This morning some breaking news was leaked: the Edmonton Oilers relieved Head Coach Jay Woodcroft of his duties, even with a 4–1 win against the Seattle Kraken last night.
The Oilers announced that they hired Kris Knoblauch, Connor McDavid’s junior coach, as the head coach, and Paul Coffey as his assistant coach.
The NHL is infamous for being a league where head coaches are recycled ad nauseum, so it is interesting that the team went for two more unexperienced coaches.
This seems like a desperation move for a team that had Stanley Cup aspirations and start that was the complete opposite. And you know what they say about desperate times? Desperate measures.
But, was this really a desperate of enough measure? Maybe this team needs something completely out of left field, something so crazy that it just might work. So why not look to some out of the box candidates to really try to get a spark?
Gordon Bombay
If there ever was someone who can take a rag tag laughing stock of a team and turn them into a champion, it’s former Edina Hawks superstar from the Minneapolis Peewee league.
More importantly, Gordon Bombay has experience coaching on the big stage, having guided the USA to a Junior Goodwill Games championship against powerhouse favourites Team Iceland.
Plus, did you know he was in Mission Impossible? So yeah, the guy knows a thing or two about difficult tasks.
Dustin Schwartz
Dustin Schwartz has been drawing the ire of Oilers fans for quite some time, but recently it has been stronger than ever. However, the guy has now survived five head coaches in his time here, so he must be doing something right?
There would be no better way to show that Oilers fans don’t know what they are talking about regarding Schwartz than for him to step up to the big job and succeed.
And if he doesn’t? Well then Oilers fans will finally get their wish for him to be gone. Talk about a win-win situation.
Oilers fans as a whole
With social media these days, it’s pretty easy to gather many people’s thoughts and opinions in quick fashion. So why not use that to our advantage and disrupt the whole notion of a one man head coach?
As we all know, Oilers fans are the smartest hockey people there are. We know exactly what moves the GM should have made, exactly what players the coach should have dressed, and exactly what strategies are going to be the most successful.
Therefore, all coaching decisions will be put to a public poll for the fans to decide. Starting goalie for the game? Majority wins. Man-to-man versus zone coverage? Argue in the comments, best advocate decides. Goal song? Everyone post theirs, whoever gets the most likes and retweets takes the prize.
Another reason why the Oilers should consider this? Well, we know it is a money making business, and you are telling me that if this was an option that was only available through Oilers+ that the amount of subscribers wouldn’t skyrocket? Talk about raising HRR and the cap in the process.
Every single member of the 1984–85 Oilers
If the above idea of group decision making is a bit too extreme for you, why not whittle it down a bit to just hockey people who, ahem, know a thing or two about winning?
This team was voted as the greatest NHL team of all time, so they obviously have the credentials. In fact, Paul Coffey was on that team, so you’ve already got one piece down.
You’ve also got plenty of NHL coaching experience, and as a bonus, three of them gained that with the Oilers.
Someone with absolutely no connection to the Oilers in any capacity whatsoever
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH just kidding, could you imagine? This might literally be the most unrealistic proposal on this list.
Yours truly
Yes, I know I put myself up for the goaltending position in my article on that topic, but the logic is the same. Either I’d turn it around and it would be a movie-worthy scrappy underdog story, or it would be such an unmitigated disaster that the entertainment would be off the charts. I would channel the old coaches of yore where it was a regular occurrence to see coaches going ballistic on referees, breaking and throwing sticks from the bench, and just being chaotic in general.
And yes, if (when?) I do the article on potential new GMs in the near future, I will again be on the list. Manifestation and all that jazz right?
How do we not have Ted Lasso in the running? I think he already proved that he doesn’t need to know the sport. He has proven that he knows what to do with a ragtag group of underachievers!