When Kris Knoblauch guided the Edmonton Oilers from 31st place into a playoff spot last season, his success was largely met with a shrug. The Oilers had been underperforming before the coaching change, after all. Any fresh voice could trigger a similar turnaround, it seemed.
Then, Knoblauch got the Oilers out of a 3-2 series deficit against the Vancouver Canucks — and 2024 coach of the year Rick Tocchet — in Round 2. He got them out of a 2-1 deficit against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference final. And then, he guided the Oilers from a 3-0 hole all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final — coming within a goal of delivering Canada’s first championship since 1993.
When Edmonton loped through the regular season, dealing with injuries and lineup holes, Knoblauch looked like he might be a one-hit wonder. The Oilers did log their fourth-straight 100-point season — unheard-of since the high-flying ’80s with Wayne Gretzky. But they slipped to third in the Pacific Division standings, and team scoring dropped by 35 goals.
Now, we’re into Week 5 of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Knoblauch is the winningest active regular-season coach, with a .656 points percentage, and also sits first in the playoffs among active coaches, at .639.
The way they dismantled the Los Angeles Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights, the Oilers may have positioned themselves as the team to beat.
First off, the offense is back. With 11 games played, Edmonton leads the playoffs with 43 goals, an average of 3.91 goals a game.
That doesn’t feel especially surprising. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl know how to raise their games in the post-season and they’re leading the way again — McDavid has 17 points and Draisaitl is at 16. This year, Edmonton is also getting more secondary scoring from across the lineup, whether that’s five goals from ageless Corey Perry or a clutch overtime winner from waiver pickup Kasperi Kapanen, sealing the series against Vegas in just his second playoff game of the year.
Roster depth is important in a long playoff run, but it’s not easy for coaches to know when to make changes and how to deploy players as they come into a series. Two years in a row, Knoblauch has accomplished the near-impossible by spelling off Stuart Skinner until he could find his ‘A’ game again in net. As well as Kapanen, Knoblauch has also gotten some quality minutes from Troy Stecher on the blueline in the last two games, swapping him in for Ty…