In his short career as a head coach in the NHL, Kris Knoblauch has taken the league by storm. In less than two seasons behind an NHL bench, he has two Stanley Cup Final appearances. In the regular season, his team has a 94–47–10 record, followed up with a 29–18 record in the playoffs.
Although he did not receive any votes for the Jack Adams Award in 2024–25, in 2023–24, he finished fifth in voting after taking over from Jay Woodcroft in November. He led the team to a miraculous rise up the standings featuring an eight game winning streak followed shortly after by a 16-game winning streak.
Needless to say, Knoblauch’s NHL coaching career is off to a fantastic start. And his place in the organization has become even more stable following the conclusion of the season as his Edmonton Oilers look to re-tool to make a final push to win the coveted Stanley Cup.
Kris Knoblauch’s new staff
For the first two seasons he has been in the role, Kris Knoblauch has had a staff mostly filled with the remnants of past coaches teams. He hasn’t gotten a chance to bring his own team in, other coaches that may mesh with his philosophy or that he’s had chemistry with in the past.
Last season’s coaching staff was all brought in by other people. Glen Gulutzan had been with the Oilers since 2018. Dustin Schwartz had been with the organization since 2015. Mark Stuart joined in 2022. And Paul Coffey, though he joined the coaching staff with Knoblauch, was already in the Oilers organization as a skills coach and advisor.
For 2025–26, he will have a (mostly) new coaching team, that he will have helped select. Gulutzan has moved on to coach the Dallas Stars. Coffey is returning to an advisory role. And Schwartz departed the organization. Only Stuart will remain.
This complete shake-up, while leaving Knoblauch’s position secure, signals the team is ready to commit. His contract is up after the 2025–26 season, but General Manager Stan Bowman has given his coach a vote of confidence already this offseason. Bowman expects to get an extension done in due time, but added when asked after the NHL Draft that he has done a fantastic job.
Giving Knoblauch a new cast of assistants and publicly stating intention to get a contract extension done indicates that he is likely to become the longest tenured coach the Oilers have had since 2010.
Currently, Knoblauch’s 151 regular season games place him fourth on the list of 10 coaches since Pat Quinn coached the 2010–11 season. He will pass both Dave Tippett (171 regular season games) and Tom Renney (164) this season, leaving him behind only Todd McLellan (266).
Kris Knoblauch among the all-time greats
And how could the Oilers not want to offer Knoblauch an extension? He is having one of the best starts to an NHL coaching career of all time and currently sits near the top of the list in coaching points percentage.
He sits tied for fifth all-time in wins in a coach’s first 100 games with 64. Behind only Tom Johnson, Bep Guidolin, Mike Keenan, and McLellan.
Knoblauch’s current record, featuring 94 regular season wins, places him very close to hitting 100, potentially in less than two seasons behind the bench (barring a 2023–24-esque start to the upcoming season, that is). He currently sits at 151 games coached.
Looking at the all-time record list for fewest games to 100 wins for coaches, Knoblauch actually has a chance to win his 100th game third fastest in NHL history. If the Oilers win their first six games of the season, he will accomplish this feat in 157 games, just beating out McLellan and Terry Crisp who won 100 of their first 158 games.
The likely outcome places Knoblauch at between 159–162 games, which would land him in fifth or sixth. But remember, that is an all-time list. Still incredibly impressive.
And, although most coaches have significantly more games played and plenty of opportunities to regress and coach average teams that don’t have the two best players in the world on the roster, this last feat shows how truly dominant Knoblauch’s Oilers have been.
Of all coaches with more than 100 games coached, Knoblauch sits tied for third in points percentage in the regular season.
| Rk | Coach | GP | W | L | T | OL | PTS | PTS% ▼ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Johnson* | 208 | 142 | 43 | 23 | 307 | .738 | |
| 2 | Scotty Bowman* | 2141 | 1244 | 573 | 314 | 10 | 2812 | .657 |
| 3 | Kris Knoblauch | 151 | 94 | 47 | 10 | 198 | .656 | |
| T3 | Jim Montgomery | 358 | 215 | 102 | 40 | 470 | .656 | |
| 5 | Rod Brind’Amour | 534 | 325 | 160 | 49 | 699 | .654 |
Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/18/2025.
This is some elite company, to be (albeit, in significantly less games) hanging around in. Notably being 0.001 points per game less than the greatest coach of all-time, Scotty Bowman.
Knoblauch’s future looked bright last offseason after a stellar performance as a rookie head coach. And he is continuing to live up to those expectations heading into his third season behind the bench. His record and statline are among the best coaches in NHL history, and he now has a stronger, public vote of confidence from the organization to keep doing what he does best: winning a lot of hockey games.
Follow The Oil Rig on social media!
One Comment