Mike Babcock needs to show growth for Oilers hiring to work out
What we’ve known would happen for seemingly weeks was made official on Tuesday, as the Edmonton Oilers hired Mike Babcock to be their 19th head coach in franchise history. It may have taken an NHL-conducted investigation into Babcock’s resignation from the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023 to clear the way, but the Oilers got their guy.
The Oilers are hoping Babcock, who has one Stanley Cup championship and two more Stanley Cup Final appearances under his belt, will be the coach to finally get Connor McDavid and company that elusive Cup. Of course, Babcock’s resume is littered with plenty of controversy as well, including multiple allegations of abusive and inappropriate conduct with his players.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk shared his thoughts on Edmonton’s hiring of Babcock.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I am not a fan of the Mike Babcock thing. I think it is stupid. It’s been a long time since he’s proven he’s a good coach. He comes with a lot of baggage. It’s not a smart hire. Could it work? Yes, it could absolutely work. I think the Oilers have enough talent on that roster that they could win with anybody as their head coach, so it could work. The reason we didn’t make it a big part of the show today is because you’ve all heard me talk about it ten different ways over the last three weeks.
My opinion on it could change based on how his press conference goes. When we hear him talk and he faces the Edmonton media, and I’m sure my boy Jason Gregor is going to be asking him some really tough questions, I wanrt to hear how he answers some tough questions. I want to hear if there was any sort of reflection, if Babcock looks back on what happened in Columbus and Toronto and even all the way back to the Johan Franzen and the Mike Modano stuff in Detroit. I want to hear if Mike Babcock goes “You know what, I could have done things better. I know that in the new NHL, you need to be different. There’s room to be a hard-ass, there’s not room to be a bully. I know I need to treat people a little bit differently than I used to.” Has Mike Babcock, I don’t want to say matured because the guy is in his 60s, so that’s not the right word to use here, but is Mike Babcock going to show me when he speaks to the media that he has a willingness to adapt? Or is he going to come in and say “I’m coaching this team like they’re the ’08 Red Wings, and the way I do it, it’s my way or the highway.” If that’s going to be the attitude, I don’t think works.
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Tuesday’s episode here…