Coming off of coaching nearly five seasons in the American Hockey League with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Rangers organization, Kris Knoblauch accepted his first NHL head coaching job in mid-November and walked into an Edmonton Oilers locker room — occupied by some of the NHL’s biggest stars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — that was in disarray.
One of the Stanley Cup favorites to begin the season, the Oilers had gotten off to a disastrous 3-9-1 start that got their coach, Jay Woodcroft, fired.
In came Knoblauch, who was passed over twice for the Blueshirts job during his time in Hartford, and Edmonton ultimately finished in second place in the Pacific Division with a 46-18-5 record.
Now, Knoblauch and the Oilers are four wins away from climbing hockey’s Mount Everest against the team that knocked his former employers out in the other half of the NHL playoff bracket, the Florida Panthers.
“I saw a team that was very hard on themselves, a team that was very frustrated,” Knoblauch said, per the Canadian Press, before his team eliminated the Stars in the Western Conference Final on Sunday. “Things hadn’t been going their way … a team that was trying probably too hard. You just get so caught up and you’re not thinking straight.
“When you try to do too much or are trying to do everything, ultimately you’re doing other people’s jobs, and then you’re not doing your job as well. Everything’s disconnected.”
Inheriting a club that not only qualified for the playoffs in each of the previous four seasons, including the qualifying round in the 2020 bubble postseason, but also reached as far as the conference final just two years ago, certainly helped.
But Oilers general manager Ken Holland credited Knoblauch for saving their 2023-24 season, per ESPN.
Knoblauch led the Wolf Pack to a 119-90-32 record with one run to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Rangers were surely happy with his work in the AHL, but the organization was never going to hand the keys over to a first-year coach when it was in win-now mode.
“I’m super happy for him,” Zac Jones told The Post in late December of Knoblauch getting a NHL gig. “I always figured it would come. I didn’t think when it would come, but I knew that he would be a head coach in the NHL at some point. I’m really, really happy for him and his family.
“I really liked him. I really enjoyed having him as a coach for three years almost. It was good. He taught me a lot and put me in a lot of good situations down there, so I really enjoyed playing for him.”