Four members from the Edmonton Oilers are Erie Otters alumni. Two of them will play a major factor in deciding if Canada's Stanley Cup drought will end this year.
When the Edmonton Oilers hired Kris Knoblauch back in November, it was met with a bit of skepticism since he was Connor McDavid’s Head Coach back in their OHL days with the Erie Otters.
Well, after nullifying that disastrous start to the season and advancing to the Stanley Cup Final, there should be a ton of praise thrown Knoblauch’s way for how he has helped turn this Oilers ship around.
Connor McDavid spent three years with the Erie Otters organization after being granted exceptional status into the OHL and going first overall in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection. He helped revitalize Erie’s organization as soon as he arrived, albeit the first season was a bit bumpy for the team.
Erie had been bad to mediocre for a stretch of years after winning the OHL Championship in 2002. You could call it a ‘dignified’ tank by them in the 2011-12 season where they had one of the worst season performances in OHL history, posting a record of 10-52-3-3.
Everyone in hockey knew about this next phenom kid coming out of the GTHL Toronto Marlboros organization that year. Erie knew and wanted to make sure they snagged McDavid in the 2012 OHL Draft.
The first season with McDavid wasn’t a resounding success. Erie improved their 10 wins to 19 and points from 26 to 47. The Otters organization decided to hire former WHL Kootenay Ice Head Coach Kris Knoblauch to replace Robbie Ftorek near the end of November 2012. That’s where Knoblauch and McDavid’s relationship began.
The team pivoted things around in a massive way in the next seasons, recording back-to-back 50-win seasons for the first time in franchise history, which included a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2014 and the OHL Championship in 2015, Connor’s draft year.
After being drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft, McDavid moved on. Meanwhile, Knoblauch continued as the Head Coach in Erie for the following two seasons, leading them to two consecutive 50-win seasons and an OHL title in 2017.
There are a couple of other Erie Otter alumni on Edmonton’s roster. Connor Brown played with McDavid in Erie for two seasons where the two had a remarkable season together in 2013-14 along with their linemate, Dane Fox. Brown set the single-season franchise record in assists (83) and points (128) before Washington Capitals forward Dylan Strome broke it in the following season.
Warren Foegele started his OHL career with the Kingston Frontenacs but was traded to Erie in the 2016-17 season where his 13 goals and 26 playoff points aided Erie’s OHL Championship win.
If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup against the Florida Panthers, they will need to give some credit to the Erie Otters organization, especially for the duo of Kris Knoblauch and Connor McDavid. The first game of the Stanley Cup Final is tonight in Florida.