Jay Woodcroft took over for Dave Tippett in February 2022 and was replaced by Kris Knoblauch in November 2023. It was a surprisingly short coaching tenure for a man who was behind the bench for what was far and away McDavid’s best offensive season. In his one full season under Woodcroft, which was 2022-23, McDavid scored 64 goals and ended up with 153 points. And it didn’t stop with him; the Oilers had three players finish with over 100 points that year. Leon Draisitl scored 52 goals and finished with 128 points, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit the 100-point mark for the first time in his career at 104 total points. The Oilers as a whole fell in the second round to the Vegas Golden Knights that season, losing in six games.
Woodcroft took two years off after being fired by the Oilers in 2023-24, making his return to the NHL in 2025-26 as an assistant coach on Joel Quenneville’s staff with the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks made the playoffs for the first time since 2017-18, advancing to the second round after defeating, ironically enough, the Oilers in the first round. They fell to the Golden Knights in six games, which could get the ball rolling on recruiting Woodcroft for the gig in Toronto.
Because Woodcroft’s stint with Edmonton was so short, there was a growing sentiment in Edmonton that Woodcroft’s firing was more an instance of somebody having to fall on the sword. While the Oilers did make two runs to the Stanley Cup following Knoblauch’s hiring, they have been hurt by roster construction (namely, never properly investing in a star goaltender and punting on defensive structure), neither of those two factors were Woodcroft’s fault.
When you talk about why things went wrong for the Maple Leafs, the number one culprit is that they were playing a system that didn’t suit their roster. Auston Matthews didn’t forget how to score 60 goals overnight. Injuries were surely part of his drop in production over the past two years, but so was forgoing puck possession for a simple dump and chase kind of game. Matthews rarely ever had any scoring chances off the rush in 2025-26, and it’s hard to do so when your system involves sacrificing puck possession and a flawed defensive structure. Matthews spent the majority of the season being deployed like Philip Danault while the Leafs as a whole spent what felt like 95 percent of their games defending in their own zone. If there’s anybody who can implement a system that enhances Matthews’ strengths rather than hinders them, it’s the guy who got 64 goals and over 150 points out of Connor McDavid in his one full season with him.
Woodcroft makes sense as a candidate because he would be a happy medium between hiring someone from the old boys club and hiring a coach with zero NHL experience. Woodcroft has experience behind the bench in a Canadian market that demands the best from their hockey team, but he’s not some retread who has been hired and fired by half the teams across the league. Oh, and he’s a Toronto native. How did it take us so long to mention that??
In all seriousness, if the Leafs want a coach who will revive their offensive game and get them playing to their strengths rather than defending against them, Woodcroft should be one of their top interview candidates.
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