There wasn't much mystery surrounding Kris Knoblauch's future when the Edmonton Oilers announced they were making a change behind the bench.
There is, however, plenty surrounding what comes next.
Coaches don't often find themselves unemployed after leading a team to consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. They especially don't when they're still in their 40s, have won everywhere they've coached and carry the respect of the best player in the league. It's important to note that Knoblauch's time in Edmonton wasn't an outright success, it certainly wasn't an outright failure, but more somewhere in between.
By the end, the Oilers were a team searching for answers with the same playbook they'd been using for months. Connor McDavid all but admitted as much during the season when he said the group kept trying the same things over and over again, expecting different results. Whether he was talking about systems, practices, or the team's overall approach, it was a revealing comment from a captain who doesn't often pull back the curtain.
That's one criticism that lands on Knoblauch.
Every coach has to know when it's time to change the message. NHL players spend eight months hearing the same voice almost every day, and if the routine never changes, it's only natural that parts of it begin to lose their effect. The Oilers rarely found another gear as the season wore on. If anything, they became more predictable, and that's a difficult accusation for any coaching staff to escape.
Still, it's impossible to put all of this at Knoblauch's feet, as you can't coach players into caring.
Too often, the Oilers looked like they expected their talent to win games for them. There were nights where they were second to loose pucks, second to battles and second to the level of desperation required to win in the NHL today. Fans noticed it in September, and they were still talking about it months later.
No coach fixes that on his own.
The roster deserves its share of the conversation, too.
Stan Bowman inherited a good team en route to Knoblauch's first Stanley Cup Final, then made the team worse. Still, Knoblauch took them to another Stanley Cup Final in 2025, and then Bowman made the team worse. Leon Draisaitl said the 2024 Cup Final team was the best he ever played with in Edmonton. What was left by 2025-26 were more questions in goal, depth talent that never fell into place, and injuries that forced players into roles they weren't meant to occupy. Coaches are judged by results, but they're also limited by the players available to them.
Somewhere along the way, the Oilers lost the identity that made them such a difficult out.
Knoblauch bears responsibility for that. So do the players, and so does Bowman.
It's easy to forget where things started.
When Knoblauch replaced Jay Woodcroft in November of 2023, the Oilers were spiralling. Within months they were in the Stanley Cup Final. They got back there the following season. Coaches don't stumble into that kind of success, and general managers around the league know it.
Which brings us back to the original question.
What's next for Kris Knoblauch?
A young rebuilding team would be a good fit when you think about Knoblauch's background. He built a reputation developing players in junior hockey and the American Hockey League long before he arrived in Edmonton, and plenty of young Oilers credited him for giving them confidence when they needed it.
The problem is there isn't really a team looking for that coach right now.
Going back to junior doesn't make much sense. Not after reaching consecutive Stanley Cup Finals.
An assistant or associate role is much more plausible.
Montreal just hired Derek Lalonde after his run as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings came to an end. NHL benches are filled with former head coaches who spent a year or two stepping back before another opportunity presented itself, adding another perspective and another voice to their résumé before taking over a team of their own again.
Knoblauch could easily follow that path.
He also might not have to wait very long.
Head coaching jobs don't open often, and when they do, experience matters. However his tenure in Edmonton is remembered, two trips to the Stanley Cup Final will always stand out on his résumé. There aren't many coaches in the league who can say they've done that.
The next time an NHL team starts searching for a head coach, someone is going to look at Kris Knoblauch's record, look at where he took Edmonton in his first two seasons, and decide one difficult year isn't enough to erase the rest.
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