Oilers play under Kris Knoblauch

[klefbombs shoulder]

The Oilers turn around under new coach Kris Knoblauch has been nothing short of astounding. He replaced Jay Woodcroft on November 12, 2023 and since then the team has rebounded in a significant way:

Category	Woodcroft	Knoblauch
Record	3-9-1	18-6-0
Points	7 (31st)	36 (4th)
Points %	0.269 (31st)	0.750 (2nd)
Goals for	35 (28th)	96 (4th)
Goals for per game	2.69 (26th)	4.00 (1st)
Goals against	51 (T-25th)	63 (5th)
Goals against per game	3.92 (30th)	2.63 (6th)
PP%	23.9 (9th)	27.0 (5th)
PK%	70.0 (30th)	87.5 (4th)
Shots for per game	34.2 (2nd)	33.7 (5th)
Shots against per game	28.8 (7th)	28.4 (5th)

Now obviously its not all to do with the coaching change. McDavid, Ekholm, and McLeod were all injured at the start of the year and this hurt the Oilers in a big way. They are started to get fully healthy shortly after the new coach was brought in. The Oilers were also riding a big stretch of low PDO (bad luck) as indicated by the teams excellent out shooting during Woodcroft's time as coach. As Jack Michaels says the worm was bound to turn eventually.

Nonetheless Knoblauch, and Coffey have improved virtually every aspect of the Oilers play. Could Knoblauch be a Jack Adams candidate by the end of the year?

End of season update:

Category	Woodcroft	Knoblauch
Record	3-9-1	46-18-5
Points	7 (31st)	97 (1st)
Points %	0.269 (31st)	0.703 (1st)
GF	35 (28th)	257 (2nd)
GFPG	2.69 (30th)	3.72 (2nd)
GA	51 (T-25th)	185 (6th)
GAPG	3.92 (30th)	2.68 (5th)
PP%	23.9 (9th)	26.9 (3rd)
PK%	70.0 (30th)	81.7 (7th)
SF/G	34.2 (2nd)	33.7 (1st)
SA/G	28.8 (7th)	28.0 (5th

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[Video Nasty]

Absolutely.

I think the only other clear candidates who we should expect to be there by the end are Bowness (Jets) and Tocchet (Canucks).

 

[Love]

He’s this years version of… Jay Woodcroft.

 

[Coffey]

Absolutely.

I think the only other clear candidates who we should expect to be there by the end are Bowness (Jets) and Tocchet (Canucks).

 

[WetcoastOrca]

The Oilers turn around under new coach Kris Knoblauch has been nothing short of astounding. He replaced Jay Woodcroft on November 12, 2023 and since then the team has rebounded in a significant way:

Category	Woodcroft	Knoblauch
Record	3-9-1	18-6-0
Points	7 (31st)	36 (4th)
Points %	0.269 (31st)	0.750 (2nd)
Goals for	35 (28th)	96 (4th)
Goals for per game	2.69 (26th)	4.00 (1st)
Goals against	51 (T-25th)	63 (5th)
Goals against per game	3.92 (30th)	2.63 (6th)
PP%	23.9 (9th)	27.0 (5th)
PK%	70.0 (30th)	87.5 (4th)
Shots for per game	34.2 (2nd)	33.7 (5th)
Shots against per game	28.8 (7th)	28.4 (5th)

Now obviously its not all to do with the coaching change. McDavid, Ekholm, and McLeod were all injured at the start of the year and this hurt the Oilers in a big way. They are started to get fully healthy shortly after the new coach was brought in. The Oilers were also riding a big stretch of low PDO (bad luck) as indicated by the teams excellent out shooting during Woodcroft's time as coach. As Jack Michaels says the worm was bound to turn eventually.

Nonetheless Knoblauch, and Coffey have improved virtually every aspect of the Oilers play. Could Knoblauch be a Jack Adams candidate by the end of the year?

Not likely a Jack Adams contender imo.
The Oilers were picked to be a top contender before the season. As well the sample size is simply not big enough at this point. I mean we’re not even at the half way point and he took over part way through the season.

 

[Shanahanigans]

The beginning of the Oilers season was the perfect ****storm for everything to go wrong. Ekholm injured in preseason, so he took a while to get going, which also affected Bouchard's play. Mcdavid injured, so he wasn't himself. We've never been the greatest defensive team, but we somehow completely forgot how to play rush defense and were giving up odd man rushes like never before. The entire team's shooting percentage tanked. Worst of all, Skinner and Campbell couldn't stop a beachball. At one point in early November, Skinner and Campbell were 73rd and 74th out of 74 NHL goalies in goals saved above expected. Campbell has since been sent to the AHL, and Skinner has rebounded over the last 2 months.
Knoblauch has been amazing, but the Oilers were bound to return to form. Skinner playing better is a huge part of it.

