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Oilers coaching controversies and the history of draft pick compensation
May 14, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: May 13, 2026, 20:23 EDT
There’s been no lack of controversy surrounding the Edmonton Oilers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Bruce Cassidy.
Late in the regular season, the Golden Knights fired Cassidy after struggling post-Olympic break. It has worked out for the Golden Knights, as they are just one win away from reaching the Western Conference Final after hiring John Tortorella.
Despite no longer being the head coach of the Golden Knights, the Oilers haven’t been given permission to speak to Cassidy. It’s a whole thing that you can find plenty of information on, but it’s not the first time the Oilers have been involved in some controversy when trying to hire a new head coach.
Near the end of the Decade of Darkness, the Oilers once again had a losing season, finishing 24-44-14 in the 2014-15 season. Before the calendar flipped to January, the Oilers fired head coach Dallas Eakins, with Todd Nelson earning the interim head coach label.
When the calendar flipped, the National Hockey League introduced a new rule in which a team would receive a compensation pick for coaches and executives under contract, even if they had been fired.
While they had the third-fewest points in the league, they won the Connor McDavid sweepstakes. That began a new era in Oil Country, and with a new generational player, the Oilers turned to an experienced head coach in Todd McLellan.
McLellan had served as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks since the 2008-09 season, getting the team to the Conference Final on two separate occasions. However, the Sharks missed the post-season in 2014-15, and McLellan was promptly fired with one year left on his contract.
Since the Sharks were still paying him, the Oilers gave the Sharks their third-round pick in the 2015 draft. It didn’t hurt the Oilers in the end, as the Sharks selected netminder Mike Robinson, who played just one game at the American Hockey League level.
A month before McLellan was hired, the Oilers also hired Peter Chiarelli. The Ottawa native joined the Boston Bruins as their general manager following the 2005-06 season, and built the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2011. After missing the 2015 post-season, Chiarelli was fired on April 15th, and hired just nine days later.
This time, the Oilers surrendered their 2017 second-round pick, just one of two second-round picks that were given up under this rule. But the thing is, the NHL got rid of the rule on Jan. 1, 2016, so giving up a second-round pick, a valuable asset around the trade deadline, didn’t make much sense.
Chiarelli’s tenure as the Oilers’ general manager wasn’t great, to say the least. He lost far more trades than he won, and severely hampered the Oilers in the early days of the McDavid and Leon Draisaitl era. He was eventually fired during the 2018-19 season.
The pick the Oilers surrendered in compensation for hiring McLellan was eventually used to select Jack Studnicka 53rd overall in 2017. The forward played in the National Hockey League, but has spent the majority of his career in the AHL. Still, the 2015 third- and 2017 second-round picks could’ve been used to improve the Oilers.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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