What Kris Knoblauch can, and can't, do to turn around the Oilers' season

While most who cover the game would like the same access previous generations had, hockey coverage has recently changed for the better -- at least for fans who care about understanding the game.

The increase in useful data is one element, but there’s far more coverage on systems and strategies than there was even 10 years ago. If you’re a fan who really wants to get into what’s happening out there and why, it’s possible to get a good sense for it without working for a team. Between public stat websites, video repositories, and access to the coaches, beat writers have a number of tools to tell their team’s stories.

I am concerned, though, that the amount of "systems" discussions these days had led some fans to believe that the role these systems have in the outcome of games is more impactful than it really is.

In some sports the “systems,” or the “tactics,” or the “strategy” that comes from the coach are nearly as impactful as the team’s roster. In the NFL, players run very specific offensive plays via routes, where some guys are asked to operate like figures in bubble hockey tracks. In basketball, plays can be run with every possession and all five bodies can contribute something to the execution of getting a good look at the basket.

Hockey is so free-flowing though, with so many random bounces, that its “systems” are so often referred to as “structure” for a reason. They’re guidelines to eliminate those moments where players are caught between two choices and the worst possible outcome isn’t selecting the wrong option, it’s hesitating.

You don’t hear the term “structure” as much in other sports. Hockey is such a quick-twitch instant-reaction sport that you often don’t have time to look up and make a thoughtful play, so the best thing the team can provide for you is: in this type of scenario, here is where my teammates should roughly be. That allows you to blindly bang the puck off the boards to where a teammate is supposed to be, or flip it up the middle, depending on the situation.

I take that long walk so we can get into Kris Knoblauch taking over the Edmonton Oilers, a team around which the media (myself included) has set the world record for using the word “systems” in a single season. You’d think they’d adopted what my junior coach used to: when trailing, we’d just send four guys in kamikaze-style and leave one poor fella back to hold the fort.

Breaking: the Oilers weren’t using anything revolutionary under Jay Woodcroft, they were using the same zone defence most of the league does. (If you ever doubt the lack of variety in the NHL’s systems play, consider the PP breakout where a system choice is plainly visible to the public, and every team in the league uses the same drop breakout.)

Maybe zone isn’t the right choice for the Oilers, fine. Maybe they’d be better off thinking less and skating more in man-on-man “structure.” Maybe. But that’s not what ails the Oil, certainly not when they were 3-9-1 and made the decision to fire Woodcroft.

Even if it was, it’s not like bringing in a new coach to fix these system “problems” is as simple as toggling game plans like in a video game. Because hockey, as I said, is so quick-twitch and instant-reaction that you want the way you’re playing to be so engrained in your players that they just react without thinking. You hear coaches say it all the time about a new player adapting to their new team: “He’s thinking right now, we want to get him to where he’s just playing.”

If you were to make a major strategic change in how you defend in November, as teams hit their stride, it would inevitably result in a few errors (and much hesitation) which could mean further trouble.

That’s not to say the Oilers shouldn't try to make changes, I’m just saying implementing new things has to be gradual at best. So Knoblauch – the man tasked with turning the Oilers' season around – can’t exactly swoop in with a whole new game plan and start from scratch.

For more on this, let’s look at the conversation we had on Real Kyper and Bourne Tuesday with Claude Julien, a Stanley Cup-winning coach who’s taken over two teams mid-season.

I asked him about the hurdles Knoblauch would face in taking over the Oilers about a month into their 2023-24 campaign.

His answer:

“A lot of times you’ll go in there and you’ll say ‘I think I know what I have to fix, but how much time do I have to fix it?’ Because as you know once the season starts, there’s not a lot of practices, there’s travel, there’s mandatory days off, and at the same time you’re dealing with making sure the players get the proper rest and all that kind of stuff, so it’s not easy to make those adjustments in-season. I think the best approach, and I’m saying that I guess with a little bit of experience - not only once but twice I went in to Montreal halfway through a season - is that you can only do a little bit at a time.

“While you’re doing that, you just hope that the players, because of the change, got some sort of motivation that they’re gonna go out and play hard and give you a chance at least to win some games as you’re making those adjustments. So that’s the best thing you can do, 'cause you can’t go in there all sudden – especially if you’re totally different from the last coach – and say ‘I wanna change the forecheck, I wanna change the neutral zone and the way we play D-zone,' there’s no way in the world. You gotta accept the fact that you may have to live with some of the things they’ve been doing for, whether it’s a couple of years now in Jay’s situation, and say ‘Well I’m just gonna tweak things here and there and if we’re going to make major changes, maybe we have to wait ‘til next year’s training camp.’”

So this is what I mean about how “systems” talk can be overstated. Knoblauch is not coming in with revolutionary new ideas, and if he did, he’d struggle to implement them in-season. So that’s not where the main stories will lie with the Oilers' attempted turnaround.

Can he get the guys to better execute the plan they have (even if it is adjusted somewhat) and to “buy in” more and adhere to that plan? Can he get them more motivated, particularly by giving different players more opportunity thereby increasing confidence? And in Edmonton's specific case -- and imagine I’m yelling this next, very important part -- can they get some darn saves, and can Connor McDavid (get over his nagging injury and) start playing like Earth’s best player again? After a four-point outing, can Leon Draisaitl join him near that tier?

Saves and their elite players playing elite will be a big part of their turnaround. It might be that simple.

Knoblauch is a new face and new voice who provides the Oilers with a new beginning. Yet his best bet may not be doing anything new at all, but implementing the “system” of simply waiting for their team to get back to playing the way we’ve seen them play in the very recent past.