 

[klefbombs shoulder]

Not likely a Jack Adams contender imo.
The Oilers were picked to be a top contender before the season. As well the sample size is simply not big enough at this point. I mean we’re not even at the half way point and he took over part way through the season.

I mean by that logic there are no Jack Adams contenders currently.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I mean by that logic there are no Jack Adams contenders currently.

Not sure you even read my post.
Coaches who have coached all year and took teams who finished low in the standings last year and are high in the standings this year.
Tocchet and Bowness would be the leaders so far.
Knobloch has a much smaller sample size as he took over part way through the season and took over a team expected to be a top contender.
He wouldn’t even be in my top 5 so far.

 

[klefbombs shoulder]

Not sure you even read my post.
Coaches who have coached all year and took teams who finished low in the standings last year and are high in the standings this year.
Tocchet and Bowness would be the leaders so far.
Knobloch has a much smaller sample size and took over a team expected to be a top contender.

Disagreeing with you post doesn't mean I didn't read it lol. Specifically in regards to your "sample size" point. Knoblauch didnt coach the first 12 games. I don't see that as a significant difference.

 

[banks]

New coaches get results like these sometimes. It's great, don't get me wrong. He deserves credit for doing a good job. But it means less until time shows tat it's more than a flash in the pan.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Disagreeing with you post doesn't mean I didn't read it lol. Specifically in regards to your "sample size" point. Knoblauch didnt coach the first 12 games. I don't see that as a significant difference.

You don’t see one third of the season so far as a significant difference?
Of course it’s significant.

 

[Muffin]

Feels like there’s a thread like this everytime they hire a new coach.

Here’s a thread saying how awesome Woodcroft is until he’s not

Woodcraft for Jack Adams?

Saw some crazy stat that for over 100 games he has #2 win percentage of all time. When he arrived last year Oilers were out of playoff spot, took them to Western Finals and again this year posting a great record. Should he be a nominee at all? Hard to vote against Montgomery but imo Woodcraft...

forums.hfboards.com

Woodcroft looked bad because McDavid was injured and playing like crap. Now that he’s on fire again the new coach comes in and looks like s genius.

 

[Coffey]

Here’s a thread saying how awesome Woodcroft is until he’s not

He finished last season strong, your comment doesn't apply.

 

[TLEH]

I don't think Woodcroft was the problem. Knoblauch still has the Oilers playing with more structure than I remember, even under Woodcroft.

 

[Muffin]

He finished last season strong, your comment doesn't apply.

And he magically forgot how to coach over the summer? My point is every time Edmonton thinks they found "the guy" he ended getting fired less than 2 years later.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Kris. There it is!
This years Bruce Boudreau.

 

[Mr Kot]

One thing I will say about kris is that he allows lines to build chemistry. A common criticism of woodcroft was that he blended too often and wore out the top guys.

 

[LudwigVonKarlsson]

You could just as easily have this chart say injured McDavid & Ekholm vs healthy McDavid & Ekholm and the results would be the same.

 

[POVERTY]

Skinner has really turned it around

Oct & Nov: 3.16 GAA, .881%, 8 wins out of 17 starts
Since Dec. 1st: 2.01 GAA, .928%, 9 wins out of 11 starts

 

[Luceni]

Knoblauch is a German word and means garlic. Kinda funny name but thats why it works: He keeps the bloodsuckers/vampires away from the team.

 

[12ozPapa]

Did you hear they are back in the playoff hunt too?!?!

 

[Cup or Bust]

The Oilers were going to eventually start winning games this season but the important difference is overall they play a stronger 4 line game and their overall team structure is better then it ever was under Tippet or Woodcroft. They still have some roster spots to improve but I feel that most games they actually play the right way and are more consistent in their play. They played a lot of awful hockey games under both Tippet and Woodcroft and still won. They are playing a lot more good hockey games under Knoblauch and winning. That is something a team needs to do if they want to win in the playoffs.

 

[Grifter3511]

yeah, Boudreau gets good results during the season. He's good at motivating his players. Not so great at the X's and O's, and the in-game adjustments, which always comes back to bite him in the playoffs.

We're talking about Boudreau here, right?

 

[KCC]

Skinner has really turned it around

Oct & Nov: 3.16 GAA, .881%, 8 wins out of 17 starts
Since Dec. 1st: 2.01 GAA, .928%, 9 wins out of 11 starts

Bringing in Paul coffee has also helped.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Best move by GM McDavid.