Make no mistake, the situation between the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights is nothing short of “he said, she said.”

Word leaked early this month that the Oilers, with Kris Knoblauch still under contract, wanted to speak with Bruce Cassidy, fired months earlier by the Golden Knights. Vegas wouldn’t play ball, still won’t play ball, and as is their right, don’t need to grant permission to the coach they still have under contract for all of next season.

When the Oilers officially ripped the band-aid off and fired Knoblauch days later, Oilers general manager Stan Bowman met with the media and declined to comment on what went down, as is his right. The Golden Knights were somewhat forced to comment during a press conference ahead of the Western Conference final, and their general manager, Kelly McCrimmon, came out with the “Bruce understands.”

But Bruce doesn’t seem to understand. Thursday morning, he was on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, where he talked about his desire to get back behind a bench, knowing two teams, the Oilers and L.A. Kings, wanted to speak with him.

Hours later, McCrimmon couldn’t stay quiet when asked for the latest during an appearance on TSN’s Overdrive show.

“It’s only news because Edmonton leaked it,” McCrimmon said. “This isn’t something that came out of our organization. We’ve been forced to respond to it, which we did prior to our series against the Avalanche…”

Sorry, what?

Where the news leaked from doesn’t matter in an overarching sense, but it’s hard to see what the Oilers would’ve gained from doing so, other than hoping to apply public pressure on the Vegas organization. And if they were the ones that leaked the news, wouldn’t it make sense for the team to be continuing to apply a full-court press on the matter? Wouldn’t they want to make as much noise, saying how unethical or wrong it is for Vegas to play these games — something they clearly aren’t bothered by?

So when Thursday’s Oilers Now guest lineup dropped, and the show was headlined by Bowman, it offered the organization a chance to do just that. But there were no questions, no comments, no queries, no conundrums, and no stink raised.

It makes the Oilers organization look weak.

They’ve decided to be cutthroat enough to fire Knoblauch before his three-year extension even kicked in, but they can’t do the same to try and increase the temperature, even with the NHL’s Coaches Association “closely monitoring” what they called a potentially “unprecedented” situation.

Edmonton’s decision to remain quiet on the matter could be something as simple as them not trying to stir the pot any further and potentially burn any chance they have at hiring Cassidy this summer, but what indications are there that Vegas even wants to play ball? They, at least for the time being, seem happy with the idea of paying Cassidy $4.5 million next year to not coach the Oilers. And now, they seem just as happy to take shots at an Oilers organization that has no bite back.

There’s no denying the feud between the Oilers and Golden Knights will grow from this. I won’t complain about that.

Either way, Bowman and the Oilers need to get going on other coaching options. Permission’s been received to speak with Craig Berube, an uninspiring option, and there’s a growing case for Peter Laviolette as another strong option beyond Cassidy.

They can’t get caught sitting, waiting, and wishing.

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.