October 3, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

It felt like it was only a matter of time before the Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch received a contract extension. The Imperial, Saskatchewan native got that contract extension on Friday. The Oilers announced that Knoblauch will be the Oilers coach for three more seasons after this one.

NEW COACH CONTRACT ✔️

The #Oilers have signed Head Coach Kris Knoblauch to a three-year contract extension through the 2028-29 season. pic.twitter.com/K5wUkfWCQQ

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 3, 2025

The former University of Alberta Golden Bear has a regular season record of 97-47-10 in his two seasons at the helm of the Oilers. Those 97 wins are the second most in the league in that span. He has guided the club to a 29-18 record in the playoffs as well. Knoblauch’s 126 total wins are the most in the league in that span. He has guided the Oilers to back-to-back Stanley Cup finals. Knoblauch is the first coach to do that since Scotty Bowman in 1970. It’s kind of fitting that Scotty’s son, Oilers GM Stan Bowman, is the one who signed Knoblauch to the extension.

Knoblauch has been a tremendous fit with the Oilers. He has brought a calmness behind the bench that helps keep the grounded and focussed even when things aren’t going well. That has shone through many times. The Oilers were 3-9-1 when Knoblauch was hired, and they dug themselves out of that rut. They had multiple eight-game winning streaks, including a historic sixteen-game win streak on their way to finishing second in the Pacific Division in 2023-24. They also fell behind 0-3 and forced a Game 7 in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. They came back from a 0-2 deficit against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, and they came from behind in all four of their wins in that series. They also came back to win their next two games in the second round, so they had six consecutive come from behind wins. That shows the team’s resiliency. A lot of that has to do with their coach being level-headed and composed in every situation.

Related: Changes Under Knoblauch

He has also demonstrated a knack for being able to push the right buttons at the right times. Knoblauch has made many in-game line adjustments that have worked out splendidly, and he has made a lot of lineup changes during playoff series that also worked out really well.

Knoblauch has made tactical adjustments in playoff series as well. The Oilers have a much better record from Game 4 onwards in series than they do in the first three games of series. Knoblauch is able to adapt the gameplan as series evolve. 

Related: Knoblauch’s playoff moves continue to pay dividends

Another example is when Knoblauch benched Leon Draisaitl after a bad penalty in the third period of a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on October 15, 2024. Draisaitl set up the game-tying goal and scored the overtime winner, and then he went on to win the Rocket Richard Trophy with 52 goals as well as being a finalist for the Hart Trophy and finishing sixth in Selke Trophy voting. A willingness to hold players accountable was one of the things that Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson liked about Knoblauch when he hired him, and Knoblauch showed that in his handling of Draisaitl that night.

Another reason Knoblauch is such a good fit is because of his relationship with Oilers captain Connor McDavid. Knoblauch coached McDavid with the Eerie Otters of the OHL. Jackson was McDavid’s agent at that time, so he got a close look at Knoblauch’s coaching style. In case you haven’t heard, McDavid is eligible to sign a contract extension of his own. He wants to win, and he needs to see that the Oilers will be in position to contend for the duration of his next contract. Locking up Knoblauch for three more seasons after this one is a big step in the right direction. Not only is it one less question mark clouding the future of the Oilers, but Knoblauch is someone that McDavid has a long-standing relationship with, which will hopefully give McDavid some additional comfort with the idea of extending his time with the Oilers.

It truly would have been unbelievable to see Knoblauch not get extended after all of the success he has had with the Oilers in his short time with the club. It was nice to see him get to pick his own coaching staff this summer. He inherited Glen Gulutzan and Mark Stuart, and Paul Coffey was introduced as an assistant coach at the same press conference where Knoblauch was introduced as the head coach. Gulutzan accepted the head coaching job with the Dallas Stars, and Coffey has returned to his position as special advisor to Oilers owner Daryl Katz. Knoblauch hired Paul McFarland to run the powerplay and put Stuart in charge of the defence in addition to his usual role of running the penalty kill.

Getting Knoblauch extended also gives the Oilers some stability at the coaching position. McDavid has had five coaches in his ten-year career. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has had nine head coaches in his fourteen NHL seasons. The longest tenured Oilers head coach since Nugent-Hopkins’ career began in 2011 was Todd McLellan (220 games), who was fired twenty games into his fourth season with the Oilers. Knoblauch’s contract extension goes through what would be his sixth season of coaching the Oilers. Having such stability during such an important time in the franchise’s history is a huge positive.