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Oilers coach Knoblauch lashes out at players hurting the team with poor play

Originally posted on Oilers Daily | By Liam McCormick | Last updated Mar 11, 2025 1:30 PM ET

The Edmonton Oilers lost last night's game to the lowly Buffalo Sabres, causing Coach Knoblauch to really put pressure on a number of players in his post game comments.

Knoblauch has now called out the entire Oilers roster a number of times in the past two months, a growing sign of some frustrations from the head coach.

Oilers coach Knoblauch lashes out at few players costing team with poor play

After last night's game, Knoblauch seemed genuinely angered with a few players he described as not contributing offensively and playing poor defensively - any player with no net positive impact.

Its frustrating when some of the guys who aren't contributing offensively are contributing towards scoring chances against, which is really hurting us. It's different if you're making those plays and it's leading to offence, but that's hurting our team.
- Coach Knoblauch

This comment heavily harkens back to Knoblauch's earlier comment of calling out some passengers on the Oilers roster, as well as calling the team fragile. With now repeated calls that some players aren't pulling their weight, it's clear the coach is growing even more frustrated.

So, who may might be the passengers from last night's Oilers game? According to analytics from Hockey Stat Cards, Troy Stecher was the most impactful Oiler last night - which won't win you many games.

Outside of that anomaly, many Oilers clearly weren't able to provide much positive impact at all. Evan Bouchard, Viktor Arvidsson, and Brett Kulak in particular had brutal nights.

On top of it all, the Oilers hit multiple posts in a one goal game that's would've made the difference. What also made a difference was Stuart Skinner allowing another weak goal, which affects the Oilers at the margins and can cost them a game too.

Edmonton is in a tough situation at the moment. The roster appears to be backsliding into poor habits, the Coach is losing his calm control behind the bench, and the goaltending is still an issue. The Oilers have a lot of issues to address internally before the playoffs.

This article first appeared on Oilers Daily and was syndicated with permission.

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