OverDrive - Knoblauch on the Oilers' coaching perspective, the rematch against the Panthers and the Stanley Cup Final matchup

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

Edmonton Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch joined OverDrive to discuss the team mindset in the Stanley Cup Final against the Panthers, the mentality in the rematch, the stars making a statement on the ice, the construction of the lineup, how the depth has found success throughout the playoffs and more.

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How are you doing Chris? Good, thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you for doing this. We were just discussing the last 12 months for your team and even down the stretch when Connor was banged up and Dry Sutter was banged up and there were other guys in and out of your lineup. I'm curious if you just always had belief you'd be in the position you are today preparing for the cup final.

We always knew we had a good team. We didn't know if we'd have enough time to kind of put it together because we had so many guys at the end of the year banged up. As you said, those two were hurt. We knew they were going to return, we knew they were going to be 100%, but there was a lot of other unknowns like, Yvonne or Kane, Trent Frederick, Klingberg, Wallman, Ekholm, like we had a lot of guys miss the last month of the season. In retrospect, it really helped our team. Like we had guys step up and played really well down the stretch and they wouldn't have had those opportunities to find their game and build it if we didn't have so many guys hurt. That helped us. And then early in the series against LA, it was the first time we had all these guys together,

Trent Frederick, came in game two. And for me, it was like, what do I have here? Who plays well together? Because it was pretty much a new team and we were able to figure it out. We almost didn't have that opportunity to figure it out, but we always knew we had a good team. Chris, going into the finals again, we talk a lot on this show about sports in general, the value of experience. So Florida Panthers, the finals again, how does experience helping you? We were just talking about it, other than the the fact that you don't want to go down 0-3 again.

How does the experience factor come into play for yourself as a coach and the players that are returning to the final? Well I think first and foremost the most important thing that you can have is talent on your team. You want good players and then experience. Experience is helpful and I think that experience just allows your players to handle adversity, handle stress because there's always stressful moments whether it's game one of the playoffs in the first round or Stanley Cup finals, whatever it is, there's always ups and downs. And I think the guys that have been around and have played a lot of hockey games,

especially high intensity, high pressure games, they can handle those ups and downs a lot better. So, you know, I think we've got the oldest team in the league. I believe we might've been the oldest team in last year too, which is beneficial because there are a lot of ups and downs and they're able to just worry about what's important at the moment not the blown call or what the other team is doing or whatever it is they just know what's important. You just

mentioned about the most valuable thing for you and your players is having talent. How do you get the message across to your players that it's great to be talented but to succeed in the playoffs it's got to be more than that. You can't bring just talent to the table. Well these guys have been around for a while. They've played a lot of hockey games and my best players really elevated and played phenomenal hockey throughout their careers in the playoffs. You look at what Leon Dreisel has done, Carmen David, these last two years,

Evan Bouchard, among other players, which is outstanding because there's always stars who don't elevate their game when things are difficult. Like it's hard enough to score and play well in the NHL against the best players in the regular season. And then when it's playoffs, it gets even harder harder and for these guys to elevate their game even more is really impressive. But you know, I think there's not, you know, for me, coaching, like the guys want to win. They want to do well and it's not about and they will sacrifice anything.

They will do whatever it takes to win a hockey game. If it's a checking role or whatever it is, that's their biggest goal. So Chris, how you adapt your in-game adjustments is very unique and a lot of people talk about it where you have lines to start the game but then the adjustments start. Do you have a formula where it's like you lay eyes on a guy maybe one or two shifts in and somebody's going a little extra so you want to find them some ice time or maybe a guy is struggling a little bit and you hide him a little bit more. Is that the thought process throughout the game? I think I have a few plans going into the game. Obviously you, obviously you hope you never deviate

from your plan because you go through and if you don't deviate from your plan things aren't going well and you just continue doing that. But I think we have an idea of all right who's been playing well together and what are we gonna do if we're up a few goals, if we're not, if we're chasing and then kind of make those changes as we go. And you know, obviously throughout the season, and we had a lot of line combinations. You look at some teams and they pretty much have the same guys playing the same,

or with the same line-mates almost throughout the whole season. This year we had a lot of fluctuation, especially mid-season, especially around January before the coordination. We were really trying to find out what we had from our team and who could really step up and play in the top six with Leon and Connor. So we had a lot of things going on in that time.

I don't think it was helpful for our team at the moment because I don't think it's beneficial. They move the guys up and down, line up a lot, but I think it's been helpful for us now because we know what works, who plays well together. So we have some better guidelines of what we need to move forward. With Chris Knobloch, head coach of the Oilers,

game one, Wednesday night in Edmonton. We've discussed experience, kind of a more overarching experience. Oldest team in the league, now it's your second cup. experience, kind of a more overarching experience, oldest team in the league, now it's your second cup. You're still a very young coach in this league, relatively young, you've been in the league for 18 months, you're in your second cup final. What do you without, you know, we haven't got to the games yet,

but what do you believe you learned? What do you know you learned from the cup experience last year that you feel you can apply to this cup run that you think will help your team? I think during this tour, this my time as a coach, I think the biggest thing is you know what the other coach is going to do. What's the other coach going to do when they're chasing a game or what are they going to do when they're up?

