![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-692712992-e1771499639540.jpg\")
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The Oilers are welcoming back Paul Coffey. <\/p>\n
The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> are welcoming back a beloved former member of their organization who not only starred on the ice during his Hall of Fame playing career during their dynasty days, but who also helped nearly bring a title back to Edmonton for the first time in nearly four decades.<\/p>\n Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey is officially returning behind the bench for the Oilers to help shore up their defense, a role that he held from December 2023 until the end of last season. Since then, he\u2019s held the role of Special Advisor to Ownership and Hockey Operations.<\/p>\n Additionally, Mark Stuart will retain his role on the bench running Edmonton\u2019s penalty kill, head coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed.<\/p>\n With the move, the Oilers hope that their sluggish defensive numbers will improve. Last season with Coffey, Edmonton ranked fifth overall in total NHL goals-against average with 2.78, a number that has ballooned up to 3.29 goals against this season, 25th overall out of 32 NHL clubs.<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Paul Coffey Has Returned To The Edmonton Oilers<\/p>\n In an official statement, Knoblauch said that he\u2019s been keeping regular contact with Coffey despite his departure from the staff, and that the club overall will benefit from his return.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been in regular contact with Paul since last summer and I believe we will benefit both as a team and as a staff from his return at this time,\u201d Knoblauch said<\/a> of Coffey\u2019s return behind the bench.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to return and work alongside Kris and the entire staff,\u201d Coffey said. \u201cWith 24 games left in the season, there is ample time to build on the many positives and build momentum for another long playoff run.\u201d<\/p>\n Coffey is expected to join the Oilers by the end of this week and will be behind the bench when the NHL schedule resumes next week.<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n The Oilers Needed A \u201cJolt\u201d, And They Think Coffey Can Provide It<\/p>\n Knoblauch continued by saying that his club could use a \u201cjolt\u201d, and Coffey\u2019s return should help provide it.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he can offer a lot to our group. Right now, I think we need a little jolt, a little something, to change the direction of where our team has been going,\u201d said Knoblauch<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of respect for Paul in my time working with him,\u201d he continued. \u201cI didn\u2019t know him before, but obviously I liked working with him, and thought between the two of us and those coaching staffs that we\u2019ve had in the past, that we\u2019ve got the most out of the guys. With him coming back, I think he\u2019ll give us that jolt, and I think he\u2019ll add some new perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike I said before, where our team is at right now, we\u2019re just okay, and we feel that we need a little something to just push us over, give us a little something.\u201d<\/p>\n Coffey enjoyed a Hall of Fame career as an NHL defenseman on the ice, winning the Stanley Cup with both the Oilers and Penguins before eventually retiring in 2001 after having playedfor multiple other teams.<\/p>\n He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Whitaker<\/a> Michael Whitaker is a sports journalist based in metro Detroit with nearly a full decade of experience with publications like Clutch Points and The Hockey News. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University. More about Michael Whitaker<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Oilers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Oilers are welcoming back Paul Coffey. The Edmonton Oilers are welcoming back a beloved former member…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-485517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}