Kris Knoblauch’s journey from youth hockey coach to ‘saving’ Oilers’ season
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The Edmonton Oilers looked anything but championship-caliber.
It was 13 games into the season. They were 2-9-1, skidding into an abyss of their own making. Those visions of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl lifting the first Stanley Cup for the Oilers since 1990 fizzled into static.
Coach Jay Woodcroft was out. Kris Knoblauch, a novice NHL head coach who had been behind the bench of AHL Hartford, was in. And general manager Ken Holland isn’t shy about giving Knoblauch credit for reaching to the abyss, pulling the team to solid footing and leading the Oilers to within seven wins of the Stanley Cup.
“He came in and saved the season,” said Holland, who hired Knoblauch to replace Woodcroft in November 2023. “The team rallied around him and we got to .500 at Christmas time. We dug out of a big hole and Kris was a big, big reason for it.”
Knoblauch gets a little lost in the cacophony of hype when the Oilers succeed. It’s more about McDavid and Draisaitl, two of the best players in the world; or the emergence of Evan Bouchard as an elite defenseman; or the way their special teams take over games.
But where would the Oilers be now were it not for Knoblauch rebuilding their confidence after a spectacular early-season flop? Or making the right personnel choices? Or having the audacity to bench starting goaltender Stuart Skinner for a playoff newbie in Calvin Pickard against the Vancouver Canucks, to get his team’s attention defensively and give the struggling Skinner a breather? And then having it actually work?
“You’re in a playoff series against Vancouver, and he has a real tough decision to make in a goalie move. It gave Stu a chance to reset,” Holland said. “He’s very impressive for a rookie coach. It’s a hard league. I thought during the regular season, he had a great feel for who should play and who shouldn’t play.”
Then there was the timeout in Game 7 against Vancouver. The Canucks had cut the Oilers’ lead to 3-2 at home in the third period. It was loud and chaotic and it felt like things might be slipping away from Edmonton. So Knoblauch called a T.O., gathered his players and calmed things down.
“We got to make some plays. Keep it simple. We’re good. We’ve been in this situation lots,” he said on the bench. “Make your plays, win your battles, let’s put the pressure on them.”
The Oilers won Game 7 and advanced to the Western Conference finals.
2:38
Oilers survive late Canucks surge to win Game 7, reach West finals
The Oilers score three second-period goals to power a Game 7 victory over the Canucks, setting up a date with the Stars in the Western Conference finals.
There’s something inherently different about the Oilers’ composure this season. They don’t get rattled when they can’t get to their offensive game or when the power play doesn’t click. They look as poised winning a lower-scoring grind of a playoff game as they do lighting offensive fireworks.
Some of that demeanor comes from the players’ own focus this season. But it also trickled down from Knoblauch and what he preaches as a coach.
“It’s about confidence in your game and confidence that it doesn’t matter what happens, you’re going to persevere and get through it,” Knoblauch said.
It’s also about a coach keeping a stoic equanimity, whether he’s calling a timeout in Game 7 or softly criticizing postseason officiating.
“As a coach, I always want to get excited, start yelling and screaming,” he said. “But I also know, especially when I was coaching junior, I didn’t want my players losing their focus and didn’t want them to get distracted. If I don’t want them to do it, I shouldn’t be behaving that way, either.”
That composure was evident when Knoblauch coached the Erie Otters in the OHL and the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL.
It was also evident in a side gig Knoblauch had right before the Oilers hired him: working as a youth hockey coach in West Hartford, Connecticut.
“He never yelled at us. Super positive guy,” said Zac Jainchill, who played on the youth team that Knoblauch helped instruct. “It’s cool to know that someone that had coached me is now a few wins away from winning the Stanley Cup.”
