Kris Knoblauch will have the best coaching record through his first 100 games in Oilers franchise history regardless of the outcome tonight. Knoblauch will coach his 100th game tonight, and Edmonton is 64-28-7 through his first 99 games. Jay Woodcroft has the second-most wins through 100 games with 59, followed by Dave Tippett (55) and Craig MacTavish (50). Since being hired on November 12th, 2023, Knoblauch has pushed many of the right buttons. He inherited a very good team with two superstars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but his demeanour, reducing McDavid and Draisaitl’s TOI on the penalty kill and emphasis on limiting chances off the rush have been major reasons the Oilers have the second-most wins in the NHL since he took over.

If Edmonton wins tonight, Knoblauch will tie Todd McLellan for fourth-most wins by a coach in their first 100 games. McLellan won 65 games with San Jose in 2008 and 2009. Mike Keenan won 69 games with Philadelphia in 1984 and 1985, Armand “Bep” Guidolin won 70 games with Boston in 1973 and 1974, and Tom Johnson holds the NHL record with 72 wins with the Bruins between 1970 and 1971. Johnson, the 1959 Norris Trophy winner, went 57-14-7 in his first season, then 54-13-11 and won the Cup. He was fired 52 games into his third season with a record of 31-16-5. Guidolin took over and went 20-6 down the stretch. The following year the Bruins went 52-17-9 and won the Cup. Guidolin resigned that summer after failing to reach a contract extension. Don Cherry took over and had a few solid years, before losing back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals in 1977 and 1978.

Knoblauch’s tenure with the Oilers has been one of the best in NHL history, and his demeanour, willingness to work with and trust his coaching staff, and his attention to detail has been a perfect fit for him and the Oilers. He had never worked with Paul Coffey, Glen Gulutzan, Mark Stuart or Dustin Schwartz prior to joining the Oilers. This past summer, he didn’t bring in “his own guys” because he liked what those four coaches brought.

Knoblauch has paid his dues as a coach. He was an assistant coach in the WHL for three seasons, then the head coach of Kootenay Ice for two seasons where he won a WHL championship. Then he spent five seasons as the head coach of Erie in the OHL. That led to his first NHL gig — an assistant with Philadelphia for two seasons. But he wanted to be a head coach, and he became the head coach for Hartford (Rangers affiliate) in the AHL. He was 11 games into his fifth season in Hartford when the Oilers hired him. He spent 16 seasons and 11 games preparing, and hoping, to be an NHL head coach.

And so far he’s proven he was the right hire for the Oilers. The players respect him. Sitting Leon Draisaitl for multiple shifts in the fourth game this season was a gutsy move, and the right one. Draisaitl had taken a minor penalty in each of the first four games, and the last two were undisciplined infractions late in the second period. Knoblauch opted to sit one of his leaders. Draisaitl returned to the ice when the Oilers got a power play and later assisted on Evan Bouchard’s typing goal with 3:42 remaining in the third and then Draisaitl scored the overtime winner.

Draisaitl heard the message. He’s taken one minor penalty in the last 26 games and hasn’t been in the box for the last 23 games. Draisaitl has been utterly dominant for the Oilers since being sat down. Draisaitl has been elite for years, but not many young coaches would sit a superstar player. Knoblauch did, and not for long enough to embarrass Draisaitl or hurt the team, but enough to send the right message. And to Draisaitl’s credit he responded how a professional should.

Knoblauch has made other big decisions. He healthy scratched Evander Kane last season. He’s moved players up and down the lineup, and rewards those who are playing well. The players respect him, and they trust him, because they know he is on their side.

A victory tonight against the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers won’t erase the pain of losing the final last June, but as Knoblauch said this morning “there is some extra incentive for the group.” On top of defeating the Panthers, the Oilers’ players could also get their head coach a victory in his 100th game.

— Evan Bouchard didn’t skate this morning, but he will play tonight. He is still feeling the effects from the Ryan Hartman hit in Minnesota on Thursday. Viktor Arvidsson skated with the group today, and actually took reps in Bouchard’s spot as the Oilers only had five other D-men on the ice. Arvidsson won’t play tonight, but he might be available Thursday against Boston. It will depend on how he looks and feels after tomorrow’s practice.

