Oilers fire head coach amid brutal start; Draisaitl and McDavid tied for 28th and 105th in scoring

The Edmonton Oilers have not started the 2023-24 season the way they would have liked, and that's pretty much the understatement of the century. Off to a 2-9-1 start heading into last night's game against the Kraken, the Oilers sorely needed a win for head coach Jay Woodcroft to save his job. Well, they got the win, but it still didn't save Woodcroft's job.

Per Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers are indeed making a coaching change. Friedman reported on Sunday morning that Woodcroft has been relieved of his duties. As of this moment, the Oilers have not named his replacement.

***UPDATE, 12:26pm - Oilers name Kris Knoblauch as the team's next head coach***




How does a team that boasts the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl open the season 3-9-1? More importantly, how are two of the league's most productive forwards struggling so much under Woodcroft?

Leon Draisaitl is currently tied for 28th in scoring with 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) in 13 games, while McDavid currently sits in a tie for 105th in scoring with 10 points (2G, 8A) in 11 games. Yes, I'm sure you could argue that the Oilers' record has just as much to do with McDavid and Draisaitl not playing up to their standard as it does with Woodcroft not being able to coach his way out of a wet paper bag, but at this point, it doesn't matter what the cause of their rough start is. Now it's about fixing the problems. GM Ken Holland has started with coaching and, I'm sure, will shift his focus to the players if the coaching change doesn't yield better results.