Ex-Oilers coach Woodcroft joins Canada's team at World Championship
Ex-Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is joining Team Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Championships next month.
The team, which is managed by former Columbus Blue Jackets star Rick Nash, announced the coaching staff for this year’s team. Utah head coach André Tourigny was named Canada’s head coach for the second straight season with former Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason, current St. Louis Blues assistant coach Steve Ott, and Woodcroft serving as assistants.
This is Woodcroft’s first professional coaching gig since being fired by the Oilers in November in favour of Kris Knoblauch.
Jay Woodcroft is back behind a professional bench.
He will act as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Championships next month. #Oilers
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) April 25, 2024
Woodcroft spent 133 games behind the Oilers bench from 2022 til 2023. He led Edmonton on two playoff runs, including to the Western Conference Finals in 2022, where the team was ultimately swept in four games by the Colorado Avalanche.
Edmonton decided to fire Woodcroft after the team’s horrid 3-9-1 start to the season. He ended his tenure with a 79-41-13 record and a .643 pts%, which is one of the highest in Oilers history.
Since being let go, there has not been much news on where Woodcroft would go next. Several NHL teams have made coaching changes since then, and his name hasn’t come up as a finalist in any of them.
It is possible that Woodcroft could eventually join an NHL team in an associate role, but there is no indication of where that could be. Getting behind Team Canada’s bench is a surefire way to get him on the radar of teams who are looking to shake up their bench.
Woodcroft has plenty of experience behind an NHL bench. Before becoming Edmonton’s head coach, he spent 10 seasons as an assistant with the San Jose Sharks and Oilers. He also served as the head coach of the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors for four seasons.
He certainly has the experience required to get back into the league.
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