— Aleksander Barkov will be a game time decision. He has an illness and they will determine later today if he can go, but head coach Paul Maurice said they will be cautious.” I’m hopeful, I can’t guarantee he will play,” said Maurice. “We’ve had a tough run coming through Seattle and Vancouver. Last year we left Anton Lundell in a hotel in Seattle for a week, and Barky (Barkov) had pneumonia for a month the year prior. We will be careful with these. Guys will play through anything, but sometimes it isn’t the smartest thing to do. If he says he can play, then I won’t monitor his minutes.”

— Barkov will want to play. The best always love facing the best and he’s the best two-way centre in the game — going against McDavid and Draisaitl presents a great challenge, especially with how well those two are playing right now. Draisaitl’s offensive numbers are elite with 46 points in 30 games, but his defensive game has also been among the league’s best. It would be great to see these guys go head to head.

— The Panthers know how the Oilers feel heading into tonight. They lost the Cup in 2023 and I asked Matthew Tkachuk about how he felt the first time facing Vegas (who beat them for the Cup) the first time last season. “I was pretty angry playing Vegas for the first time last year. There is nothing you can do about the year before obviously, but they took away your dream basically, so I remember that was a very hard fought game to say the least. I expect tonight will be a very, very intense game, with a lot of physicality and they have a lot of speed and skill, but I’m sure this will be a pretty intense one,” said Tkachuk.

— McDavid wasn’t as talkative as he normally is this morning, and I’m certain part of that is due to who they are facing tonight. The Oilers are playing great. They’ve been the best team in the NHL for the three weeks, going 9-2, but you can tell tonight means a bit more than most games. This should be one heck of a game. Remember, it is an earlier puck drop, around 6:42 p.m. MST.

— The Panthers have lost two in a row and been shutout by Vancouver and Calgary. As Tkachuk said, he knows the Oilers will be angry, and the Panthers will need to match them. Maurice hasn’t been happy with their off-the-rush defence lately. He said they will need to be much better tonight or Edmonton will expose them.

— During their 11-game heater the Oilers are getting offence throughout the lineup. Fifteen different players have scored one goal, 11 have two goals and seven have 3+ goals. Thirteen players have at least five points and every player has at least two. Draisaitl has nine goals and 21 points while McDavid has seven goals and 20 points and they are tied for the league lead with 12 points at 5×5.

— Stuart Skinner is 6-2 with a .925Sv% and 2.15 GAA, while Calvin Pickard is 3-0 with a .916Sv% and 2.32 GAA. Every skater, except Corey Perry (4-5) is even or better at 5×5. Darnell Nurse leads with an 81.82GF% (9-2), followed by Draisaitl at 77.78% (14-4), Adam Henrique  (6-2_ and Vasily Podkolzin (12-4) at 75%. They are getting key contributions from every player.

RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl– Kapanen
J. Skinner – Henrique – Janmark
Brown – Ryan – Perry

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson

Skinner

No surprise, but Kris Knoblauch will stick with the same lineup that defeated Vegas on Saturday. Every facet of their game is strong right now. They should feel very confident, and a bit angry, heading into tonight.

Rodrigues – Lundell – Reinhart
Verhaeghe – Bennett – Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Boqvist – Samoskevich
Greer – Nosek – Gadjovich

Forsling – Ekblad
Mikkola – Kulikov
Balinskis – Schmidt

Bobrovsky

I didn’t include Barkov as his status is unknown right now. The Panthers’ blue line is not as good as last season without Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Montour. They aren’t as mobile and the Oilers need to attack them off the rush.

Thank you to everyone who donated for the Pyramid of Giving in support of The Christmas Bureau and to Booster Juice for matching the $7500 pyramid. We raised over $15K. Amazing.

DAY Eleven: 🎁 A luxury suite for the Oilers game on January 25th v. Seattle.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Florida defeated Vegas both times last year after losing to them in the Cup Final in 2023. Edmonton continues that trend defeating the Panthers 5-2 tonight.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Draisaitl has eight goals in his last four games and he extends his goal-scoring streak to five games with his 23rd of the season tonight.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Mattias Janmark is tied for fifth on the Oilers with 10 points at 5×5, but he scores his first 5×5 goal of the season.