The Edmonton Oilers are currently sitting on their hands and watching the Vegas Golden Knights prep for their Stanley Cup Final showdown against the Carolina Hurricanes with an air of envy around them.
The Oilers bowed out in the first round and duly fired head coach Kris Knoblauch with the sole focus on getting Bruce Cassidy on board as his replacement. But as things stand, it appears Vegas has absolutely no plans to let Edmonton speak with Cassidy, in what is now shaping up to be a dramatic standoff between the two Pacific Division rivals.
With no headway being made in the Cassidy sweepstakes, one Oilers insider is warning the franchise to start looking at a Plan B and a Plan C, just in case the whole Cassidy thing goes sideways.
Oilers Urged to Line Up Backup Plan With Bruce Cassidy Chase Still in Limbo
Last week, Bruce Cassidy ramped up the pressure on the Golden Knights with a very public interview on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast.
Cassidy made it plenty clear that he was upset with the way Vegas was blocking Edmonton and the Los Angeles Kings from interviewing him, adding that he’s just a hockey coach who wants to get back to his day job.
Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon chose to fight back, accusing the Oilers of leaking the Cassidy info and creating this mess in the first place. With neither side refusing to give any quarter, it appears Edmonton is in no man’s land when it comes to their coaching search.
Oilers insider Ryan Rishaug is now urging the franchise to prepare for the worst.
“These guys can’t sit around forever. You gotta thread the needle here. They definitely need to prepare for the idea that they’re not going to be able to talk to Bruce Cassidy, and they need to get their due diligence on some other guys,” Rishaug said on the Oilers Now podcast.
“What they can’t do is be left standing with no ability to talk to Cassidy, Laviolette’s hired somewhere else, and it’s like here’s Craig Berube, who, when this whole thing started, would’ve been your fourth choice behind Cassidy, Knoblauch, and Laviolette. They can’t end up in that situation.”
Rishaug said he believes there was a “very good chance” Knoblauch would’ve returned for the first year of his three-year extension had the news of Edmonton enquiring after Cassidy not been leaked.
If Cassidy’s out of the picture, the options are few and far between. Multiple reports indicate Craig Berube has already wrapped up an interview with the franchise, while Jason Gregor believes they have also interviewed Peter Laviolette.
Apart from Berube and Laviolette, the Oilers have been linked with Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, whose future looks uncertain in Mile High City after being swept in the Western Conference Final.
For all intents and purposes, it appears it’s Cassidy or bust for the Edmonton Oilers.
