Oilers Coaching Term Lengths: Comparison of Past Eras to the Current Era.
With the "Coaching Carousel" that has afflicted the Oilers, I was curious about how the Oilers current coaching term lengths compare to those of the past. Being an Excel dork, I plugged in the data. (This does not include playoff games: Regular season only.)
| Start Date | End Date | Total Days | Years | Games Coached (GC) | GC/82 | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-Oct-1979 | 10-Oct-1980 | 366 | 1.00 | 80 | 0.98 | Sather (1) |
| 10-Oct-1980 | 23-Nov-1980 | 44 | 0.12 | 18 | 0.22 | Watson |
| 23-Nov-1980 | 05-Oct-1989 | 3238 | 8.87 | 702 | 8.56 | Sather (2) |
| 05-Oct-1989 | 04-Oct-1991 | 729 | 2.00 | 160 | 1.95 | Muckler |
| 04-Oct-1991 | 27-Nov-1993 | 785 | 2.15 | 188 | 2.29 | Green |
| 27-Nov-1993 | 20-Jan-1995 | 419 | 1.15 | 60 | 0.73 | Sather (3) |
| 20-Jan-1995 | 07-Apr-1995 | 77 | 0.21 | 35 | 0.43 | Burnett |
| 07-Apr-1995 | 01-Oct-1999 | 1638 | 4.49 | 341 | 4.16 | Low |
| 01-Oct-1999 | 06-Oct-2000 | 371 | 1.02 | 82 | 1.00 | Lowe |
| 06-Oct-2000 | 03-Oct-2009 | 3284 | 9.00 | 656 | 8.00 | MacTavish |
| 03-Oct-2009 | 07-Oct-2010 | 369 | 1.01 | 82 | 1.00 | Quinn |
| 07-Oct-2010 | 20-Jan-2013 | 836 | 2.29 | 164 | 2.00 | Renney |
| 20-Jan-2013 | 01-Oct-2013 | 254 | 0.70 | 48 | 0.59 | Krueger |
| 01-Oct-2013 | 16-Dec-2014 | 441 | 1.21 | 113 | 1.38 | Eakins |
| 16-Dec-2014 | 08-Oct-2015 | 296 | 0.81 | 51 | 0.62 | Nelson |
| 08-Oct-2015 | 20-Nov-2018 | 1139 | 3.12 | 266 | 3.24 | McLellan |
| 20-Nov-2018 | 02-Oct-2019 | 316 | 0.87 | 62 | 0.76 | Hitchcock |
| 02-Oct-2019 | 11-Feb-2022 | 863 | 2.36 | 171 | 2.09 | Tippet |
| 11-Feb-2022 | 13-Nov-2023 | 640 | 1.75 | 133 | 1.62 | Woodcroft |
| 13-Nov-2023 | 01-Oct-2026 | 1053 | 2.88 | 233 | 2.84 | Knoblauch |
A couple things to note. Measuring the term lengths by raw dates is messy due to the fact that some coaches get an offseason, while some other coaches who are fired mid-season do not. There are also things to consider like lockouts, pandemics, etc.
For this reason, a cleaner way to compare coaching terms is by the number of games coached. In order to get a comparative metric, I have taken the total games from each coaching term and divided it by 82 (the length of an NHL season in 2026). This is also not quite perfect due to shortened seasons from lockouts and a pandemic, and the fact that NHL seasons have varied in length from 80 to 84 games. However, for this purpose, it is close enough and gives us a consistent 'measuring stick.'
So for the upper chart, you mostly want to look at the GC/82 column. This number approximates how many seasons each coaching term was.
Next, we look at it by era. I have divided it into three 15-year eras:
#AVERAGE COACHING TERM (GC/82)
| 1980-1995 | 1995-2010 | 2010-2026 | TOTAL (1980-2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.80 | 2.86 | 1.61 | 2.22 |
To which, the data does not lie. Coaching term lengths are about 40% shorter than they were during 1980-2010. Through 1980 to 2010, coaches lasted about 2.8 seasons. Now, they only last about 1.6 seasons. This means they are overturning coaches about 75% more often than they were in the past.
The main difference here is that in the past there have been 'anchor coaches.' In the 1980-1995 era, that was Sather who had a long term of 8.5 seasons, and during 1995-2010 MacTavish did a term of 8 seasons. The Oilers have not found an 'anchor' for the current era, and that is why the data shows what it does.