KNOBLAUCH WAS DRAFTED No. 166 overall by the New York Islanders in 1997, but his playing career didn’t see him rise any higher than the Central Hockey League, where he played for the Austin Ice Bats in 2004-05. He transitioned to coaching soon after that, manning the benches for the Kootenay Ice (2010-2012), Erie Otters (2013-2017) and the Wolf Pack (2019-2024), an affiliate of the New York Rangers.
His son, Marek, was born in 2007. While Knoblauch was coaching the Wolf Pack, his son was playing youth hockey with the West Hartford Wolves program. Despite leading the top minor league affiliate of an Original Six team, Knoblauch offered his services to help coach the team.
“I mean, it’s absolutely unbelievable,” said Ken Mangini, assistant coach of the West Hartford Wolves bantam team. “There’s really no words. It was so cool.”
Knoblauch would horse around with the players, push pucks with the assistant coaches and move pucks around as different drills were being done. He attended several games with the team but never worked behind the bench, having established early on that he felt his presence might be a distraction during games.
“We didn’t really know what to expect from him, but he showed up quite a few times,” Mangini said. “We started around August, so he probably came once a week. He’d game plan and put practice plans together with us. He was just another coach out there.”
Knoblauch became something more than “just another coach” last November.
Mangini was coaching the team on a Sunday afternoon. Marek Knoblauch had informed the coaches that he wouldn’t be around that weekend for the game.
Mangini was in the locker room doing a postgame discussion with his players — what went right, what didn’t. As he went through his spiel, Jainchill interrupted his speech. Jainchill had gotten a text message from his older brother. It was a link to an ESPN article that offered some breaking NHL news: Kris Knoblauch was now the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.
“I just shouted out, ‘Holy cow!'” Jainchill recalled.
Mangini was annoyed. “Can it just wait?” he said. “Like, please let me finish, I want to get home.”
“I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever, this is more important,'” Jainchill said with a laugh. “He got mad at that, but it’s fine. Everyone was pretty excited about the news.”
That included Mangini.
“He was just with us, literally just with us, a few days ago, on the ice shooting pucks around,” he said. “We got to learn from not only from the head coach of the Wolf Pack, but now the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, who’s going to be working with Connor McDavid. It’s just crazy.”
When Knoblauch was hired by the Oilers, there was a torrent of reactions from executives, former teammates and the players he coached in the minor leagues.
Mangini and Jainchill had their own unique perspective on the new Edmonton coach.
“He knew his stuff for sure,” Jainchill said. “Definitely made us all better hockey players.”
Like when he made a comparison to Jainchill’s offensive game that the young player will never forget. “He told me I had silky mitts like [Rangers center] Mika Zibanejad,” he said. “I thought that was the coolest thing ever.”
Mangini wasn’t surprised to see Knoblauch get his chance in the NHL after seeing how he operated at the youth level.
“I am so happy for him,” he said. “Kris is just really down to earth, really approachable, easy to talk to, everything that you would hope you could have in a coach.”
COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS. Those have been the central focus for Knoblauch as a hockey coach, at every level. Perhaps it’s in his teaching background, as he has an education degree from the University of Alberta. Perhaps it’s just a 45-year-old head coach believing there’s a better, more human way to connect with athletes.
“It was a character analytic thing,” Erie Otters GM Dave Brown told USA Today Network last year. “He would say, ‘I would take the guy out for coffee, talk to him for 20 minutes and get to know him a little bit better as a person — what’s going on in his home life and everything else.'”
Knoblauch had a handful of current New York Rangers players on his Hartford teams, and they experienced that one-on-one attention firsthand.
“It seemed like a pain at the time, being in his office every day, watching so many video clips,” forward Will Cuylle said. “But looking back on it, it really made a huge difference and obviously I’m super thankful for that.”
Rangers rookie sensation Matt Rempe would also have one-on-one sessions with Knoblauch.
“I was just always in his office, and he was always asking, ‘Oh, what are you doing today? How’s your family, how’s your mom?’ All that type of stuff,” Rempe said. “Not even so much about hockey. Sometimes he’ll show some clips and stuff, but just I feel like he makes you feel comfortable and at home and I think that’s really important.”
