'I Think Players Want To Be Pushed': Why Oilers Are Trying To Hire Mike Babcock

Somewhere along the way, Mike Babcock became the boogeyman.

He went from being viewed as one of the best coaches in the NHL to being one of the worst humans. In between winning a Stanley Cup and two Olympic gold medals, he got accused of verbally abusing Johan Franzen, of asking Mitch Marner to rank his teammates' work ethic and resigned from a job before even coaching a game for perusing another player's camera roll.

He's been called a bully and the poster child for mental health.

Despite all of this — and perhaps because of this — he might just become the coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

Why? Because Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl want to win a championship — even if it means putting up with someone the NHLPA has asked the NHL to investigate because of allegations he invaded players' privacy in Columbus, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

"I don't have any reservations about the Oilers hiring Mike," former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau told The Hockey News on Wednesday. "He's a really good coach. Hopefully he's learned from his mistakes. It's definitely a different approach. That usually happens when teams make coaching changes, you go for the opposite person. They had a players coach, and now they're going to a disciplinarian."

Indeed, this is the reverse of what the Vegas Golden Knights did when they fired the demanding Bruce Cassidy as coach with eight games remaining in the regular season and replaced him with John Tortorella, who has brought nothing but positive vibes since then.

And look at where Vegas is now.

However, don't count on Babcock bringing the feels. If Kris Knoblauch, who was fired at the end of the season as the Oilers coach, was warm and fuzzy, then Babcock will be hired because he is cold and prickly — or some variation of those two words.

He's also a really good coach.

Babcock, who reached the Stanley Cup final with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, won a championship with the Detroit Red Wings and also made another final. He brought respect back to the Toronto Maple Leafs, turning them from a punch line into a perennial playoff team. He's won two Olympic gold medals, a World Cup and a World Championship. He's ranked 12th with 700 wins on the all-time coach list.

"It's not coaching mistakes that Mike made, because he's done everything right on the ice," said Boudreau. "But the way he's treated players is not the right way. But again, that's his style."

It's an admittedly old-school style.

Some would suggest it's a style that doesn't work in today's NHL, where players are paid more than the coaches, and the power dynamic has shifted. Players are no longer told what to do. Instead, they are explained what they should do, usually with their self-interests in mind. 

Players don't want to be yelled at. They don't want to be berated, humiliated and embarrassed.

At the same time, you'd be surprised what players will put up with if it means winning a championship.

It's often said that no player enjoyed playing for legendary coach Scotty Bowman, who was hated for 364 days of the year. The one day the players loved him was on the day when they raised the Cup.

That's what the Oilers are hoping for. More importantly, that's what McDavid and Draisaitl, who surely must have signed off on Babcock, are hoping for.

"Mike Babcock's not an idiot," former NHLer Mike Commodore, who played for Babcock in Detroit, said on the Jason Gregor Show. "Connor and Leon are going to get treated like gold. It's the third- and fourth-liners, the five-seven defensemen, the rookies, the arena staff, it's people like that who are going to be abused."

Indeed, this is what desperation looks like. It's also what it looks like when the kids are sick of living in a messy house and are craving discipline.

The Oilers have tried the player-friendly coach. While they got close to winning a championship in 2024 and again in 2025, when they reached the final in both years, they came home with nothing to show for it.

This year was even worse. The Oilers made the playoffs, only to lose in the first round. 

Along the way, there were suggestions the team lacked defensive structure. There were veiled shots at Knoblauch's defensive system and failure to clamp things down. At times, it seemed like McDavid was yelling more than the coaching staff. 

So, potentially enter Babcock — for at least one or two years.

With McDavid staring down free agency in 2027, this is a last-ditch effort to try something drastic and new, just like the Golden Knights did when they made a coaching change in the final three weeks of the season. It's also a chance to see if Babcock has learned from his time away from the game, as Joel Quenneville did after a suspension for his role in the Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault scandal.

Who knows? Maybe Babcock hasn't changed all that much. And who knows, maybe the Oilers are fine with that.

"I think players want to be pushed," Hall of Fame head coach Scotty Bowman once told me. "Good players do. The real top guys have said that. Nobody likes it, but I think players appreciate somebody who wants to get the most out of them. You have to be fair about it, but they want to be pushed to the limit."

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