Oilers announce coaching change on Monday.

The Edmonton Oilers have made a significant change to their coaching staff and given the narrative around their defensemen in recent years this feels like a loss for the Oilers.

On Monday, the Oilers officially announced that they had added Paul McFarland, Peter Aubry and Conor Allen to their coaching staff. At least that was the headline, but included in that announcement was also the revelation that National Hockey League legend Paul Coffey would be leaving the Oilers coaching staff.

According to the announcement, Coffey will remain within the Oilers organization and will work as a special advisor to both ownership and hockey operations, a role he had previously occupied before joining the team's coaching staff.

Coffey received a great deal of praise for his tenure behind the bench and was credited with helping to develop some of the team's young defensemen, including star defenseman Evan Bouchard and even the likes of Phillip Broberg who would eventually sign an offer sheet with the St. Louis Blues. Broberg had an excellent run with the Oilers during the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs prior to leaving for St. Louis, and Coffey was said to have served a pivotal role in helping guide Broberg through that process, one in which the defenseman performed admirably.

Coffey of course brings a wealth of experience to any coaching staff with a staggering 1409 games of NHL experience as a player, games that include 396 goals and 1135 assists for 1531 career points at the NHL level. While the Oilers are bringing in several bodies, as was noted in today's announcement, I find it difficult to believe that the Oilers will be able to replace a unique talent like Coffey.

That being said Coffey will remain within the organization and will no doubt pass on his knowledge to the team's defensemen moving forward, but will be doing so in a far more limited and less direct role than he has over the course of the last two seasons as a member of the team's coaching staff.