EDMONTON — Well, this is awkward.
As hockey insider Frank Seravalli broke the news on Tuesday that the Vegas Golden Knights were withholding permission for the Edmonton Oilers to speak with fired head coach Bruce Cassidy, the hockey world began its debate:
Who looks worse here? The Oilers, who have a head coach in Kris Knoblauch whom they’ve clearly moved on from — but somehow haven’t bothered to fire yet.
Or the Golden Knights, who have gone against a long-standing tradition of allowing people like Cassidy to move on and re-gain employment elsewhere. Because somewhere along the way, the Golden Knights have decided that they’ll play by their own rules, and if Cassidy thinks that bringing a Cup to Vegas earned him any gratitude within that organization, well, think again.
But let’s start with Edmonton:
The Oilers were caught red-handed seeking a replacement for Knoblauch before they had the decency to commit to firing their coach.
On one hand, it happens all the time in hockey, most often in-season. Like when Vegas was talking to John Tortorella as Cassidy coached the team. Or when Knoblauch was talking to Ken Holland, while Jay Woodcroft was coaching his final game behind Edmonton’s bench.
But in the summer, no such pressure exists.
That president Jeff Jackson and GM Stan Bowman thought they could dip a line into the "new coach waters," yet keep Knoblauch on the hook just in case they didn’t like what they caught, is wholly disrespectful to a man who coached them to two Stanley Cup Finals.
We now expect Knoblauch, left twisting in the wind for a couple of weeks now, to officially be fired by week’s end. Because there is no way he can be asked to return to an organization that is actively hoping to move on without him. Neither Jackson nor Bowman were available to comment on this story.
That press conference should be a doozy, but looking down from 30,000 feet, what do we see?
We see an Oilers management team that has botched both July 1’s since taking over for the duo of Ken Holland and Bob Nicholson, now botching its first coach firing as well. It does not inspire confidence that these are the hands capable of performing the delicate surgery required to close out the Connor McDavid era with a Stanley Cup, when firing a coach is the dicing potatoes phase of preparing the gourmet recipe that is a championship-winning roster.
Then there’s Knoblauch:
About to start a new three-year deal that begins on July 1 — worth between $7.5 and $8 million in total — the vibe from the exit interviews press conference did not favour Knoblauch. All that talk about a team going backwards, about never finding the proper level of intensity, did not shine well on the coaching staff.
The performance of the penalty killing unit had all but demanded for assistant coach Mark Stuart’s head, but when the two superstars — first Leon Draisaitl, then McDavid — throw that much shade on the overall operation at their year-end availabilities, the owner knows he has to change out either the management or the coach.
We’re not sure what the right choice was, but it’s been made now. Knoblauch’s tenure as coach of the Oilers has concluded
If you’re asking, I did not see how he and his staff were at fault for this past season’s malaise. Two long playoff runs, a compressed Olympic schedule and a whack of injuries before Game 3 against the Anaheim Ducks all kneecapped the 2025-26 season for Edmonton.
We’re not sure Knoblauch — or anyone — was going to coach their way through all of that.
Then there’s Cassidy:
Traditionally, two things are true about a fired coach like Cassidy.
One, Vegas owes him nearly $4.5 million for the 2026-27 season. An owner like Bill Foley is usually thrilled that another team would employ Cassidy, usually eating up the entire remainder of the salary owed.
Two, it’s the decent thing to do. Cassidy won Vegas a Cup, they fired him late this season, and now he has a new suitor. Get out of his way and let him find work.
If your argument is, “We don’t want such a great coach behind the bench of a division rival,” my reply would be, “Didn’t you just hire a guy who is supposed to be better?”
Cassidy wants to coach, and we fully expect that he will be hired by Edmonton after this clumsy process.
And finally, the Golden Knights:
GM Kelly McCrimmon and president George McPhee are straightforward, honest guys who we like. But this is a junior hockey move.
They’ve temporarily stood in the way of Cassidy’s career, though they’ll no doubt relent now that their divisional rival has been left looking foolish. It’s like faking a punch, then laughing at the guy who flinched.
Two words sum up Vegas's role in all of this: Grow up.
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