Almost seven years to the day, Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz last publicly addressed the media and fans about the state of the franchise.

May 7, 2019. 

The Oilers had just gone through an ugly campaign where both coach Todd McLellan and general manager Peter Chiarelli were gassed mid-season. They missed the playoffs by 10 points, an annual tradition then.  

In fact, Edmonton had missed the playoffs 12 of the last 13 seasons.

Despite having franchise-changing pieces – for real this time – in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the organization still operated suspiciously. Things were weird with Wayne Gretzky in the fold, the lingering influence of the Old Boys Club, and how decisions were ultimately made.

Who was deciding what?

Katz felt it necessary to show up and address the criticisms head-on. Although we were all initially distracted by his health issues and different appearance, Katz went out and delivered a State of the Franchise speech.

He didn’t sugarcoat it:

“We have not delivered on the promise we made to our fans in recent years,” he said. “You know it, and I know it, and we all know it.” 

In comes Jackson

Since then, Katz has not been seen or heard from, at least not in the hockey sense.

But to his credit, the team has taken on a sense of seriousness and legitimacy in the hockey world, which was foreign to that point. There were no more whispers of the Old Boys Club, Red Wine Summits, or Katz intervening on major decisions like Nail Yakupov being drafted first-overall in 2012.

The last time a Katz appearance would’ve made sense would be August 2023, when Jeff Jackson was introduced as the CEO of Hockey Operations, as Bob Nicholson was stepping away.

Holland sat beside him in a vaguely awkward way. “Look, everyone, here’s my new boss, who just happened to be employed by Connor McDavid a few days ago!”

President and general manager, Ken Holland, right, introduces Jeff Jackson as CEO on August 3, 2023.

That was a little strange, in retrospect. But who can argue with hiring McDavid’s agent? After all, he had negotiated the initial eight-year extension in 2017.

Jackson said Katz and Paul Coffey approached him for the gig. Now he would report directly to Katz while Coffey would help him, acting as a special adviser.

That would change by November when a poor start cost Jay Woodcroft his job, and Kris Knoblauch was introduced as coach. Jackson and Coffey were there, alongside Holland, to introduce him.

Coffey would also step behind the bench, the first time in a coaching capacity since the disastrous “skills coach” period of 2018, and of course, again in 2026. 

Fast forward five years after Katz’s speech (and two head coaches), and the Edmonton Oilers were in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. They would be........

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