Don’t believe Edmonton Oilers president of hockey operations Jeff Jackson when he says he didn’t consult Connor McDavid before changing coaches.
Organizations always consult their core leaders before making such an important decision, to feel the pulse of the locker room. Even more so when your star, who earns 12.5 million per year, is the former client of a players’ agent turned team president and the new coach managed the star in question for three years in the junior ranks.
Jackson’s gesture is noble. He wants to spare McDavid the odiousness in this story. And the succession of events on Sunday gives the impression that we are submitting to the four wishes of a star. The reality is more subtle.
Kris Knoblauch doesn’t come out of nowhere either. He managed a junior club for seven years in Kootenay and Erie, where he won the championship with McDavid, worked as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers for seven years and managed the New York Rangers farm club in the American League over the last four seasons.
And the departure of Jay Woodcroft is not an unjustified mutiny either. The fallen coach is responsible for his misfortune. He chose to transform the Oilers’ defensive system by imitating the Boston Bruins model after two successful seasons. Disaster. Edmonton sits at 3-9-1 at 31st overall.
The Oilers have one of the worst defenses in the NHL averaging 3.92 goals allowed per game, one of the worst shorthanded success rates at 70% and counting. McDavid and the Oilers offense are experiencing a worrying breakdown. McDavid has one point in his last five games, unheard of, and the Oilers rank 26th in offense.
Ken Holland has not avoided criticism in recent days. His inability to find a decent goaltender tops the list, followed by his work to build a top-notch defense.
The 25 million contract for five years offered to goalkeeper Jack Campbell was not great, it must be admitted. Campbell was demoted to the American League recently following poor performances since arriving in October 2023. Youngster Stuart Skinner is off to a rocky start after a season of promise last year.
But didn’t the Oilers just have 104 and 100 point seasons despite lacking a top goaltender? Didn’t they reach the final four in 2022? Didn’t they win a playoff round last spring before losing in six games to the eventual Stanley Cup winners, the Vegas Golden Knights? Weren’t they 17th last year in goals allowed? Is the defense that bad with a top 4 of Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Cody Ceci?
The Oilers are already eight points from the last place giving access to the playoffs. Let’s see if Knoblauch, and his iron fist in a velvet glove, they say, will right the ship and prove the Oilers bosses right. But he risks running out of time.
*To learn more about Kris Knoblauch and his years in Erie, this text on NHL.com where we quote former Otters general manager Sherry Bassin.
Juraj Slafkovsky is lucky to count on great teachers in Montreal. A taciturn and less socially adept coach could destroy the morale of a kid whose record shows only two points in 15 games.
Martin St-Louis and his staff prefer to use positive reinforcement. “It’s when coaches tell me, ‘You don’t have a lot of points, but you’re doing the right things. It helps me feel better when you’re missing the most important thing, points. The coaches try to support me and that helps a lot,” confided Slafkovsky after Sunday’s match, in the analysis text by colleague Guillaume Lefrançois.
Slafkovsky undoubtedly also received positive reinforcement after a messy first period, where he juggled the puck a few times in scoring position, before pulling himself together in the next two periods to the point of getting around ten shots towards the goal. net, to find himself on the ice in the final moments of the game and to be chosen the third star of the game. This boy is in good hands.
1. Caroline Ouellet can barely comprehend the size of this honor: her induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Katherine Harvey-Pinard spoke to him. The interview can be found here.
2. CF Montreal’s 19-year-old prospect Rida Zouhir suggested a demotion himself sometime last summer and he found his confidence in USL in Texas. Jean-François Téotonio spoke with him. You can read it here.
3. The Canadian women’s tennis team has just won the world title for the first time in its history, thanks in part to the performances of Leylah Annie Fernandez. Katherine Harvey-Pinard surveyed one of the builders of this power, Sylvain Bruneau. The text is here.