The Edmonton Oilers have terminated head coach Jay Woodcroft and assistant coach Dave Manson, replacing them with Kris Knoblauch as head coach and Paul Coffey as assistant coach.

Woodcroft finishes with a 79-41-13 record as Oilers head coach, which seems more than adequate in terms of job security. However, the Oilers have stumbled to a 3-9-1 start, which is well below expectations considering that they have been Stanley Cup favorites.

Knoblauch has never been a head coach at the NHL level, but he has been a head coach in the WHL, OHL, and AHL. More importantly, he was Connor McDavid's junior head coach for the Erie Otters (and also Connor Brown's and Warren Foegele‘s). This hiring makes you wonder if GM Ken Holland went directly to McDavid and said, "If there is any coach in the world I could hire to ensure you stay in Edmonton long term, who would that be?" McDavid has two years remaining in Edmonton after this one.

Like his team, McDavid isn't having the kind of season he was expecting, having scored just two goals all season with under a point-per-game average. He has been held without a point in his last three games and without a goal in his last eight games, even stating that his confidence level is "not very high." He also missed two games with an upper-body injury. McDavid probably shouldn't need a new head coach to get back on track, but the clues left behind seem to reveal that the Oilers are his team. As well, new head coaches often provide a short-term boost to the team, as the previous coach's voice had often gone stale, while players push a little harder to make a good impression with the new coach.

Oftentimes coaches on the hot seat are tied to poor goaltending, and that was also the case. Jack Campbell was sent to the AHL earlier in the week, and it's unknown when or if he will return to the Oilers. Some of the Oilers' struggles this season were also related to a new defensive system that Woodcroft and his staff implement, which obviously didn't work. Only the San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild have allowed more goals per game than the Oilers (3.92 GA/GP).

The Oilers were able to snap a four-game losing streak with a 4-1 win in Seattle on Saturday, so the timing of this announcement seems odd. The coaching change process likely begun behind the scenes after Thursday's embarrassing loss in San Jose, with the Oilers retaining Woodcroft since a game had to be played on Saturday. Their season may have begun to turn around regardless of who the coach was, while the coaching change doesn't speak to some of the decisions made by GM Holland regarding roster construction (eg. signing Campbell to a 5×5). So we'll have to look at this from the standpoint of whether some struggling Oilers will be able to turn things around.

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Players this helps, in order:

McDavid

Stuart Skinner

Calvin Pickard

Campbell

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Players this hurts, in order:

No one in particular