I don't know, just those tendencies. I learned that when I went from the Western Hockey League. I was in the system, then I went to the head coach. You kind of had an idea, but when I went to the Ontario Hockey League, I was the head coach there my first year or even my second year. Didn't really know what the other teams were gonna do. And I always felt like I was a step behind. And then I was head coach there for four plus years.

And then you kind of have an idea, okay, this is what this coach tends to do. And there's an adjustments he might make. Last year, all these coaches were new. I didn't know exactly how they played or whatever. I think that has a little bit to do it. I've learned some experience of what other teams are gonna do. Like we saw Dallas two times through these two playoff runs, now Florida. But I think also probably what I learned the most is the ups and downs of

a playoff run and how you need to be able to shut it off after the game. Whether it was a loss, a win, overtime, um, put it behind you and get ready for the next one. So when you say shut it off, does that mean like, obviously you review the game, but are you trying to review the game without a pulse? You know, like, how do you do that? How do you, how do you look back on a bad loss without, you know, having that emotion or a great win without having that emotion? How do you, how do you look back on a bad loss without having that emotion or a great win without

having that emotion? How do you do that? Well you're definitely reviewing the game and seeing what worked, what didn't and any advantages you think that you can gain. But I think it's the preparation on if it went really well. It's probably not going to go that well the next game because it's a new game. There's new momentum and I don't believe that momentum carries from game to game.

After that win is done, it's done. It's a new game the next one. I think that helps me whatever that message is to the players the next day or what kind of tactical adjustments we need to make. So Paul Maurice recently said he believes his team is better than last year and he said he believes your team is better than last year. How do you respond to that assessment? No yeah I would agree with that. I think of our especially our defense I think our defense got a little bit better. You know we're missing Zach Hy. I'm not sure if we're stronger

up front, but I think we've got more guys that are capable of stepping up and contributing. You know, we're not going to replace Zach Hyman. And as for Florida, you know, it's scary to think that this is their third Stanley Cup final in a row and this is probably their best team. And you look at the additions that they made at the trade deadline, Marshawn, Jones, yeah, probably is their best team. So, you know, I think it'll be a great series and yeah, I'm looking forward to starting it because there's been a lot of sitting and waiting right now.

Yeah. Do you pay attention to any of the coaches like in all the other series that you've been a part of Chris, do you pay attention to any of the opposition coaches comments? Yeah, I do because I also like to know what their message in the press conference is usually the message to their players and their players certainly what they're talking about is the message that's probably coming from the coach and kind of give you a little bit of idea what's coming in the future. So yeah, there is a little bit but certainly not to a large extent.

We've talked a lot about McDavid and Dry Settle, but Evan Bouchard, especially in your market, and we know Canadian markets can be noisy sometimes, he's a guy that's very polarizing. There's feast or famine with him sometimes where he can make a 10-bell play or he can make a mistake. In the playoffs, he's found another level. What makes him able to find another level at the most critical time? Well, he's an extremely smart hockey player. He does. He has some great balancing pass, shoot the puck, but he really reads the play well.

Yes, he makes mistakes. Every player makes mistakes. But what he does do that very few can is the plays that he does make that are the ten-bill plays. The passes and getting pucks through the nets, that's what separates him from just the average defender. I think it's very unfair that he gets a bad rep about making mistakes because all players do, but the amount of positive plays

that he makes and the positive impact he has for our team winning hockey games is tremendous. He does that through the regular season, but like Leon and Connor in the postseason, he's even better. Are you aware, I'm not sure if you're on social media or not, but there's a guy that looks exactly like you that's behind the bench. The Knoblock doppelganger. Did you see him? Did you lay his eyes on him?

Have you met him before? Anything like that? I have not met him. Before he came to any of our games, or before he was known. Gene Prince Bay, he showed it to me and I did see him and the first comment I made was, what a handsome young man he was. Of course. Stud back there behind the bench. You got to get him there in case he could ask for tickets. Now he's popular, he's become a superstar out there. How does that work?

He's almost family. I have not met him yet. We got to get him somehow meeting with you, hopefully with a Stanley Cup in hand. I guess we'll get you out of here with a question we've thrown around. A repeat of the Cup final, considering how heartbreaking it was last year. Is your team more inspired this year? Is it possible for you to calculate that? Like I'm sure you guys were chomping at the bit

this time last year once you were in the cup final. But now that you're back, considering the heartbreak a year ago, because it's Florida again waiting for you, the mood of your team, is it possible that you're even more inspired this year? I think we're more prepared for it. The experience is going to help us. You know, when you're playing for the Stanley Cup, I don't know if you can ever be more motivated because that's the ultimate goal. So, you know, we were 10 over to 10 last year motivated like and I don't think that's gonna be any different

no matter who we're playing or what it is, I think the ultimate goal is winning that Stanley Cup and and That hasn't changed from last year this year Well, we're looking forward to things finally getting started on Wednesday night And I know if we're looking forward to it. I can only imagine how much you're looking forward to it So good luck this time around Chris. I know it's a busy time. We really appreciate you doing this. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thanks for having me. You got it. There's Chris Knobluck, head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. next big thing. And your first place to hear it all. iHeart New Music.

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