The morning of Game 7 in Florida, when Kris Knoblauch was asked point-blank if, back last October when he was coaching the New York Rangers AHL Hartford farm club in anonymity, he ever thought he would be then where he was now, he laughed.
But there he was, behind the Edmonton Oilers’ bench, matching wits with Paul Maurice, who has 30 years in the NHL business, almost 2,000 games. Doing what Knoblauch does best, staying calm in the eye of the storm.
“One more of these (media sessions). Feels good, I haven’t been up here in a while,” kidded Knoblauch Wednesday at Rogers Place, before flying to Vegas for the NHL draft.
Knoblauch confirmed that Leon Draisaitl had rib — speculation is, possibly broken — and hand — rumours are a possible fractured finger — injuries, going back to early in the playoffs, and that Connor McDavid played hurt — conjecture is an oblique muscle issue that may require surgery.
“Evander obviously had the sports hernia that bothered him throughout the season and it got to where it just limited his game and we missed him (during the last five games of the final),” said Knoblauch, with Kane pacing outside the dressing room in Game 7 in Florida, while free-agent Sam Gagner was in the same itchy boat as he walked the hallway.
He sat his No. 1 goalie Stuart Skinner for Calvin Pickard for two games in the Vancouver series, and got two strong games out of the backup because his starter was stumbling. He sat organizational favourite Ryan McLeod for a game, threw young defenceman Philip Broberg into the fire in the Dallas series with the team down 2-1 in the series — first in the third pairing, then up with Darnell Nurse on his offside. He decided to scratch Connor Brown the entire first round against Los Angeles, his gut telling him Dylan Holloway should be playing, then Knoblauch cleverly put Adam Henrique into the third-line centre spot with Brown and Mattias Janmark. A great decision.
“His biggest strength, and I go back to junior with Kris, is his demeanour,” said Brown. “You see how it was when he came in here and coaching a team with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in a Canadian market … everyone wants to know all the details. He does a good job of calming the storm, and steering the ship with his demeanour and character.”
