The Five Top Uncommitted USHL Players
Discover which high-impact USHL players are still hunting for NCAA commitments as the 2026 offseason heats up.
Video Transcript
You're in Edmonton, you cover the Oilers.
Just kinda wanna get your take on the whole Mike Babcock situation with everything that is, that's going on right now.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a never ending It's a gift that keeps on giving if you're writing content for the Edmonton Oilers, because it is- a constant changing storyline every five to 10 minutes.
the Babcock situation is really interesting, and I, I believe this is maybe gonna go in a direction that a lot of people don't see coming.
the fact that Edmonton decided, and they are stubborn, the Edmonton Oilers are a stubborn team, who when they want something, they go after it regardless of what the optics are, and that's why they're going after Babcock in the first place.
What we've heard is that there was a conversation where Connor McDavid, Drew Doughty, Seth Ryman, who's a big, big advocate for Mike Babcock, have really pushed for this.
They had a conversation with Mike Babcock and they grilled him on a lot of stuff.
and they walked away from that conversation saying, "This is our guy."
Which I think is the reason that they're not waiting on a guy like Bruce Cassidy, who maybe Vegas has said you're never gonna get to talk to, but I don't believe that's actually been definitively stated.
I think Edmonton could have waited another two weeks and probably got the chance to talk to Cassidy, but they don't wanna do that anymore.
They've decided that Babcock is their guy.
What I find is really interesting about this is the investigation that the NHL is now conducting.
I think there's something there.
I think there's more to it than the cell phone situation.
I think there's something that he walked away from the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023 because whatever it was, wasn't good, and he didn't want that out there.
So I'm shocked that Babcock is willing to go through that process right now.
So to me, I think if there's any inclination or any indication that something nasty's gonna come out, I think it's Babcock who walks away.
I think he's gonna be the guy who says, "You know what?
I don't want this or need this out there."
and if they're going to do that and find that and discover that, and I believe there are some players from Columbus and some other players in the past too, that have some interesting testimonials to share that the NHLPA wants out there.
I don't know why Babcock, who has tons of money and was happily retired, is going to want to go through that and drag this out.
I think the Oilers probably would be like, "Hey, maybe we'll see."
I don't know what conversations happened there and whether or not he was totally honest about his past with the Oilers and the leadership group, but I do wonder if there's something really nasty there, if it's Babcock who walks away from this, because why would you need that out there?
He doesn't need this job, and especially if it's like a one-year deal, which I can't imagine would be any more than that, why do you drag yourself through that?
Why Unless he's just that stubborn, but like, why do you want that out there in public consc- Like, don't.
Just walked away from it once.
You hid from whatever it was the first time.
Why would you want it out there now?
So I do wonder, depending on what stories are coming out here, if he's the one who walks away from this.
