If Mike Babcock Falls Through, Where Do The Oilers Go From Here?
Should the latest investigation into Mike Babcock ultimately prevent him from becoming the next head coach of the Edmonton Oilers , the organization could find itself in a remarkably awkward position, one that would leave people searching for answers while trying to explain how a process that began with such urgency became so messy.
Video Transcript
Like I said, there's an investigation going on.
Drew, let's start with you.
what, what do you make of the Oilers' decision to go down this route?
Is this a, a wise move, desperate move?
How would you characterize it?
Well, I think one thing that a lot of people are getting wrong on this is there's no way that the Edmonton Oilers, are going down this route without getting advice from some of their best players.
So- Yeah, Oilers I think the n- the narrative of all their best players are gonna want out if they go down kinda this old school hard coach route, whoever that may be, is false.
I do think, I mean, it's apparent that they seem like the only way that they think they can win there now in this short window is by having a coach who's gonna bring in a ton of discipline, a ton of structure, and basically get, let's call 'em a lot of B minus, C plus players to play such a good system that it's gonna allow the top guys to then do what they do, and that's how they're gonna have to win.
So I think from a thought process, I don't necessarily think it's the wrong thought process.
I didn't have him on my bingo card of which one of these old school hard coaches they were gonna bring in.
But I do kinda understand where they must be thinking, and I think that, like I said, you gotta find a way to get those depth guys to kinda play sound defensively 'cause, I mean, they were horrible defensively this year, like across the board.
Mm-hmm.
And I just think that that can't happen because eventually in playoffs, I mean, you can't outscore everybody.
Yeah, we, and we kept hearing that from Connor McDavid throughout the year.
Like, there were kinda, like, veiled shots at Kris Knoblauch and the lack of defensive structure that the team had and, you know, McDavid basically being perplexed.
And I, I get what you're saying.
I talked with Bruce Boudreau, former head coach in the NHL, about this decision to go with Babcock, Drew, and he basically said what you said is, like, there's always that pendulum swinging from player-friendly coach to the iron-fisted coach, and it just keeps going back and forth.
So Edmonton, you know, by all accounts, Kris Knoblauch was that player-friendly coach and, you know, gets you to the final back-to-back years, but you didn't get the job complete and you didn't like what you saw out of the Edmonton Oilers this year on the ice.
So, you know, it's not surprising that they would go this route.
R- Ryan, what did you make of the, what do you make of this decision, though?
for me, it's just, like, I, I understand that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are desperate to win.
I, I'm sure they're 100% behind this.
The, what I think they probably have not thought of is what this would mean for Matt Savoy, what this would mean for Ike Howard, what this would mean for Ty Emberson because we know the Mike Babcock playbook by now.
And hey, maybe he'll change.
Maybe, and maybe I'm an idiot for even saying that, because I think we've seen over the course of his career that he does not change.
And it's no surprise that it was, you know, young Columbus players that, you know, he was asking to see their phones.
you know, he will be great for the stars and, you know, history has shown he will be really rough on anyone that doesn't have a lot of agency.
So rookies and depth guys that he knows he can push around and there will be no consequences.
So if you're the Edmonton Oilers, I think you have to say, you know, in this year of 2026, can your culture handle that?
And I think that's a big question and I'm, I'm glad that the NHLPA and the NHL are going to be involved because, you know, I mean, this is a reputation thing and, you know, like, how many chances can a guy get?
Yeah.