Rempe said he’s “so happy” for Knoblauch’s success in Edmonton.
“He was so good to me. He was talking to me every single day, just built a really close personal relationship with him,” he said. “He was always so nice to me and supportive. So, great guy. I thought he was a great coach as well. So I’m really happy for his success.”
Although that happiness does come with an important caveat for Rempe.
“As a Calgary guy, I hate to see Edmonton do good,” said Rempe, throwing his elongated arms in the air for effect. “I hate it.”
Knoblauch was coaching Rempe with the Wolf Pack when the Oilers came calling. He aspired to become an NHL head coach, having put in the time in the AHL and as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2017 to 2019. He was an interim coach for the Rangers in 2020-21 and 2021-22 while filling in for David Quinn and Gerard Gallant due to COVID-19 absences. He went 6-1-1.
He had to contemplate whether Edmonton was the right landing spot for his first NHL coaching gig. Ultimately, the chance to coach a talent-laden playoff contender was too much to pass up.
In the 2017-18 season, Holland was looking to hire a head coach for Grand Rapids, the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate. He had a meeting with Knoblauch in an airport hangar that lasted a few hours. A job didn’t materialize, but Holland started following Knoblauch’s career. He’d get glowing remarks about Knoblauch from Ryan Martin, the New York Rangers’ assistant general manager who runs the Hartford Wolf Pack. Martin worked under Holland in Detroit.
“Ryan told me he had great feel, great instincts,” Holland said. “It’s easy to have those instincts when you’re at the AHL level and there’s not a lot of media. Certainly the decisions are much more under the spotlight and you’re much more scrutinized at this level.”
When the Oilers were bottoming out at the start of the season, Holland had a conversation with Edmonton’s CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson about coaching options. Jackson knew Knoblauch when he was a player agent, as several of his former clients played for the coach in Erie, including McDavid.
That relationship made Knoblauch’s hiring an awkward one. Many assumed McDavid had influenced either Woodcroft’s firing, Knoblauch’s hiring or both. The star center and the team pushed back hard on that speculation.
“I know the narrative out there, couldn’t be further from the truth,” McDavid said after the hire. “Obviously I thought he was great in junior. I don’t know what he’s been up to other than he’s been coaching obviously in the NHL as an assistant and in the American league.”
Jackson said the Oilers “didn’t consult with the players on this decision” when the team hired Knoblauch.
“The fact that Kris was Connor’s coach in Erie in 2014-15, it only has something to do with this because I think Kris Knoblauch is a very good coach,” Jackson said. “Connor didn’t have anything to do with this decision and neither did the others in the leadership group.”
Perhaps it’s coincidence, perhaps not, but McDavid scored 122 of his 132 points this season in the 65 games in which Knoblauch was his coach.
Knoblauch put a premium on having the most talented players lead the way this season.
“Everyone follows by example,” he said. “If your leaders are getting excited and getting frustrated and angry, it spreads throughout the whole team. They’ve handled it really well, whatever has been thrown in our direction. That’s definitely what you want from a mature, focused group.”
It’s been a surreal few months for Knoblauch, going from minor league coach moonlighting as a youth hockey instructor to the head coach of a team that’s seven wins away from the Stanley Cup.
“I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible,” Knoblauch said. “It’s been quite a ride, just to be able to get this position with the Edmonton Oilers, an elite organization. A team that has some superstars and a lot of good players. I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible. And you never know when you’re going to get an opportunity like this again.”
Holland believes the Oilers wouldn’t have this opportunity without Knoblauch.
“He’s very impressive in the decisions that he’s made and a big reason why we’re here today,” Holland said. “Kris has done a lot of winning.”
The second Sunday of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs is here. There will not be any teams eliminated following the four matchups, but each game is nonetheless pivotal as we move closer to the second round.
