November 10, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have been steadfast in the face of adversity all season long, standing in front of the cameras and the reporters and speaking with a calm maturity that showed they felt how most people felt, which is that they know they can be better. The feeling around the Oilers was different after Thursday’s loss to the San Jose Sharks though. Leon Draisaitl looked beaten and dejected in his post-game press conference. The frustration was seeping through in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s interview. The impact was most noticed on the face of head coach Jay Woodcroft though. 

According to our Michael Hebert (@oilerslive), there’s a big reason that the faces were extra long after Thursday night’s loss:

Expect THE news on Woodcroft at the end of this road trip. Hearing from multiple people close to the org, unclear on replacement plan. Our @lotsryan will give thoughts on potential scenarios later tonight.#LetsGoOilers   @HeavyHockeyNet

— OILERSLIVE (@oilerslive) November 11, 2023

The bottom line is that this is a results business, and it’s very much a “what have you done for me lately?” league. Woodcroft has a record of 78-41-13 in 132 games since taking over the Oilers head coaching position on February 10, 2021. His points percentage was second best in the NHL during his tenure behind the Oilers bench coming into this season. The Oilers went to the Western Conference Finals in Woodcroft’s first season after taking over for Dave Tippett, and they have won three playoff series in his two springs with the Oilers. 

It would be incredibly rare and odd for a coach to be fired with such a stellar record, especially in such a short time frame. However, this 2-9-1 start for a team with the two best players on the planet and such lofty expectations is rare and odd too. It’s unacceptable. Waking up in 32nd overall in the league on Friday morning after losing to a team that’s supposedly historically bad is unacceptable. Rightfully or not, the reality is that the coach is typically the casualty when things go this awry. It appears that will be the case once again here.

The game against the Sharks should’ve been an easy win for the Oilers; but I had a bad feeling about a struggling Oilers team coming into the barn of a terrible team riding a high after winning their first game of the season two nights before. As it turns out, I was right to be worried. The organization was clearly worried too. Based on the body language of Woodcroft and the players, it seems like they knew what the outcome would be after a loss on Thursday night.

as jay woodcroft and dave manson walk off the ice after the oilers loss to san jose, woodcroft appears to say “that might be it” to manson, who appears to respond with “yup.” pic.twitter.com/Qd1b8fNfAX

— zach (@zjlaing) November 10, 2023

Dave Manson is also expected to be a part of any impending coaching changes. Manson is affectionately known as the “defence whisperer”. He spent four years as an assistant coach on Woodcroft’s staff with the Bakersfield Condors, a time during which prospects such as Caleb Jones, Ethan Bear, William Lagesson, Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg, Markus Niemelainen, and Vincent Desharnais all played NHL games. Glen Gulutzan runs the Oilers powerplay, so it’s not a big leap to suggest that Manson is responsible for an Oilers penalty killing unit that ranked 20th last season and sits 30th in the league at 70.2% this season.

Related: Where’s the “Defence Whisperer”?

I’ll save my thoughts on Woodcroft and his tenure in Edmonton for when a formal announcement is made by the team. For now, I’ll look at some potential candidates that could replace Woodcroft. This would be an incredibly important hire for the Oilers. Draisaitl will be a free agent in 2025, and Connor McDavid will be a free agent in 2026. The Oilers don’t have time or patience for a developing coach. CEO Jeff Jackson has made several progressive hires since joining the Oilers in August, but I don’t think this will be one of those hires. My sense is that the Oilers would go with someone that has NHL experience this time around.

Gulutzan makes a lot of sense as an interim coach. He had middling results as head coach of the Dallas Stars in 2011-12 and 2012-13, and the Calgary Flames in 2016-17 and 2017-18. He joined the Oilers as an assistant coach in 2018-19. Gulutzan has been responsible for the Oilers powerplay, which achieved an all-time record success rate last season. If Gulutzan were to survive this impending coaching change, it would be the second Oilers coaching change that he would have survived. He joined the Oilers prior to Todd McLellan’s last season as the Oilers head coach. I could totally see Gulutzan getting an interim title while the team looks for a longer term solution.

All roads to a Stanley Cup for the Oilers lead through Vegas. The defending Stanley Cup champions are off to a stellar start this season, and they are going to be good for a number of years to come. It might behoove the Oilers to go after someone with intel on some of the Vegas Golden Knights’ best players. Gerard Gallant is the first name that came to mind for me. Gallant went to a Stanley Cup final with the Golden Knights in 2018, and has made the playoffs in five straight seasons as a coach.

Related: Oilers name Jeff Jackson CEO of Hockey Operations

Gallant was most recently with the New York Rangers. His time there ended this past spring when the Rangers lost to the New Jersey Devils in the first round after the team acquired Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko at the trade deadline. Gallant has a .576 points percentage as an NHL coach, which is dragged down by his .430 points percentage in three seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets early in his career.

Gallant was a teammate of GM Ken Holland’s on the Adirondack Red Wings in the 1983-84 season, which might not mean as much as we think it might because I’m not sure how much input Holland will have in the next Oilers coaching hire.

Claude Julien is another name that might merit consideration. Julien won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011. His Bruins only finished outside the top three in their division once in his ten seasons in Boston. His two tenures in Montreal weren’t as successful, but he did lead them to a division title in the first year of his second tenure there in 2016-17. Most recently, Julien coached the 2022 Canadian Men’s Olympic Hockey Team.

Bruce Boudreau has a knack for turning teams around in a hurry. He led the Washington Capitals to four straight division titles after taking the job there in 2007-08. Boudreau guided the Anaheim Ducks to a 27-23-8 record after replacing Randy Carlyle behind their bench in the 2011-12 season, and went on to win four more division titles in the next four seasons. The Minnesota Wild finished with 87 points in the 2015-16 season, and then got 106 points with Boudreau at the helm the next season. Finally, he took a 8-15-2 Canucks team and led them to a 32-15-10 finish in 2021-22. He’s currently working as a Senior Advisor with the Niagara Bulldogs, so an NHL return for Boudreau doesn’t feel imminent.

John Hynes and Brad Larsen are two former head coaches that are currently out of work. There’s a certain Alberta born Stanley Cup winning coach from Viking that I won’t mention here because I don’t see that as a good fit at all. Dallas Eakins is also available, but under no circumstance would that be an idea even worth considering.

There are some current assistant coaches that could merit consideration as well. Former Canucks head coach Travis Green is currently with the New Jersey Devils as an asisstant coach. Former Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill is currently as assistant coach in Tampa Bay. Bob Boughner is a highly regarded coach that is currently on the Red Wings bench as an assistant coach. Mike Yeo is currently an assistant on Rick Tocchet’s staff in Vancouver. Dave Lowry (Seattle), Ryan Warsofsky (San Jose), and Mitch Love (Washington) are all current assistant coaches that were in the mix for head coaching positions within the last year as well. The Oilers would need to receive permission from any of these teams to be able to talk to any of these current assistant coaches about a head coaching role in Edmonton.

No, I don’t see the Oilers talking to Joel Quenneville about any potential opportunity. I also don’t believe that Patrick Roy will be involved in any discussions with the Oilers.

Stay tuned to Heavy Hockey as this story continues to develop over the coming days.