Thirteen factors conspired to doom Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch this season. Author of the article: By David Staples • Edmonton Journal. Published May 14, 2026. 18 minute read.
It wasn’t one or two or three things that doomed Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch this season. It was about 13. Unlucky 13. Some of them were of Knoblauch’s own making, some the fault of Oilers general managers past and present, some of them on the players, some on bad luck and wicked circumstance.
In the end, Knoblauch and his team put up a helluva fight and at times this season looked like they had found the secret sauce once more and again were going to challenge for the Stanley Cup in the spring of 2026. But not to be.
The 13 Factors
1. The St. Louis Offer Sheet and Heist of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway
This goes way back to the summer of 2024, but losing Edmonton’s two best U-25 players due to management incompetence is a blow that haunts the Oilers franchise. Broberg and Holloway had size, speed and skill, and would have seriously bolstered Edmonton’s playoff runs of 2025 and 2026.
2. GM Stan Bowman’s Signings
GM Stan Bowman did well in trying to recover from Jeff Jackson’s blunder in losing Holloway and Broberg, but Bowman didn’t help himself when he signed two veteran forwards, Andrew Mangiapane and Trent Frederic, to big-ish money deals last summer. Both of them crashed as players in the first half of the 2025-26 season. Their struggles meant Knoblauch was forced to juggle his line-up and turn the forward lines upside down and backwards trying to get something out of Mangiapane and Frederic, with the resulting chaos in part responsible for Edmonton’s awful start this season.
3. Lack of Rest and Recovery
Much has been made of the fact that Edmonton’s 2024 and 2025 playoff success also saw the team play until the end of June each year, giving little time for rest and recovery. It was apparent as early as last summer that this would present a problem for Edmonton, if only when it came to motivation for the coming 2025-26 season. On the Empty Netters podcast last August, 2025, former NHLer James Wisniewski noted the Oilers must be physically drained. “We’re talking about rest…. These guys played the f*cking balls out until June something. And then (they’re) not riding in the high. The Florida Panthers are (getting) $500,000 (bar) tabs picked up. These guys are like, ‘Oh no. Lost again.’” At the Cult of Hockey, my colleague Kurt Leavins wrote the same thing last August. “After the loss in the final two years ago, I was convinced that the bitter taste in their mouths would be a real motivator. But losing in the final two years in a row? There is a delicate balance between motivation and morose. Overcoming the disappointment yet again will not be a minor matter. And for a second consecutive season, there will be substantial roster churn. It will be a real test.”
4. Knoblauch’s Coaching Staff
Last summer Knoblauch himself was allowed to hire his own staff after the departures of veteran coaches Glen Gulutzan and Paul Coffey, but his new group simply didn’t get it done. The narrative today is that Knoblauch brought in too many quiet, calm and technocratic clones of himself, depriving the team of needed tension and fire. However true that critique is, there’s no denying that the defence had improved immensely under Coffey, only to crash this fall in his absence. This issue was such a thorn that as early as November 19, 2025, NHL insider Frank Seravalli was suggesting it might lead to Knoblauch’s demise. At that time, the Oilers ranked 25th out of 32 NHL teams in points percentage, .520.