In each of the four series that play Sunday, the home team has won every game thus far. Will that trend continue? Or will the favored teams in each head back home with a chance to close things out?
Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down in Saturday’s games, and the Three Stars of Saturday Night from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Winnipeg Jets at St. Louis Blues
Game 4 (WPG leads 2-1) | 1 p.m. ET | TBS
The two teams had an extra day off, playing Game 3 on Thursday, a 7-2 win for the Blues. Entering this game, history is not on the Blues’ side; teams that have led 2-1 in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win the series 68.6% of the time, and the Blues specifically are 8-20 when trailing 1-2 in a series.
The good news for St. Louis is that Game 3 was the club’s 13th straight victory at home, going back to the regular season. The Blues have scored at least five goals in seven of those 13 games.
Pavel Buchnevich‘s hat trick was the first of his career, and quadrupled his career playoff goal total — he previously had one goal in 22 games.
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck appears off his game — compared to the regular season, but not past playoffs. He has allowed four goals or more in nine of his past 12 playoff games.
Winnipeg will need their top players to get back in the scoring swing. Mark Scheifele had two goals and three assists through the first two games, but was held scoreless in Game 3. Kyle Connor began with two goals and two assists and was also held pointless in Game 3.
Carolina Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils
Game 4 (CAR leads 2-1) | 3:30 p.m. ET | TBS
A healthy scratch earlier in the series, Simon Nemec was the Game 3 hero, scoring the game-winning goal in double-overtime. He is the youngest Devil with an OT goal in a playoff game (21 years, 69 days), and the second-youngest defenseman with such a goal in Stanley Cup playoff history; only Andrei Zyuzin (20 years, 97 days in 1998) pulled off the feat at a younger age.
The multiovertime result was not a shock based on the history of these two clubs: the Devils have now won five straight multi-OT playoff games, while the Hurricanes are now 1-11 in multi-OT playoff games, the worst percentage in Stanley Cup playoff history.
Jacob Markstrom has shown up for the Devils this postseason, with a .929 save percentage and 2.08 goals-against average through three games, facing an average of 33 shots per game.
The Hurricanes have had seven different goal-scorers through three games, including expected output from their stars like Seth Jarvis as well as from some surprising contributors such as Jordan Martinook (15 goals in the regular season) and Jalen Chatfield (seven).
As impressive as Markstrom has been for New Jersey, Frederik Andersen has been a bit better for Carolina: through three games, the Dane has 82 saves on 87 shots, generating a .943 SP and 1.48 GAA.
Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens
Game 4 (WSH leads 2-1) | 6:30 p.m. ET | TBS
The six goals that the Canadiens scored in Game 3 were the most they’ve scored in a playoff game since May 7, 2015.
With his assist on Cole Caufield‘s second-period goal, Lane Hutson now has 63 in the regular season and playoffs combined, tying Chris Chelios’ record for the most by a rookie defenseman.
Alex Ovechkin scored playoff goal No. 75, which passed Joe Pavelski for 13th all time. He’s now one behind Mario Lemieux for 12th.
All eyes will be on the status of the goaltenders heading into this game. Sam Montembeault left the Canadiens’ crease during the second period, while Logan Thompson was knocked out of action in the third period.
Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers
Game 4 (LA leads 2-1) | 9:30 p.m. ET | TBS
As part of the Oilers’ offensive onslaught in Game 3, Leon Draisaitl extended his playoff point streak against the Kings to 17 games, which is the third-longest streak against an opponent in Stanley Cup playoffs history, two behind Wayne Gretzky (19, against the Flames) and Mark Messier (19, against the Kings). Decent company!
Connor McDavid now has 12 career playoff games with a goal and two assists, tied with Messier for second most in Oilers history. They both trail Gretzky, who had 24. McDavid also drew even with Jaromir Jagr in sixth place for most games with three-plus points in a game in Stanley Cup playoff history. McDavid has done it 20 times, trailing Gretzky (59), Messier (30), Jari Kurri (28), Nikita Kucherov (22) and Denis Savard (21).
