Oilers Pitched to Consider Bringing In Peter DeBoer This Season

The spotlight is on Kris Knoblauch and the Edmonton Oilers, and Connor McDavid’s recent comments have only added to it, no matter what he truly meant by them.

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It hasn’t been the regular season anyone in Edmonton was hoping for, but with just 11 games to go until the playoffs—which the Oilers still have a 76.4% chance of making—it feels too late to make a coaching change. Or is it? In a recent article for The Hockey News, Michael Traikos made his case for why Edmonton should get ahead of things and consider replacing Knoblauch with Peter DeBoer much sooner rather than later.

Traikos wrote:

“It’s got to be the right team, he said, in the right place and at the right time. The thinking is that DeBoer, who last coached Dallas to the conference final in 2025, will be in high demand in the summer, when a team like Toronto, Los Angeles or Edmonton might consider a coaching change. But if you’re the Oilers, you might not be able to wait that long… When asked for his views on the Oilers’ style, McDavid said “that’s a coaching question,” before adding “we’re somewhat rehearsed and organized — but not to their level.” That’s the kind of honest assessment that could come back to haunt Knoblauch, if he’s unable to get the Oilers deep into the playoffs this year. Then again, with 11 games remaining in the regular season, maybe the time to pull the plug on Knoblauch should come sooner than that,”

The 57-year-old DeBoer, of course, last coached the Dallas Stars and was relieved of his duties after a second consecutive loss to the Oilers in the Western Conference Finals in 2024-25.

This is the kind of move that would come with big risk, especially considering that all Knoblauch has done is take Edmonton to the Finals every year he’s been behind the bench.

That being said, something is off right now with the Oilers, and if management feels the status quo won’t be good enough to make a deep playoff run, turning to one of the more well-respected veteran head coaches of the last decade could be a very interesting pivot.

Next: Frustrated in Edmonton? Analyst Blames Connor McDavid for Extending