The Edmonton Oilers are saying the quiet part out loud: they want to change their head coach.

Things had been relatively quiet on that front in the days that followed Edmonton’s first-round exit, but late last week, smoke started to billow that a coaching change could be imminent. While some expected an announcement as early as Monday, hockey insider Frank Seravalli reported that the Vegas Golden Knights have stalled the Oilers’ attempts at talking with their former head coach, Bruce Cassidy.

Speculation has risen for weeks, however, about Cassidy being a potential option, with him joining Leafs Morning Take, saying it would be cool to coach in Canada.

While a Gary Bettman call could change fortunes and get the Oilers on the phone with Cassidy, there are other options available that could take over behind Edmonton’s bench.

The list of NHL head coaches with more games coached than Peter Laviolette is small. Just nine names sit ahead of him on the all-time list, and one, 82-game season could spring him up the list quickly. With 1,594 games under his belt, and six organizations coached, Laviolette has nearly seen it all in the NHL. He would fit the mould of a veteran coach with a winning track record, helping the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Edmonton Oilers in his fourth year coaching. He hasn’t reached the pinnacle since, despite taking the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2017 Nashville Predators to the Stanley Cup final.

Regular season record: 846-562-25-161, .589 points percentage
Playoff record: 88-82, .518 win-loss percentage

Bruce, there it is! Boudreau doesn’t have the same track record as Laviolette, but there are few coaches more respected in the game than Gabby. He’s yet to take a team to the Stanley Cup final, but has found ways to get the most out of his teams at every stop. There’s no telling whether the 71-year-old would want to return to an NHL bench, but he is within the top 20 all-time in terms of points percentage.

Regular season record: 617-342-128, .616 points percentage
Playoff record: 43-47, .478 win-loss percentage

Gallant, much like Cassidy, was unceremoniously fired from his job as head coach of the Golden Knights toward the end of a regular season. He doesn’t have the tenure as a head coach that Laviolette or Boudreau have, but he’s been considered one of the better coaches in the league, helping take the Golden Knights to the 2018 Stanley Cup final in his first year, falling to the Washington Capitals in five games. Gallant has had four stops as a head coach, and was head coach of the KHL’s Shanghai Dragons this past season, failing to make the playoffs. Would he leave for another chance in the NHL?

Regular season record: 369-262-4-70, .576 points percentage
Playoff record, 31-29, .517 win-loss percentage

If the team wanted to put an up-and-coming coach behind the bench who knows some of the Oilers players well already, Mark Letestu could be the guy. After retiring from his playing days in 2020, 220 games of which were played with the Oilers, he took a year off before returning to the NHL as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, an affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. He held the role for four seasons, but spent this year with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles as their head coach, finishing the year with a 41-20-6-5 record, and a .646 points percentage. His Eagles are 5-1 in the playoffs so far, opening their Pacific Division final series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds Wednesday night. He could be an option as an assistant in the future, too.

Another up-and-coming option who might be closer to taking on a head coaching role behind an NHL bench, is University of Denver head coach David Carle. The 36-year-old has coached their program for eight years, carrying a staggering 208-85-20 record. According to College Hockey News, among all NCAA coaches with at least 100 wins, his .696 points percentage ranks first all-time, and he has won the NCAA National Championship three times in the last four years. Carle signed a multi-year extension ahead of this season, but was a candidate for jobs in Chicago and Anaheim last summer.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.