FEATURE: Woodcroft, Manson mark one year behind the Oilers bench

OTTAWA, ON - February 10, 2022 was when the trajectory of the Edmonton Oilers season experienced a major turning point, along with the careers of Head Coach Jay Woodcroft and Assistant Coach Dave Manson.
For Edmonton's bench boss, it began as a special day for a much different reason.
"Well, it was my wife's birthday first of all," he said Friday morning after the Oilers practiced at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. "So, happy birthday to my wife."
The day drastically pivoted from birthday celebrations for his wife Jaclynn to finding a flight to Edmonton as fast as possible when he received a phone call from Oilers GM & President of Hockey Operations Ken Holland. He and Manson were to board the next flight out of Bakersfield to take over the coaching duties of the big club at a critical juncture in their season, beginning the following Friday at Rogers Place against the New York Islanders.
"Obviously, that's the call any professional dreams of getting," Woodcroft said.
"When I did receive that call, I felt ready for it."
The Oilers had lost back-to-back games to the Vegas Golden Knights and Chicago Blackhawks, falling to 23-18-3 and five points behind their rivals the Calgary Flames for the second and final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Holland felt the need to make a coaching change and promoted internally to fill the vacancy, bringing up Woodcroft and Manson from the club's AHL affiliate the Bakersfield Condors to help correct the course of an Oilers club that was on the outside of the playoff picture and in need of a spark to ignite their push to the postseason.
"Yeah, certainly not a great time," captain Connor McDavid recalled. "We weren't playing very well at all and obviously, Kenny felt the change needed to be made."
That spark quickly ignited the Oilers locker room, becoming a blaze that fired the Oilers to an incredible turnaround over the final three months of the regular season and into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Oilers roared through the final 38 games under the watch of Woodcroft and Manson, going 26-9-3 with a .724 points percentage that ranked second in the NHL over that span to help the club to a second-place finish in the Pacific Division and claim home-ice advantage in the first round of the postseason against the Los Angeles Kings.
After staving off elimination in Game Six and defeating the Kings in Game Seven at Rogers Place, the Oilers trounced their provincial rivals in the second-round Battle of Alberta to earn their first berth in the Western Conference Final since 2006 before losing out to the eventual Cup champions the Colorado Avalanche.
Over their entire time in Edmonton so far, the Oilers are 55-27-8 with the highest goals per game (3.76), power-play percentage (28.9) and fourth-best points percentage (.656) in the NHL thanks in large part to keeping the players' pictures small and focused on each passing day.
"I'm thankful," Woodcroft said. "I understand the responsibility of being a head coach in a Canadian market, specifically for such a proud franchise like the Edmonton Oilers. I feel humbled, and it's something that I want to make sure I make good on. The opportunity for our group is not a responsibility I take lightly, but I'm very thankful and, most importantly, thankful for the effort that our players give on a day-in and day-out basis."
There was always a lead domino for the team to attack and put their focus behind every day at practice and in games until it fell; then there'd be another, and another, until real results began to show.

"Woody and Mance came up and they've been great," McDavid added. "They've really turned the ship around. Woody, just how much energy and how much passion he brings to the job, it's fun to see and fun to be a part of and obviously Mance as well.
"They kind of brought in new life and that's what we needed at the time."
Woodcroft and Manson were no strangers to the NHL, having followed their own paths until they connected in Bakersfield back in 2018. Woodcroft began as a video coach in Detroit in 2006 and held assistant-coaching roles with the San Jose Sharks and Oilers before taking the reins in Bakersfield to cut his teeth for the first time as a head coach in the professional ranks.
He brought Manson with him into the fold, a veteran of 1,215 NHL games as a player and long-time WHL assistant and associate coach with the Prince Albert Raiders, and they won two AHL Pacific Division titles together over three seasons before earning their mid-season calls to Edmonton last February.

"I would say that it took 17 years to get that opportunity, so I wanted to make sure that I was sharpening my skills along the way," Woodcroft said. "I started as the lowest person on the totem pole in Detroit and kind of worked my way into that opportunity. Luckily, I had over 1000 games in the NHL prior to that, so I had an idea of what I was getting into and what the responsibilities were, specifically with this group of people in front of me, on a daily basis.
"I wouldn't trade my experience in the American Hockey League in Bakersfield for anything, because that's where you kind of go and work at your craft away from the limelight with players that are this close to making the NHL. So, you combine all of those experiences."
Aiding Woodcroft and Manson's transition to Oil Country was a deep understanding of some of Edmonton's younger prospects that were important players in Bakersfield and beginning to take strides into the NHL. Woodcroft had also been an assistant to Edmonton's core leaders from 2015-18, making the change in coaching easier for both groups.
"I think it's the game plan," Ryan McLeod, who entered pro hockey under Woodcroft with the Condors in 2018, said. "Every day it seems like he's so prepared that you kind of just buy into it just assuming he's got the right thing going, so it's pretty motivating just hearing how prepared he is every game and our team is really buying it right now."

What Woodcroft might've not expected on arrival, but has grown to love and appreciate, is having a direct line of communication to one of hockey's most passionate and knowledgeable markets in Oil Country on a near daily basis.
"Probably this group right here," Woodcroft said of his biggest learning area, referencing the media in front of him on Friday.
"The demands of media coverage in Canada, it's unique, but I try and look at it as an opportunity to connect with our passionate fan base. I know you're asking the questions, but I'm really talking to our fans letting them know what's going on with our team, where the coaching staff sees things, and opportunities to get better.
"I'm thankful that in Edmonton, we have the best fans in the National Hockey League."