EDMONTON – Special teams are special for a reason.
The Edmonton Oilers superstars know their way around a powerplay. Unfortunately, for the Stanley Cup runner-up, they struggled on the penalty kill in their most recent playoff run.
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Luckily for fans and the team, a plan is in motion to address the contender’s glaring weakness.
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How Bad Was The Oilers' Penalty Kill?
During the 2024-25 playoffs, the Oilers’ penalty kill was successful 67.1 percent of the time. The Cup Finalists' penalty kill was ranked 14th out of the 16 teams in the playoffs.
The only teams with a worse penalty kill were the Ottawa Senators and the Los Angeles Kings. The team with the best penalty kill was the repeating Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers.
Kris Knoblauch Outlines The Plan To Improve
Oilers head coach, Kris Knoblauch, made an appearance on the Oilers Now show with Bob Stauffer on Monday, July 21st. The two had a wide-ranging conversation, with one of the talking points being around the penalty kill and the strategy surrounding it going into the new season.
“We knew we were going to be making changes,” Knoblauch told Stauffer. “We were waiting to see how many changes we were going to make…we were waiting to find out what our team would look like next year.”
Personnel is a key factor to a successful penalty kill. Knoblauch continued by emphasizing what the focus is for the team and coaching staff, as it pertains to the penalty kill.
“Who are the guys who are going to be (penalty) killing? What kind of killers are they going to be?” Knoblauch asked. “Is it going to be more skating? Is it going to be more shot-blocking? And having all those aspects (figured out) before we made all those decisions.”
Knoblauch then laid out a potential framework for improvement, serving as a jumping-off point to investigate what has worked for other teams and identify what can be applied to them.
“Yes, it will definitely look different,” Knoblauch said of the penalty kill. “More similar to what other teams are doing. I think we’ll be doing a lot of copying of what some of the other successful teams have been doing around the NHL.”
Where Can The Oilers Learn To Have A Better Penalty Kill?
There are a few teams that have consistently performed well on the penalty kill over the last three years. Looking at the NHL.com stats, one team stands above the rest: the Carolina Hurricanes.
While the New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars have recorded a top-five performing penalty kill in two out of the last three seasons, only the Hurricanes have had a top-five shorthanded unit for three consecutive years.
The Hurricanes have had the best penalty kill over the past two years (83.6 & 86.4 percent, respectively), and the second-best kill three years ago (84.4 percent).
When speaking to Cory Lavalette of The Athletic, a few Hurricanes’ players cited a few reasons for their success on the penalty kill. For some players, it comes down to using their speed and offensive creativity to anticipate their opponent’s next move. For others, it’s playing aggressively and not being afraid to block shots.
One thing is for certain: if the Oilers are going to use any team in the league as an example to mold their penalty kill after, there isn’t a better option than the Hurricanes.
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