{"id":873855,"date":"2026-08-27T23:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/873855\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T23:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:08:18","slug":"edmonton-oilers-hire-misha-donskov-as-coaching-consultant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/873855\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers hire Misha Donskov as coaching consultant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> coaching department just added another member on Thursday, one with a growing presence in the hockey world.The organization issued a press release<\/a> that says Misha Donskov will join the Oilers as a coaching consultant and will be with Edmonton \u201cfor a select number of days at home each month.\u201dThat limited capacity as a consultant is because Donskov\u2019s primary duties are with Hockey Canada<\/a> as vice-president of Hockey Operations, gearing up to coach at the World Juniors and World Championships in 2026-27.\u201cWe are excited to have Misha join our coaching staff,\u201d said coach Mike Babcock<\/a> in the press release. \u201cWe believe his wealth of experience, people skills and professionalism will make our group better. We look forward to the positive impact he will have on our staff, players and the Oilers organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting alignment for the Oilers on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n

Many Oilers fans were interested in Donskov as a potential candidate for the head coaching job before they hired Babcock. As of today, the length of Babcock\u2019s contract has never been disclosed.<\/p>\n

Plus, Donskov will be Canada\u2019s World Junior head coach in 2027, the tournament hosted in Edmonton and Red Deer. So if he plans to make Edmonton home base for a while, he can also take a look at the Oilers\u2019 operations.<\/p>\n

Before Donskov took the Hockey Canada job, a unique one considering the overlap between coaching World Juniors and the national team at the World Championships, he stood on NHL benches and worked in front offices.<\/p>\n

From 2023 to 2025, he was an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars. For several seasons before that, he was with the Vegas Golden Knights, where he was the team\u2019s director of hockey operations from 2016 to 2020 and an assistant coach from 2019 until 2023, winning a Stanley Cup in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe consider this a tremendous experience for Misha, especially as we prepare to host the World Juniors with him as our head coach in December,\u201d said Scott Salmond, senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations with Hockey Canada. Donskov reports to Salmond.<\/p>\n

\u201cMisha is a proven winner and a tremendous leader, and we are excited that he will continue to develop his skills through this new position with the Edmonton Oilers, which we know will positively impact both of our organizations on and off the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the head coaching duties, he was also an assistant coach at the 2026 Olympics and the 2025 4 Nations Face-off.<\/p>\n

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He\u2019s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4<\/a>.PRESENTED BY NATION GEAR\"\"<\/a>
THE OFFSEASON SOCIAL CLUB HAS ARRIVED!<\/a> The new era of Nation Gear starts here. Introducing the Nation Gear x Levelwear Offseason Social Club Collection \u2014 a limited edition collection built for the fans who know the sports lifestyle doesn\u2019t stop. Designed for golf rounds, patio hangs, weekend trips, and every plan in between, this collection blends premium performance with everyday leisure. It\u2019s versatile enough to dress up, comfortable enough to live in, and made for wherever the offseason takes you. Because being a sports fan isn\u2019t a season \u2014 it\u2019s a personality. Welcome to the club. Shop the Offseason Social Club now. nationgear.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers coaching department just added another member on Thursday, one with a growing presence in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-873855","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\/873855","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=873855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}