Oilers Playoffs: Coaching Under Pressure and Player Confidence

This one's for all you hockey fans, especially Oiler fans. The coaching carousel in McDavid's career has been a dizzying one, but this year genuinely feels like the right leader is behind the bench.  Knoblauch has had the best record in the NHL since he took over from Woodcraft, and there are clear examples as to why he's been able to have success this year. Unfortunately, Woodcroft also saw this kind of success before his coaching philosophy went out the window against Vegas in the 2023 playoff run due to the pressure of the situation.

In this episode, we are going to look at two broadly defined styles of leadership: Transformational leadership, like Knoblauch or Ted Lasso, which is defined by a leader's focus on relationships, vulnerability, and intrinsic motivation; and Transactional leadership, like Tortorella or Urban Meyer, which focuses on, order, structure, and extrinsic motivation. We break down the Oilers' coaching history and the confidence of the Oilers players heading into the playoffs, and we squeeze in a jab or two about the Leafs while we're at it.