Following the Edmonton Oilers hiring of Mike Babcock and D.J. Smith, here's a brief history of the connection between the Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs in recent memory.
The Edmonton Oilers officially hired head coach Mike Babcock on Tuesday. At the same time, the Oilers also hired D.J. Smith as an assistant coach.
Babcock and Smith were both behind the bench for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015-16 to 2018-19. Babcock was the head coach of the Leafs until 2019-20, while Smith was one of his assistant coaches.
The Oilers' hire of a pair of ex-Leafs coaches adds to an already long list of connections between the two franchises, whether that's players, coaches, or executives. Here's a small sliver of the history between Toronto and Edmonton.
Looking at both current rosters, there are a total of five players who have played on both teams. Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen and Calvin Pickard are Oilers who have featured for the Maple Leafs in their careers. On the other side, Anthony Stolarz and Troy Stecher are the current Leafs who have worn Oilers colors before.
For Edmonton, some other former Leafs that made their way to Alberta include John Klingberg, Travis Dermott, Connor Brown, Jack Campbell, Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Tyler Ennis and Connor Carrick. Those are all players just from recent memory
For Toronto, William Lagesson, Matt Benning and Martin Marincin are players who once played for the Oilers earlier in their careers, and ended up on the Leafs sometime afterward.
In terms of staff and executives, there are a handful of individuals who overlap.
The Oilers' CEO and president of hockey operations, Jeff Jackson, was once an assistant GM for the Leafs in the late 2000s. Dallas Eakins, former head coach of the Oilers in 2013-14 and 2014-15, was an assistant coach, also in the late 2000s.
Even Pat Quinn, who spent several years as a head coach in Toronto from 1998-99 to 2005-06, spent one season as the Oilers coach in 2009-10.
Bringing in Babcock and Smith alongside him is just one of many connections that can be made between the Maple Leafs and Oilers.
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