Paul Coffey Rejoining Oilers Coaching Staff
After transitioning from a bench role to an advisory position last summer, Paul Coffey is returning to his job as an assistant coach under Kris Knoblauch for the remainder of the season, the Oilers announced Wednesday.
Coffey hasn’t been particularly active in off-ice roles since ending his playing career in 2001, but he has been recently. He first rejoined the franchise where he won three Stanley Cups as a skills coach in January 2018. He remained in that post for just a season and a half before eventually becoming a senior advisor ahead of the 2022-23 campaign. When the Oilers replaced Woodcroft with Knoblauch as head coach early in the 2023-24 campaign, Coffey was added to the bench as an assistant overseeing Edmonton’s defense as part of the reconstruction.
The Hall-of-Famer ended up being a key part of revitalizing the effectiveness of the Oilers’ depth defense en route to back-to-back Cup Final appearances. Without him on the bench this season, their team structure has collapsed. Last season, the Oilers were ninth in the league in xGA/60 at 5-on-5 at 2.29, per MoneyPuck. This year, that number has jumped to 2.54 – all the way down to 24th.
As the Oilers look to hang on to a divisional berth in the Pacific down the stretch, they’re hoping to get a defensive boost from Coffey in the process. They never replaced his spot on the staff after he transitioned out, so they’ve only been operating with two assistants this year.
Edmonton Oilers Make Multiple Coaching Changes
Some changes are coming to the Edmonton Oilers’ coaching staff for the 2025-26 campaign. The Oilers announced they’ve hired Paul McFarland as an assistant coach, Peter Aubry as a goaltending coach, and Conor Allen as a skills coach. Making room for McFarland as an assistant, Edmonton also shared that legendary defenseman Paul Coffey will return to his previous role as a special advisor to ownership and hockey operations.
It’ll mark a return to the NHL for McFarland. He’s had three brief trips through the NHL, spending two years as an assistant coach for the Florida Panthers, one year as an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and three years as an assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken.
The Richmond Hill, Ontario native spent last season serving as the head coach of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, guiding them back into the WHL postseason. McFarland coached the Hitmen to a 45-17-3-3 record with a +83 differential. Unfortunately, their success ended relatively early, losing in the second round of the WHL playoffs to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in seven games.
Meanwhile, Aubry replaces Dustin Schwartz as the Oilers’ goaltending coach, who had been serving in the role since the 2014-15 season. Schwartz had presided over some strong play from Cam Talbot, Mikko Koskinen, and Stuart Skinner over the last decade, but the team’s performance in the crease over the past two years warranted a change in mentorship.
Despite serving as the associate coach for the NCAA’s University of Nebraska-Omaha for the past two years, Aubrey has plenty of professional experience to fall back on. He served as the developmental goaltending coach for the Chicago Blackhawks from 2015 to 2023, helping graduate prospects such as Anton Forsberg, Kevin Lankinen, and Collin Delia to the NHL level. Unfortunately, since the Blackhawks had Corey Crawford for much of Aubrey’s time, none of his proteges had a real opportunity to flourish in Chicago.
Lastly, Allen is making the long trek from Plymouth, MI, to Alberta after being an assistant coach for the U.S. National U17 team last season. He’s a veteran of 284 games at the AHL level, scoring 22 goals and 93 points with a -37 rating, and of seven NHL contests with the New York Rangers from 2013 to 2015.
Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff was the first to report that the Oilers were expected to hire McFarland.