Things aren’t great between the Edmonton Oilers coaching staff and management, and it seems the situation has gotten worse as the season went on. The friction has reportedly even influenced lineup decisions, according to insider Tom Gazzola.
The divide between Head Coach Kris Knoblauch and General Manager Stan Bowman has grown throughout the season. Multiple sources have told Gazzola that the two sides don’t agree on the team’s direction. The problems became more obvious as the season went on, ending with a first-round playoff exit to the Anaheim Ducks.
“What I know and I can tell you from my information I’ve been told by multiple sources is that, and this is no surprise, it shouldn’t be a surprise,” Gazzola revealed on the latest episode of Oil Stream on Edmonton Sports Talk. “The coaching staff and the management team are not on the same page. Okay. At all.”
Co-host Dustin Nielsen responded that he had suspected as much, noting his instincts were correct.
Stan Bowman’s public criticism of coaching staff
The tension went public when Bowman made pointed comments about forward Trent Frederic during his end-ofseason interviews. Instead of taking responsibility for signing Frederic to an eight-year, $30.8M contract after a bad playoff performance last spring, Bowman suggested the coaching staff didn’t use him the right way.
“When Stan Bowman said they didn’t use Trent Frederic properly, you know, like if you’re going to come out and talk about a player who absolutely sucked the big one for you all year and not hang it on yourself for like, yeah, that wasn’t a very good contract. I probably shouldn’t have done that,” Nielsen said.
“Instead, he goes, yeah, you know, we talked to him. He needs to be better, but I also don’t think we used him very well. I mean, that is a straight up slap in the face to your coach.”
Nielsen continued: “So, like at that moment, I was pretty sure that they probably weren’t on the same page. And if they’re not on the same page, then got to be gone, don’t you think? Like, why would you if you’re not going to be on the same page, how do you start next season again?”
Knoblauch’s made certain coaching decisions as protest
In the latest episode, Gazzola dropped a bombshell claim about Knoblauch’s motivations behind certain lineup decisions.
“You know how people complain about Knoblauch and not enough fire and passion and yes the people would question his coaching decisionsm and we did too on the pre and postgame show on these shows as well during our daily shows,” Gazzola said. “I called him a silent assassin, you know, when he benched Frederic in the last couple games.”
“I think there were moments this season where Kris Knoblauch, despite the management team, adjusted his lineup just to send an FU to them.”
Benching Frederic to send a message
The most obvious example was benching Frederic in the final two games of the playoff series against Anaheim. Frederic had struggled all regular season with just seven points in 74 games. When Knoblauch made him a healthy scratch in elimination games, it sent a clear message about what the coaching staff thought of a player management had signed for nearly a decade.
That decision came after Frederic made a bad mistake in Game 4. He failed to clear the puck in overtime which led to the controversial winning goal for the Ducks. But according to Gazzola, it also showed a bigger pattern of Knoblauch making lineup choices that went against what management wanted.
The tension around how Frederic was used showed the disconnect between Bowman’s acquisitions and Knoblauch’s coaching. Bowman had defended the signing by saying the team needed to do better at putting Frederic in positions where he could succeed. He said they moved him around to different lines instead of finding him one consistent role.
“I’ve talked to him about it, and we need him to play better,” Bowman said about Frederic during his media availability. “Part of that is on us too. I don’t think we set him up well. We moved him in a bunch of different roles.”
Those comments were seen as a direct shot at the coaching staff’s handling of a player Bowman had personally spent big money to get and keep.
Oilers exit meetings were not “cordial”
Gazzola also revealed that the end of season exit meetings between coaching staff and management were tense and one-sided.
“My understanding is the end of season exit meetings weren’t cordial,” Gazzola said. “Very one way.”
Gazzola had already expressed concerns about the team’s decision-making when Paul Coffey returned to the coaching staff in February during the Olympic break. Coffey had left his assistant coach job after the 2024–25 season to go back to an advisory role, but came back midseason when the team was struggling on defence.
“I go back to when we had that on location at BP oil stream after the announcement that Paul was coming back and I said I’m worried about the decision-making process,” Gazzola said. “It’s all come to light.”
Regarding Seravalli’s reporting on potential changes, Gazzola added: “Frank’s getting good information. Whether I like it or not doesn’t matter. Whether I like the process in which this has unfolded doesn’t matter but it go…”
Bowman’s roster moves under fire
The breakdown in the relationship comes as Bowman faces heavy criticism for several big roster decisions that went wrong during the 2025–26 season.
Beyond the Frederic contract, Bowman traded goaltender Stuart Skinner, defenceman Brett Kulak, and a 2029 second-round pick to get Tristan Jarry from Pittsburgh in December. That move was a disaster. Jarry posted an .858 save percentage and lost the starting job to Connor Ingram. Unlike Skinner, who was going to be a free agent, Jarry is still under contract through 2027–28 with a $5.375M cap hit.
Bowman also signed Jake Walman to a seven-year, $49M extension before the season. That deal was questioned right away. It kept drawing criticism as Walman played less than 19 minutes per game during the regular season.
These moves have left the Oilers in a tough cap situation heading into an offseason where Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have publicly said they’re worried about where the team is heading. Both stars used the word “concerned” when talking about their feelings after the playoff loss. Furthermore, McDavid called the team “average” throughout the season.
Kris Knoblauch gets the chopping block?
NHL insider Frank Seravalli has reported that it’s “more likely than not” that Knoblauch and his staff will be fired this offseason. Seravalli also said front office changes are likely as the organization tries to rebuild and restructure.
A management reset seems unlikely for the Oilers so perhaps Kris Knoblauch will eventually face the music this time.
With just two years left on McDavid’s contract and the championship window closing, the Oilers face what Seravalli called “the most consequential offseason, maybe, in Edmonton Oilers history.”
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