New Jersey Devils fans are no strangers to coaching changes. It’s been 44 years since the Devils joined the NHL after moving from Colorado, and the longest a head coach has been in place is Jacques Lemaire. That won’t surprise too many Devils fans, but what is surprising is that John Hynes is second. Both coaches had more than 350 games coached. No other coach in Devils history has more than 300 games coached.
Sheldon Keefe is a little more than halfway there, but he’s already on the hot seat. Things looked positive for him right after GM Sunny Mehta was hired, but a few really interesting names have joined the conversation for possibly available coaches. We’ve talked about Jon Cooper in Tampa, but nothing has happened there yet. Now, another head coach with Stanley Cup Final experience could become available.
Knoblauch came into this season coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances. He was taking a flawed Oilers team very far. There are mistakes up and down this roster, but having Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the team really helps make life easy.
Hmm, having two great centers could lead to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final? Well, let’s introduce Kris Knoblach to Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes.
The Oilers and Devils are in a similar situation in that they’d love an upgrade at head coach, but one thing changed everything. It was reported that the Oilers requested permission from the Vegas Golden Knights to interview Bruce Cassidy, but the request was denied. One major problem here is that Knoblauch hasn’t been fired yet.
With the rumor now out publicly, the Oilers are essentially in a position where they are forced to fire Knoblach, or they can allow him to be a dead man walking into next season. Both situations are terrible, but it’s an opportunity for the rest of the league. Now, it appears a really good head coach will be surprisingly available.
And this could also make other coaches available. There’s a domino effect with the Oilers surprise move, but they are desperate to keep McDavid in Edmonton. They’ve already lost one of the best players of all time when Wayne Gretzky was traded to the LA Kings, but he won four championships. Letting McDavid win a title in another city would be a colossal failure.
Thus the desperation. The Oilers want to get to the next step in their contention window, and after a first-round exit, they believe a coach is the change that’s necessary.
The Devils and Mehta should think long and hard about whether Keefe should remain the head coach here. The conversation changes if and when Knoblauch becomes available.
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