Kings forward Adrian Kempe has nine points this postseason, tied for the second most by a player through three games in the past 40 years of the Stanley Cup playoffs (one behind Gretzky, who had 10 in 1987).
Anze Kopitar‘s six assists are the most through three games in Kings playoff history.
Heading into the postseason, Darcy Kuemper was seen as a strength for L.A. But through three games, he has an .859 save percentage and 4.04 goals-against average, well behind the .902 and 2.57 he registered for the Colorado Avalanche during their Cup run in 2022.
In the other crease, the Oilers switched to Calvin Pickard to start Game 3. Stuart Skinner had rung up an .810 SP and 6.11 GAA in two games, while Pickard generated an .857 SP and allowed four goals in the victory. Who starts Game 4?
Arda’s three stars from Saturday night
The Big Cat returned to form in Game 3, making 33 saves in Tampa Bay’s 5-1 win over Florida to make the series 2-1.
Barbashev had two points, including the overtime winner, as the Golden Knights tied up the series with a 4-3 win over the Wild.
The Battle of Ontario will continue! Sanderson scored the overtime winner for the Senators, keeping them alive with a 4-3 win in Game 4.
Landeskog scored his first goal since his return to the NHL — an absence of nearly three years. His teammates swarmed him, jumping for joy. What a moment!
0:47
Avs go up 3-0 on Gabriel Landeskog’s slap shot goal
Gabriel Landeskog’s slap shot gives the Avalanche a 3-0 lead in the second period.
Saturday’s scores
Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Florida Panthers 1
FLA leads 2-1 | Game 4 Monday
As dominant as the Panthers were win winning Games 1 and 2 of this series in Tampa Bay, so were the Lightning in Game 3 in Sunrise. Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk started the scoring at 2:43 of the first period, but it was all Lightning thereafter, as Brayden Point, Nick Paul, Jake Guentzel and Luke Glendening put pucks past Sergei Bobrovsky, and Anthony Cirelli scored an empty-net goal to put a cap on the festivities. Recap.
0:54
Guentzel scores off Kucherov’s setup 21 seconds into 3rd period
Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel connect again on a Lightning goal to increase their lead on the Panthers.
Vegas Golden Knights 4, Minnesota Wild 3 (OT)
Series tied 2-2 | Game 5 Tuesday
The Golden Knights were determined to avoid going down 3-1 in this series to the heavy underdog Wild, and they scored the first goal of the game, a Shea Theodore blast on the power play at 6:47 of the first period. The Wild would charge ahead on goals by Marco Rossi and Marcus Foligno before a Nicolas Roy goal early in the third tied the game at 2. After the two teams traded goals less than a minute apart midway through the third, the game headed to overtime, where Ivan Barbashev was in the right place at the right time to knock in a rebound for the game-winning goal. Recap.
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Ivan Barbashev’s OT winner levels series for Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev manages to tip the puck into the net amidst the chaos and tie the series at 2-2 for the Golden Knights vs. the Wild.
Ottawa Senators 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 3 (OT)
TOR leads 3-1 | Game 5 Tuesday
For the third straight game in the series, the Battle of Ontario went to overtime — this time, it was won by the Senators on a goal from Jake Sanderson with 2:18 remaining in the extra frame. Tim Stutzle, Shane Pinto and David Perron had the other goals for Ottawa, while John Tavares, Matthew Knies and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for Toronto. Recap.
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Jake Sanderson sends Ottawa fans into a frenzy with Game 4 OT winner
Jake Sanderson celebrates with his teammates after netting the game-winning goal in overtime for the Senators vs. the Maple Leafs.
