Oilers Fire Kris Knoblauch Despite Back-to-Back Stanley Cup Final Appearances

Greg Wyshynski examines Connor McDavid's future with the Oilers after being eliminated by the Ducks. (1:41)

Despite making back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2024 and 2025, the Edmonton Oilers have fired coach Kris Knoblauch, a source confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.

Knoblauch had signed a three-year extension with the Oilers in October that was set to begin with the 2026-27 season and run through 2028-29.

But the Oilers, who had preseason title expectations, were an average team throughout 2025-26. The heat turned up under Knoblauch when superstar captain Connor McDavid effusively expressed his admiration in March for Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper, who coached McDavid at the 4 Nations Faceoff and Olympic Games in Milan.

The sentiment behind McDavid's comments seemed to suggest a certain dissatisfaction with Knoblauch, though McDavid later said he was "not taking shots."

The Oilers regrouped and went 12-6-3 over March and April to finish in second place in the Pacific Division before they were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in six games in the first round of the playoffs.

TSN first reported on Knoblauch's firing.

Knoblauch was a surprise hire by the Oilers in November 2023, poached from his position as head coach of the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolfpack to replace Jay Woodcroft 13 games into a disastrous start to Edmonton's season.

In his first NHL head coaching gig, Knoblauch immediately righted the ship, taking the Oilers from bottom-feeders to a Stanley Cup Final. Edmonton was back in the Final again in 2025 but lost, as they had in 2024, to the Florida Panthers .

Information from ESPN's Emily Kaplan and Kristen Shilton was used in this report.

_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/48768399/oilers-fire-kris-knoblauch-coach-source-confirms)._