When a team fires a coach, often it’s because the coach’s message has begun to fall on deaf ears.
Superstar Connor McDavid doesn’t believe that was the case for the Edmonton Oilers, who made headlines Sunday morning after firing head coach Jay Woodcroft amidst a disappointing start to the season.
“He never lost the room,” McDavid said Monday after the team’s first practice without Woodcroft and assistant coach Dave Manson who was also fired Sunday.
If anything, McDavid believes the players are at fault for Woodcroft and Manson being out of work.
“Our play hasn’t been good enough,” McDavid explained. “I’m first on the list there. Our play needs to be better, it’s the reason two good guys lost their job.”
McDavid also admitted to being shocked by the move.
“I woke up to a text like probably a lot of you guys did as well,” the Oilers captain said on how he found out the news.
In terms of the rumours swirling that he was somehow involved in the decision, McDavid was quick to shut those down.
“I know the narrative out there, couldn’t be further from the truth,” McDavid said.
Woodcroft finished with a 79-41-13 over parts of three seasons with the Oilers, but after a 3-9-1 start to 2023-24, the organization decided a change needed to be made.
The other member of the Oilers’ dynamic duo, Leon Draisaitl, echoed McDavid’s thoughts on the coaching change.
“There is no way (Woodcroft) lost anyone in here,” Draisaitl said. “Obviously us players, we’re the ones on the ice and we were as prepared as any team in the league for any given night. It’s on us to obviously be better.”
In place of Woodcroft, the Oilers hired McDavid’s former OHL coach Kris Knoblauch.
Knoblauch is no stranger to Edmonton, where he played his junior hockey and spent five years at the University of Alberta.
How does McDavid feel about reuniting with his old bench boss from his time with the Erie Otters?
“It’s been a really long time,” McDavid when asked about Knoblauch. “Obviously thought he was great in junior, I don’t know what he’s been up to other than he’s been coaching obviously in the NHL as an assistant, and in the American league.
“He’s a young voice, which is great I think it resonates with a lot of guys in this room, you know he’s someone that I look forward to working with.”
The duo will have their first chance to pick up a win together at the NHL level on Monday night when the Oilers take on the New York Islanders on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ at 8:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. MT.
