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Former Edmonton Oilers coach Woodcroft back in NHL with new gig

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
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Jun 26 2025, 3:35 pm
Former Edmonton Oilers coach Woodcroft back in NHL with new gig
Stephen R. Sylvanie/Imagn Images

Former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft will be back behind an NHL bench for the 2025-26 season.

On Thursday morning, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli sent out a tweet reporting that Woodcroft will be hired by the Anaheim Ducks to serve as an assistant to Joel Quenneville. The deal is expected to be announced on July 1, which is when Woodcroft’s contract with the Oilers will have expired.

Wo0dcroft was a highly coveted coach within the Oilers organization for years, thanks to both his work as an assistant at the NHL level, as well as his impressive head coaching tenure with the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL.

Though it took some time, he was finally able to get his NHL head coaching opportunity partway through the 2021-22 season after the Oilers fired Dave Tippett. He wound up leading the Oilers to the Western Conference Final that season and was just two wins shy of doing so once again the following year.

The Oilers entered the 2023-24 season as Stanley Cup favourites, but wound up getting off to a horrendous 3-9-1 start, which saw Woodcroft fired in favour of Kris Knoblauch. He hasn’t coached in the NHL since that shocking firing, as he had reportedly been waiting in hopes of landing another head coaching gig.

Perhaps sensing that opportunity wasn’t coming, Woodcroft will instead join a Ducks team that had a 21-point improvement in the standings last season compared to 2023-24. They are expected to take another jump in 2024-25, and should they soon become a playoff team, Woodcroft may get more consideration for a head coaching role with another team.

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