Former Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch is in no hurry to find a new job after being relieved of his duties following 286 games behind the bench. Over the past two decades, the longest Knoblauch has been out of work as a hockey coach is two months, back when the WHL Kootenay Ice fired him in 2013. Out of the blue, Erie Otters GM Sherry Bassin called offering him a job. If Bassin hadn't rescued him, Knoblauch was thinking of quitting coaching to become a teacher in Cranbrook.
Now that he has been let go by the Oilers, he is going to be unemployed for a lot longer than 60 days. He is no hurry to jump back on the coaching horse, even if there are job openings elsewhere in Toronto, Los Angeles, and Vancouver that he could interview for. He is mindful of all the moving his wife and two kids have done because of his coaching odyssey. Like a lot of kids graduating Grade 12 and heading to Europe for a year rather than find a job, this could be a gap year for Knoblauch.
When he first got the Oilers head job in November 2023, coming in from the New York Rangers' AHL farm club in Hartford to replace Jay Woodcroft, his family stayed behind until relocating after the 2023-24 NHL season. Now his daughter is in high school in Edmonton, and his football-playing son is at post-secondary school. He is not uprooting them.
Knoblauch's Plans for the Future
Knoblauch may not know what to do with himself when NHL training camp opens in the fall. Maybe Perry Pearn will give him a call to see if he wants to help out at his annual 3-on-3 pro hockey school in late summer, or maybe there is a part-time volunteer coaching gig at Vimy Hockey Academy. All we know is Knoblauch is taking a breather.
Clearly, he does not need the money. He signed a three-year extension last fall for approximately $7.5 million. So, for now, he is in no rush to coach anywhere, even if that has been his life for 20 years. His sound resume includes two trips to the Stanley Cup Final with the Oilers, a .624 winning percentage in the regular season in 233 games, and a 31-22 record in the playoffs, which would have him in the queue for another job.
Knoblauch, only 47, can afford to wait. There will be NHL openings again in 2027. He was the fourth-youngest coach this past season after Ryan Warsofsky (37) in San Jose, Dan Muse (43) in Pittsburgh, and Marty St. Louis (46) in Montreal.
Knoblauch's Coaching Career
He has been around rinks since 1995 either as a coach or junior player in the WHL — Red Deer, Edmonton Ice, Kootenay, Lethbridge — or the Golden Bears for five years and minor-pro for one year in Austin, Texas. He started coaching junior in Prince Albert as an assistant with Woodcroft's Oiler right-hand man Dave Manson in 2006. He got his first head job in 2010 in Kootenay (two years), then five years in Erie, before an NHL assistant's gig beside head coach Dave Hakstol in Philadelphia, then four-plus years in Hartford, the New York Rangers' AHL farm club.
When Knoblauch was let go, along with assistant coach Mark Stuart 10 days ago, there was no mention of Paul Coffey, who handled the defence in concert with Stuart. Coffey's coaching days are likely over, though. He will go back to being an adviser to owner Daryl Katz along with the hockey ops department. A new head coach will inherit Paul McFarland, who did a nice job replacing Glen Gulutzan and shepherding the league's best power play, but will bring in his own assistants.
