June 23, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s hard to imagine that the Edmonton Oilers started 2-9-1 this season and they now find themselves headed to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final after being down 3-0 in the series, but that’s the reality. The decision was made to make a coaching change after the loss in San Jose that put the team at 2-9-1; but Jay Woodcroft got one more game, a 4-1 win in Seattle. The team was 3-9-1 when new Head Coach Kris Knoblauch took over the coaching duties on November 13, 2023.

Related: Oilers Fire Woodcroft and Manson & Name Knoblauch and Coffey as replacements

Knoblauch deserves a ton of credit for guiding the Oilers here, but I find myself thinking of Woodcroft before Game 7. These were Woodcroft’s words on April 28, 2022 before the Oilers’ first round series against the Los Angeles Kings:

“…I keep saying it, but we’re focussed on the day’s business…”

Woodcroft seemingly uttered those words or a reasonable facsimile of those words every day during his tenure as the Head Coach of the Oilers. That was his mindset. Whether it was an off day where the team needed to focus on getting rest or it was a game day where two points were on the line, Woodcroft’s message was always to focus on the day’s business. The message became tiresome to hear as a fan and I’m sure the players became sick of hearing it too, but my goodness was it the right message.

We need only look at the comments of the players throughout the series to see Woodcroft’s messaging still ringing true. Prior to Game 6, Leon Draisaitl said that  “…we’re one game at a time still. We’ve got to win a game at home tonight and you know, get this thing back to Florida, and then it’s a one-game series… Your focus is on this one game tonight and not on what’s going to happen in four or five days from now.”

Draisaitl stated that the task at hand on Friday night was to win a home game. He acknowledged that as a human, it’s hard to not think about the prize at the end; but he said that the focus is on the task at hand. Focus on the day’s business.

Look at what the Oilers did in the regular season. They came back from being in 32nd place in the league on November 9, 2023 to finishing in second place in the Pacific Division and earning home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

That rise up the standings included an eight-game winning streak AND a historic sixteen-game winning streak. They weren’t thinking about going on these long winning streaks. Knoblauch broke the schedule up into eight-game segments and wanted the team to strive for a 5-3 record in each of those eight game segments. That made the daunting task of climbing back into the playoff picture less daunting. Woodcroft built a foundation of taking things one day and one game at a time though. You can’t pile up wins like they did during those streaks if you’re thinking about what you’ve done in the past and what lies ahead. They got those winning streaks by focussing on each task at hand.

Look at what they have done to date in these playoffs. They were down 3-2 to the Vancouver Canucks in the second round, and they won Games 6 and 7 to take the series. The Oilers never actually led at any point in that series, yet they found a way to win it. The Oilers were down 2-1 to the Dallas Stars, and they won three straight games to win that series.

Finally, they have become the first team in 79 years to force a Game 7 after being down 3-0 in a Stanley Cup Final. They have done an amazing job of staying in the moment and focussing on the task at hand on their way to tying the series at three games apiece.

Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson reached out to renowned performance coach George Mumford to work with the Oilers this season. I’ve shard this quote from Mumford in this space before, but I’ll share it once again here:

“The hardest thing, after all the work and all the time spent on training and technique, is just being fully present in the moment.”

To be fully present in the moment is to be focussed on the task at hand. There is no room in the mind for any thoughts that deviate from the moment and the task at hand if one is to achieve maximum performance. That really isn’t different from Woodcroft’s messaging. Be fully present in the moment. Focus on the day’s business.

This is Knoblauch’s team now, but let’s not forget that Woodcroft did play a role in this team’s season. Yes, the team had a terrible start to the season under Woodcroft; but he had a fantastic record with the Oilers and he guided the team to their first Western Conference Final in 2022. His messaging has clearly stuck with the players.

The Oilers have one more piece of business to attend to on Monday. I expect that they will continue to stay present in the moment and focus on the day’s business.