Report: Oilers expected to meet with Craig Berube
A veteran coach might not be on the unemployment line for very long.
According to TSN’s Ryan Rishaug, the Edmonton Oilers are expected to meet with Stanley Cup-winning head coach Craig Berube sometime in the near future.
Hearing a formal interview with Berube is expected after some initial conversation between he and Bowman. Permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy had still not been granted as of Sunday night.
Berube reportedly had preliminary conversations with Oilers general manager Stan Bowman about the position, which became available once the team finally fired Kris Knoblauch last week. Berube himself started looking for work after the Toronto Maple Leafs let him go the day prior, after what was a terrible season for the blue and white.
Both the Leafs and Oilers are seemingly in a transition period. Berube had finished his second season with Toronto. After guiding the team to an Atlantic Division title in 2024-25, the Leafs were far from the playoff favorite this past year, finishing last in the division and missing the postseason for the first time in a decade. An apparent disconnect between Berube and star players such as William Nylander and captain Auston Matthews led many to believe that a change in personnel would come, especially after John Chayka and Mats Sundin were brought in to turn the franchise’s fortunes around.
For Knoblauch, who coached Edmonton to two straight appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, he was behind the bench for a team that unceremoniously bowed out in the opening round of the playoffs last month, losing to the Anaheim Ducks in six games. After both Leon Draisaitl and captain Connor McDavid noted that the team clearly took a step back, with McDavid even admitting the team was “average” this year, the pressure was on Edmonton to decide on their coach, who was supposed to begin a new three-year contract next fall.
Looming over this potential meeting between Berube and the Oilers is the latter’s interest in Bruce Cassidy, another coach with a Stanley Cup ring. However, Edmonton has yet to receive permission from the Vegas Golden Knights to chat with Cassidy, even though the team fired him with just a few weeks left in the regular season.