Colorado Avalanche 4, Dallas Stars 0
Series tied 2-2 | Game 5 Monday
A strange coincidence thus far in this series: Each Stars win has been by one goal, while each Avs win has been by four goals. Logan O’Connor and Nathan MacKinnon kicked things off for Colorado with first-period goals. In the second, Gabriel Landeskog scored his first goal in nearly three years, and Samuel Girard capped off the festivities with his first goal of the playoffs. Recap.
0:49
Avs go up 4-0 on Samuel Girard’s 3rd period goal
Samuel Girard lights the lamp to give the Avalanche a 4-0 lead.
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Ryan S. Clark
Perhaps the only detail more emphatic than the goals in the Colorado Avalanche‘s 4-0 win over the Dallas Stars Saturday night, was the impact provided by their captain, Gabriel Landeskog.
Landeskog, who returned in Game 3 of this Western Conference first-round series after missing nearly three seasons while recovering from a knee injury, scored his first goal since June 20, 2022, in a multi-point performance that saw the Avalanche tie the series at 2-2 in Game 4 at Ball Arena. Game 5 is Monday in Dallas.
“It means a lot,” Landeskog told reporters after the win. “Obviously, I’ve envisioned scoring again for a long time. There obviously days when I didn’t know if I was ever going to score again. It obviously feels good. It’s a tight playoff series in a big game here at home. To get to do it here at home in front of our fans obviously means a means a lot. Super exciting. Hopefully more to come.”
A short-handed goal from Logan O’Connor midway through the first period followed by a late power-play goal from Nathan MacKinnon staked the Avalanche to a 2-0 lead entering the second period.
That set the stage for Landeskog, who was in the slot when Brock Nelson fed a pass that the 32-year-old winger launched for a one-timer that beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for a 3-0 lead.
Landeskog, who was playing on the second line, was instantly mobbed by his teammates on the nice such as Samuel Girard, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews and Nelson, who joined the Avalanche at the NHL trade deadline.
As Landeskog returned to the bench, he was congratulated by the entire team which also included a hug from a smiling MacKinnon, who along with Landeskog, have been with the franchise for more than a decade.
“I was just proud of him again,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the game. “I was proud of him regardless of if he scores or not because I know what he’s gone through, and I know how difficult that was. I think that takes it to another level. You know he wants to come back and contribute like he did in the past and he’s off to a great start.”
Landeskog’s goal was the latest milestone in what’s been a lengthy recovery from a chronically injured right knee. He missed what amounted to 1,032 days since his last NHL game.
In that time, the Avalanche have remained in a championship window but have dramatically altered their roster. The Avs have nine players from that championship team who have remained with the franchise and have since reshuffled a roster that led to them re-acquiring defenseman Erik Johnson, one of Landeskog’s closest friends, in their bid for the fourth title in franchise history.
Even with all the changes, there were still questions about when they could see Landeskog return to the lineup. And if Landeskog did return, what he could look like?
His first professional game in three years came April 11 with the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate where he logged 15 minutes. Landeskog would then score a goal and get an assist in his second and final game.
And much like his AHL stint, all it took was two games for Landeskog to score and have another two-point performance.
While Landeskog’s goal became the most celebrated moment of the evening, what he did to help create the Avalanche’s fourth goal was an example of why he’s so crucial to their title aspirations.
Landeskog played a pass to Nelson who then found a Girard for a shot from the point that gave the Avs a 4-0 lead in the fourth. In the time Landeskog passed the puck, he anchored himself at the net front to gain position on 6-foot-7 Stars defensemen Lian Bichsel to screen goaltender Casey DeSmith, who replaced Oettinger for the third period.
Jockeying with Bichsel, who is six inches taller and 16 pounds heavier, allowed Landeskog to test both his strength and that right knee to gain leverage.
The result? Girard’s shot found space in traffic with Landeskog making it hard for DeSmith to see the puck.
“He’s a big boy,” Landeskog said with a smile. “He’s a big strong guy, a physical player and hard to play against. I was trying to get in front of their goal, and he was trying to get me out of there. It was a good battle.”
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