TheEdmonton Oilers are a Canadian professionalice hockey team based inEdmonton, Alberta. They play in thePacific Division of theWestern Conference in theNational Hockey League (NHL). The Oilers were established in 1972 as part of theWorld Hockey Association (WHA) and joined the NHL as one of four franchises during the1979 NHL expansion.[1] There have been 23head coaches in their franchise history; seven during their time in the WHA (1972–1979)[2] and seventeen during their time in the NHL (1979–present).[3]
The Oilers had seven different head coaches during the seven seasons that they played in the WHA. Ray Kinasewich was the first head coach for over 30 games of the original Alberta Oilers, with Hall of Famer (and Top100 Players of All Time) Glenn Hall as the teams first Assistant Coach.[4]Bill Hunter, who was the team's owner and general manager at the time served three terms.[5]Glen Sather became a player-coach during the1976–77 season, but retired as a player at the end of the year. Sather then coached the team for two more seasons in the WHA, and maintained the position when the Oilers were admitted as an expansion franchise into the NHL.
Since joining the NHL for the1979–80 season, the Oilers have had twelve different head coaches. Sather has the most games coached and most wins as head coach.[6] Sather stepped down before the1980–81 season, but after the Oilers started the season with only four wins in their first eighteen games he returned to the bench. Sather remained head coach for the remainder of that season plus eight more seasons, during which time the team won fourStanley Cups, in1984,1985,1987 and1988. For the1985–86 NHL season, Sather won theJack Adams Award for the NHL coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success".[7] Sather stepped down as coach a second time after the1988–89 season, andJohn Muckler coached the1990 championship team. Sather would have one more stint as head coach, relievingTed Green after the team posted just three victories in the first 24 games of the1993–94 season. Sather was inducted into theHockey Hall of Fame in 1997 in thebuilder category.
Former[8] Oilers head coach,Craig MacTavish, played for the team from 1985 to 1994. He was a member of the 1987, 1988, and 1990 Stanley Cup winning teams, and he was team captain from 1992 to 1994. As of the2023–24 season, he ranks second in the number of Oilers games coached.
The current head coach isKris Knoblauch.[9]
| Win % andPts %
|
| No. | Name | Seasons | Regular Season | Playoffs | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC | W | L | T | Win % | GC | W | L | Win % | |||
| 1 | Ray Kinasewich | 1972–73 | 45 | 20 | 23 | 2 | 0.467 | – | – | – | – |
| 2 | Bill Hunter | 1972–73 | 26 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 0.558 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| 3 | Brian Shaw | 1973–74 to1974–75 | 137 | 68 | 63 | 6 | 0.518 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0.200 |
| – | Bill Hunter | 1974–75 | 19 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 0.342 | – | – | – | – |
| 4 | Clare Drake | 1975–76 | 48 | 18 | 28 | 2 | 0.396 | – | – | – | – |
| – | Bill Hunter | 1975–76 | 33 | 9 | 21 | 3 | 0.318 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0.000 |
| 5 | Bep Guidolin | 1976–77 | 63 | 25 | 36 | 2 | 0.413 | – | – | – | – |
| 6 | Glen Sather | 1976–77 to1978–79 | 178 | 95 | 76 | 7 | 0.553 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 0.348 |
| No. | Name | Seasons | Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC | W | L | T | OT | Pts % | GC | W | L | Win % | |||
| 1 | Glen Sather[10][11] | 1979–80 | 80 | 28 | 39 | 13 | – | 0.431 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0.000 |
| 2 | Bryan Watson[12][13] | 1980–81[A] | 18 | 4 | 9 | 5 | – | 0.361 | – | – | – | – |
| – | Glen Sather | 1980–81 to1988–89 | 702 | 414 | 202 | 86 | – | 0.651 | 123 | 89 | 34 | 0.724 |
| 3 | John Muckler[14][15] | 1989–90 to1990–91 | 160 | 75 | 65 | 20 | – | 0.531 | 40 | 25 | 15 | 0.625 |
| 4 | Ted Green[16][17] | 1991–92 to1993–94[B] | 188 | 65 | 102 | 21 | – | 0.402 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0.500 |
| – | Glen Sather | 1993–94 | 60 | 22 | 27 | 11 | – | 0.458 | – | – | – | – |
| 5 | George Burnett[18][19] | 1994–95[C] | 35 | 12 | 20 | 3 | – | 0.386 | – | – | – | – |
| 6 | Ron Low[20][21] | 1994–95 to1998–99 | 341 | 139 | 162 | 40 | – | 0.466 | 28 | 10 | 18 | 0.357 |
| 7 | Kevin Lowe[22][23] | 1999–2000 | 82 | 32 | 26 | 16 | 8 | 0.537[D] | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0.200 |
| 8 | Craig MacTavish[24][25] | 2000–01 to2008–09 | 656 | 301 | 252 | 47 | 56 | 0.537[E] | 36 | 19 | 17 | 0.528 |
| 9 | Pat Quinn[26][27] | 2009–10 | 82 | 27 | 47 | – | 8 | 0.378 | – | – | – | – |
| 10 | Tom Renney[28][29] | 2010–11 to2011–12 | 164 | 57 | 85 | – | 22 | 0.415 | – | – | – | – |
| 11 | Ralph Krueger[30][31] | 2012–13 | 48 | 19 | 22 | – | 7 | 0.469 | – | – | – | – |
| 12 | Dallas Eakins[32][33] | 2013–14 to2014–15[F] | 113 | 36 | 63 | – | 14 | 0.381 | – | – | – | – |
| 13 | Todd Nelson[34][35] | 2014–15 | 51 | 17 | 25 | – | 9 | 0.422 | – | – | – | – |
| 14 | Todd McLellan[36][37] | 2015–16 to2018–19[G] | 266 | 123 | 119 | – | 24 | 0.502 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0.538 |
| 15 | Ken Hitchcock[38] | 2018–19 | 62 | 26 | 28 | – | 8 | 0.484 | – | – | – | – |
| 16 | Dave Tippett[39][40] | 2019–20 to2021–22[H] | 171 | 95 | 62 | – | 14 | 0.596 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0.125 |
| 17 | Jay Woodcroft[40] | 2021–22 to2023–24[I] | 133 | 79 | 41 | – | 13 | 0.643 | 28 | 14 | 14 | 0.500 |
| 18 | Kris Knoblauch[9] | 2023–24 to present | 162 | 99 | 51 | - | 12 | 0.648 | 25 | 15 | 10 | 0.600 |
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