The Edmonton Oilers’ coaching discussion, search, or whatever you call it, it looks like a “clustereff.”

This morning, Frank Seravalli reported that the Edmonton Oilers sought permission to interview Bruce Cassidy, but the Vegas Golden Knights have withheld permission, which is within their rights as they are paying Cassidy. Eventually, Vegas will grant permission, but they have simply delayed it. I get why they would, considering the Oilers are one of their main division rivals.

However, the question I have is why are the Oilers asking for permission to interview Cassidy when they have a head coach under contract? Kris Knoblauch is still the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, at least in title, but it is clear the Edmonton Oilers are now looking at other options. If it were mid-season and they were going to make a change, then I would understand speaking to the replacement before you fire the head coach, but it is the off-season. This isn’t how you go about it.

I wrote last week that it would be a mistake to repeat the same pattern as the past, which is blaming the head coach and goaltenders while excusing the lack of on-ice commitment to defending and managing the puck. Knoblauch had a down year last season, but so did many players on the team. The adage “you can’t fire the entire team, so you fire the coach” is lazy. Once again, the organization will blame the head coach and goalies for the failures of their team.

How many of you have a friend, or maybe it is you, who jumps from relationship to relationship? They outline what was wrong or lacking with their partner, without ever realizing the one constant in each of their relationships: themselves. The Oilers are that person. They keep changing coaches and goalies, and they believe they are the main cause of them not finding happiness (a Stanley Cup), but they refuse to see the deeper issue.

So now Knoblauch is left twisting in the wind, waiting until the Oilers get permission to speak with Cassidy, or they hire another head coach. There is zero chance Knoblauch can return as head coach now, because the players know he would have no power to enforce anything. If the organization feels a head coaching change is needed, that is fine. But go about it with professionalism and respect. Knoblauch has earned that. He was the head coach of a team with consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearances. He never embarrassed the organization. He never threw others under the bus, yet the organization has opted to not only toss him from the bus, but to back over him repeatedly and embarrass him publicly.

You can make tough decisions, but at least do it respectfully. Knoblauch didn’t deserve to be embarrassed publicly.

He’s essentially being fired without sending out a press release. When it comes, and make no mistake, it is coming, it will be old news. The path is obvious. The Edmonton Oilers will have their sixth head coach in the Connor McDavid era, whether it is Bruce Cassidy or someone else. Maybe the results with a new coach will be different, but the truth is, until the players decide to commit to starting the season on time, building their game throughout the season, limiting glaring turnovers, defending better, and managing the puck better in the offensive and neutral zones, winning the Stanley Cup won’t happen. If the players decide to inject the aforementioned decisions into their game, the new head coach might have more success. But if not, the organization will continue to have the same playoff disappointment.

— Leon Draisaitl was honest about what the team lacked this past season. “I think one lesson for us is that you need to build over the stretch of the regular season,” said Draisaitl. “Certain moments of games, certain moments of seasons how to handle those. I don’t think we did a good job of that in the regular season. We all know the stats with the three games (winning streak), but there’s many games where we ended up winning the game but it’s not the right way of winning the game, and I think you learn those things as a group throughout the season. You know how to go on a six-game winning streak right or how to go on a three-game winning streak. How to win games 3-1 and I think we kind of lost track of how to do it properly.”

— It was more than a coaching issue, and the core group should know better. They know what it takes to win consistently, but they opted not to do it. At least not early in the season. It wasn’t until they returned from the Olympic break that they committed to playing solid consistent hockey. Here are some splits on the season courtesy of Clear Sight Analytics.

Expected Goals Against 5v5:
Pre-Olympics – 29^th
Post Olympics – 4^th

Rush chance expected GA
Pre- 26th
Post- 4th

D-Zone chances expected GA
Pre – 24th.
Post – 16th

High Danger Chances For:
Pre – 5th
Post – 10th

High Danger Chances Against:
Pre – 30th
Post – 2nd

High Danger Chance Differential:
Pre – 16^th
Post – 4th

— Knoblauch made some small systemic tweaks during the Olympic break, but the players reduced their glaring giveaways and reduced the number of high danger chances against significantly. Would it have continued in the playoffs if the Oilers hadn’t been ravaged by injuries to their four centres? We will never know.

— I keep seeing many suggest the Oilers erred in trading Ryan McLeod for Matt Savoie, because McLeod was already an established third line centre. That is true, but how effective was he when it mattered most, in the playoffs? Well, not that good.

Here are his five seasons in the playoffs in GF-GA at five-on-five:

In 65 playoff games and 819 minutes at five-on-five he has been outscored 34-16. He was part of an excellent PK with the Oilers in the 2024 playoffs and wasn’t on the ice for one goal against, but his struggles at five-on-five have actually increased as he’s gotten older. I don’t see any justification that the Savoie acquisition wasn’t a good one for the Oilers. You can dislike and critique fairly the decision not to match the Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg qualifying offers, but I wouldn’t lump the McLeod trade in with those. Savoie wasn’t an impact player in his first playoffs, but that was to be expected. I feel he will be stronger, more experienced and better prepared next season and beyond. His ceiling is higher than McLeod’s.