however, recently deny that the comments<\/a> targeted his coach.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Knoblauch\u2019s future with the Oilers does seem precarious. An early exit in the upcoming playoffs could force Edmonton to make a change. If so, Bleacher Report\u2019s Adam Gretz<\/a> has named the team as a top fit for Bruce Cassidy. The Stanley Cup-winning coach was shockingly fired by the Las Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> on March 29. Despite the change, Cassidy is viewed as one of the better NHL coaches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Edmonton Oilers Likely to Wait on Decision Regarding Bruce Cassidy\"\"<\/p>\n

GettyBruce Cassidy has proven to be one of the top NHL coaches.<\/p>\n

Gretz is not the only hockey reporter to link Cassidy to the Oilers. NHL insider David Pagnotta recently discussed the potential connection on the Daily Faceoff. Pagnotta initially rejected a claim that Edmonton would target Cassidy to replace Knoblauch before the 2025-26 season ends. \u201cBruce Cassidy is a very good head coach, and he\u2019s going to get another job probably soon,\u201d proclaimed Pagnotta<\/a>. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s necessarily now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The insider, however, does believe that Edmonton may very well eye Cassidy in the offseason. \u201cI think [the Oilers] are poised to make some bold moves [in the summer]\u2026 If you feel whatever changes you make and pieces you bring in work within Knoblauch\u2019s system and messaging, then you stick with them,\u201d continued Pagnotta. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, then you\u2019ve got a guy like Cassidy that can push you over the edge in your first year, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oilers Will Have Competition for Coach if They Make a Change<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u2019s record essentially speaks for itself. The coach has qualified for the NHL playoffs every season he has been with a club for the full year. He previously hoisted the 2021 Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights after collecting 111 points in the regular season. Despite this success, Cassidy has been known to clash with his players.<\/p>\n

In fact, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman recently claimed<\/a> that tensions between Cassidy and a few Golden Knights players boiled over nearly a year ago. It remains to be seen how the coach\u2019s intense personality would mesh with Draisaitl and McDavid. The Edmonton Oilers are also not the only potential landing spot for the recently fired coach. The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> could target Cassidy first if they fire Craig Berube.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChristopher Moore<\/a> Christopher Moore has been a Heavy.com contributor since 2025. With over a decade of experience in the industry, he has published thousands of articles reporting on multiple professional sports. He was previously a sports writer for World Soccer Talk, the Yahoo! Contributor Network, and the Maryland Sports Blog. More about Christopher Moore<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Oilers\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Regardless of what happens during the upcoming playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers are heading for a massive offseason.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-538865","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-nhl","13":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116342054046000711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538865","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=538865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}