Losing to the San Jose Sharks, a team off to the worst start in NHL history by goal differential? Evidently that was the final straw for an Edmonton Oilers team that was supposed to contend for a Stanley Cup this season. A decisive win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night wasn’t enough to change things.
On Sunday morning, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Oilers are firing coach Jay Woodcroft after stumbling to a 3-9-1 start, sitting 31st out of 32 teams in the NHL’s overall standings.
Woodcroft, 47, is out of work after less than two years in what was a whirlwind stint with the team. Hired in the winter of 2022 following the mid-season firing of Dave Tippett, Woodcroft helped spark a sizzling 26-9-3 finish to the season, propelling the Oilers into the playoffs. They defeated the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames in the first two rounds to reach their first Conference Final since 2005-06. In 2022-23, Woodcroft guided the Oilers to their first 50-win season since the glory days of their mid-1980s dynasty. Armed with the best player of a generation in Connor McDavid, fellow 100-point scorers Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and an improved defense bolstered by last winter’s Mattias Ekholm trade, the Oilers were a popular 2023-24 Stanley Cup pick among many pundits.
Instead, they have fallen flat on their faces in a way no one could’ve imagined, already eight points out of a playoff spot after just 13 games. Does Woodcroft deserve the blame? The Oilers have remained a pretty dominant territorial team, holding the second-best 5-on-5 shot attempt share in the NHL and even leading the league in expected goals per 60. They have the second-lowest shooting percentage in the NHL. Most notably, with Stuart Skinner and the AHL-demoted Jack Campbell floundering in net, the Oilers have the worst team save percentage in the NHL at a putrid .864. In terms of trading scoring chances, they have skated circles around their opponents.
But regardless of what they analytics say, the losses kept coming, and the team decided it had to change something. Woodcroft’s tenure ends after 133 games. Even with the horrid start, his .643 points percentage places him 12th in NHL history among bench bosses with 100 or more games.
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