The one you know – Oilers legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Paul Coffey. The assistant who will take care of the defense. The other, you will meet Kris Knoblauch, the 18th head coach in franchise history.
History is what he has with this city and hockey. He played for the Edmonton Ice of the WHL before moving to Cranbrook, British Columbia and becoming the Kootenay Ice. Knoblauch also played five seasons for the University of Alberta Golden Bears and won a national championship.
His success on campus isn’t limited to the ice. His cousin told him he knew the perfect girl for him because she was literally and figuratively the girl next door who lived in residence at the University of Alberta. His cousin was right. Married and now parents of two children.
The New York Rangers get an assist to make Sunday’s announcement a reality. They gave Edmonton the opportunity to speak with Knoblauch. None of this happens without them. On Saturday night he was coaching New York’s AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, but on Sunday he was on a plane packing for a business trip to Edmonton.
The new coach, Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson, president of hockey operations and general manager Ken Holland, and new assistant Coffey talked for three quarters of an hour in the afternoon. They covered all the topics.
Among them was the remote evaluation of the new coach. He said the team was playing under a lot of pressure and needed to get back to having fun. That’s why, on an unseasonably warm Sunday, the pressure was on for an organization that wants to win.
Holland said he broke the news to Woodcroft and Manson. Not easy. A moving and uncomfortable encounter as two good men find themselves unemployed. Expectations are a burden if they are not met.
Edmonton has a chance to win the sixth Stanley Cup they are so desperately seeking. They will try to continue this quest with a new coach on Monday evening who is the new kid at Knoblauch.
