In the beginning of Monday, there have been three head coaching jobs open within the NHL. One among those jobs was filled, because the Los Angeles Kings hired Peter Laviolette. That leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers without coaches. With Laviolette not an option, the Oilers have been rumored to be desirous about Mike Babcock.
Now, there may be reporting that Oilers superstar Connor McDavid may additionally be involved in the method, in line with Oilers insider Bob Stauffer.
“As we have now seen in the opposite Major Skilled Leagues one would need to be somewhat naive to not think your most vital assets (players) are usually not no less than a part of the method in major organizational moves,” Stauffer posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The involvement of McDavid could also be necessary for 2 reasons. The primary being the long run of the star forward himself. Earlier within the 2025-26 season, McDavid signed a two-year contract extension with the team. The undeniable fact that he signed for just two years has been seen as signaling that the Oilers need to seek out a method to win the Cup to maintain McDavid.
The second is the history of Babcock himself. Babcock was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023, but would resign before ever coaching a game. Allegations that he went through the photos on players’ phones surfaced, and the NHLPA revealed that multiple players weren’t comfortable with the situation. This led to his quick resignation from the team.
There has also been a history of Babcock clashing with players, as former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri identified in his book, in line with Kyle Cantlon of Yahoo.
“Babs was really into the psychological facets of performance. He’d been a psychology major at McGill University, a undeniable fact that everyone looked as if it would know. As I’ve said, he was desirous about ways to motivate players, to get essentially the most out of them by knowing what buttons to press, what games to play. All that sort of stuff,” Kadri wrote in his book. “But over an extended time period, that may wear on you, and so these kids of coaches often have a shelf life. Obviously, there was some profit because Babs had a number of success. He was an excellent coach. But again, his tactics could also backfire. And with players having modified a lot over the past decade, there is not any longer a spot within the league for mind games like that.”
If the Oilers think a coach like Babcock can assist the team, it’s value exploring, but not at the danger of alienating the beginning of the franchise, meaning McDavid needs to provide his blessing.
In the beginning of Monday, there have been three head coaching jobs open within the NHL. One among those jobs was filled, because the Los Angeles Kings hired Peter Laviolette. That leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers without coaches. With Laviolette not an option, the Oilers have been rumored to be desirous about Mike Babcock.