{"id":667688,"date":"2026-05-13T23:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667688\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T23:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:18:07","slug":"where-edmonton-oilers-sit-in-bruce-cassidy-sweepstakes-daily-hive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667688\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Edmonton Oilers sit in Bruce Cassidy sweepstakes | Daily Hive"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers have reported interest in Bruce Cassidy<\/a>, but do they stand a chance at hiring him?<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that Cassidy is the top head coach available this offseason, and he will have no shortage of options for his next job. The Oilers are now expected to hire a new coach this summer, but so are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the LA Kings.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s to say that either of those teams can\u2019t swoop in and steal Cassidy out from under Edmonton\u2019s nose? Those are two bigger markets that are widely seen as more desirable places to live than the Alberta capital. It feels more than possible that the veteran coach spurns Edmonton for a more glamorous, high-profile job in L.A. or Toronto.<\/p>\n

Yet, it seems like that may not be at the top of Cassidy\u2019s priority list when looking at his head coaching job.<\/p>\n

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman pondered about Cassidy\u2019s future on Wednesday\u2019s edition of Sportsnet Today<\/a>, and said that he believes the veteran coach is in \u201cwin-now\u201d mode. That means that any team he joins would likely have to be a Stanley Cup threat.<\/p>\n

Friedman said if that\u2019s the most important factor, Edmonton may be his top choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [Cassidy] will have his pick of jobs,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cIf you were gonna rank the situations about where you have the best chance to win now, I think Edmonton has gotta be ahead of both Toronto and LA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Cassidy has the choice, I\u2019d say it\u2019s probably Edmonton.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oilers had a disappointing 2025-26 season that saw them bow out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2021. It was very close to the worst-case scenario for this club, and both Connor McDavid<\/a> and Leon Draisaitl<\/a> were very blunt about this team needing to improve next season.<\/p>\n

Despite that, the Oilers are in a better position to succeed than either the Maple Leafs or the Kings right now. Edmonton still has the two best players in the world in McDavid and Draisaitl, a franchise defenceman in Evan Bouchard, and a decent supporting cast of Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vasily Podkolzin, and Matt Savoie.<\/p>\n

That could give Cassidy a lot to work with, and it\u2019s certainly not out of the realm of possibility that a good offseason could help return the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final as soon as next season.<\/p>\n

But would Cassidy want to work in Canada? He is Canadian himself, being born in Ottawa, but the pressure of coaching in the country can scare off potential candidates.<\/p>\n

Well, he helped coach McDavid as an assistant on Canada\u2019s Olympic squad last season, and he recently said in an interview with LeafsNation that he\u2019d be more than open to the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be kind of cool to [coach in Canada],\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cI\u2019d tell you it\u2019d be cool to win a Stanley Cup in a Canadian city right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Nobody can say for sure how this situation will play out. There are a lot of moving parts and a few things that need to happen for Cassidy to come to Edmonton, and Kris Knoblauch still needs to be fired to open up a spot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One thing is for sure, however, and that is the Oilers have a legitimate chance to scoop up the top coach on the market this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers have reported interest in Bruce Cassidy, but do they stand a chance at hiring him?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-667688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667688","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=667688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}