Coach calls Holloway's AHL assignment 'best' for both Oilers, player

Edmonton Oilers forward Dylan Holloway in NHL action on Oct. 17, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (Mark Zaleski/Associated Press)

The decision to assign a healthy Dylan Holloway to the American Hockey League instead of re-inserting the forward into the Edmonton Oilers lineup following his injury is "what's best for (both) the team and him," head coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday.

Holloway, who was activated from the injured list on Wednesday and sent to the Bakersfield Condors, had been out of the National Hockey League team's lineup since getting injured in a game Nov. 13 against the New York Islanders — coincidentally, Knoblauch's first game behind the Oilers bench after the team fired Jay Woodcroft.

The fortunes of the Oilers, who had stumbled to a 2-9-1 record to open the season under Woodcroft, have looked much brighter since Knoblauch took over as coach, guiding them to a 17-6 record since.

Knoblauch told reporters following practice he's a coach who likes to stick with a winning lineup, and that he anticipates the move sending the 22-year-old Holloway — a player he thinks "can make us better" — down to the AHL will reap benefits for both the player and the team when he is called back up to the Oilers, who return to action Saturday against the visiting Ottawa Senators.

"Right now, with the way the team is going — winning six in a row and playing quite well, making it a difficult decision on who to take out ... if we did insert him into the lineup, he's probably playing a very limited role, very sheltered, maybe six, seven minutes a night," Knoblauch said.

"I think with him going to go play in Bakersfield and playing significant minutes, a significant role, (when we call) him back up, he'll be in a better position to help us moving forward."

Knoblauch said the team has no exact time frame for when Holloway — the Oilers' top pick, 14th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft — will return to the NHL but does "have an idea of when that call-up will be."