Elliotte Friedman's latest update may have changed everything for the Oilers and Bruce Cassidy
Bruce Cassidy and Kris Knoblauch still frame Edmonton's coaching mess, and the Oilers remain blocked from even speaking to the man they seem to want most.
That is the part Elliotte Friedman pushed Sunday. As things stood on May 18, Edmonton still was not allowed to talk to Cassidy, and Friedman said the next 24 to 48 hours should bring a clearer read on where this is headed.
That matters because Edmonton already made the hard move. The Oilers officially relieved Knoblauch and assistant Mark Stuart of their duties on May 14, so this is now a live search, not side chatter.
Stan Bowman is the executive driving it. The Oilers list him as general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations, and this is quickly becoming one of the defining calls of his Edmonton run.
The weird part is that Cassidy is available but not really available. Vegas fired him on March 29 and named John Tortorella as head coach, yet the Golden Knights still control whether other clubs can talk to him while he remains under contract.
That is why this search feels jammed up. Edmonton may know exactly who it wants, but knowing that and getting to the interview table are two different things.
-
A major twist just emerged in the Bruce Cassidy-to-Edmonton rumors
The longer this drags, the louder it gets. Reports earlier in the week said Vegas had already been withholding permission from both the Oilers and Kings, so Edmonton is not the only team staring at the same wall.
Still, the Oilers are the team under the sharpest spotlight because they already opened the vacancy. Once you fire a coach who had just signed an extension through 2028-29, patience is not exactly what the market expects next.
That is why Friedman's timeline matters. If Edmonton gets an answer soon, the search can finally move from rumor to action. If not, Bowman has to decide whether he keeps waiting on Cassidy or starts widening the board in a real way.
And that is the risk here. Every day the Oilers sit in limbo, the search starts looking less like a plan and more like a stall.
Cassidy is still the biggest name tied to the job. But until Vegas steps aside, Edmonton is stuck chasing a coach it cannot even sit down with.
|
YESTERDAY
MAY 18, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Zachary Bolduc | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Phillip Danault | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Greenway | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Beck Malenstyn | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Owen Power | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Suzuki | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zach Benson | - | - | - | |
| Bowen Byram | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||