Did the Edmonton Oilers err in asking for permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy while Kris Knoblauch is still under contract? I believe they did and I wrote about it yesterday, but today I want to look at recent hires across the NHL to see how they were handled.

I had many people suggest that the Oilers’ reaching out was a normal practice and referenced a clip from Elliotte Friedman. I reached out to Friedman to get more context, as his comment was brief.

“There are situations where teams have a good sense of who they could get, but I was more focused on coaches, who are on the hot seat,” he said. “Often, they know a team is looking elsewhere. This situation is a bit different.”

It is different. When coaches are fired during the season, there are cases where the team has a new coach in place before firing the existing coach. That happens because they have games to play and need a coach right away, however, in the off-season, there is no urgency to have a coach replaced the day you fire him. In fact, I can’t recall a team firing a coach in the off-season and naming his replacement the same day or even within the next two or three days.

After yesterday’s article was posted, I had a current NHL head coach reach out. He asked to remain anonymous but texted me this: “In the off-season, I have told teams I wouldn’t talk to them about their coaching job unless it was vacant. During the season is a bit different because there is the urgency of games, but when the season is over, I didn’t want to be in a position to take a guy’s job before he was let go. I’d hope other coaches would do the same.”

And for me, that is the point. Bruce Cassidy said in an interview last week on Fan 590 that he would interview for any job. He wanted to coach and even said he’d love the opportunity to coach in Canada and help bring back the Stanley Cup to Canada. He has a very good resume. It makes sense that teams would be interested in hiring him, and if they were, just fire your coach and interview him.

Let’s take a look at recent firings and hirings that occurred in the off-season to see how they unfolded.

2025: The regular season ended on April 17th.

Boston fired Jim Montgomery on November 19th, 2024, and assistant coach Joe Sacco was named interim head coach for the final 60 games. The Bruins announce at season’s end that they will interview coaches. They hired Marco Strum on June 5th.

Chicago fired Luke Richardson on December 6th, 2024, and named Anders Sorensen (AHL affiliate head coach) as interim head coach. They announced the coaching search at the end of the season. Jeff Blashill was hired May 22nd.

Philadelphia fired John Tortorella on March 27th, 2025, and Brad Shaw (assistant........

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