Despite a controversial past and a brief retirement, the veteran bench boss nears a return as Edmonton clears hurdles with team leadership and league officials to secure their hire.
The Edmonton Oilers are seeking approval from the NHLPA to hire former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock as their next bench boss, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.
This report comes after Babcock messaged Dreger on May 20 about potentially coaching again in the NHL, and he said, "Dregs, I'm retired. Loving it."
However, contrary to what he told Dreger, it seems that Babcock is open to joining the fifth team of his NHL coaching career.
There is some controversy attached to Babcock in a couple of different situations from his past.
Babcock coached the Maple Leafs for five years from 2015-16 to 2019-20. After his tenure in Toronto, there were reports that he asked Mitch Marner, a rookie at the time, to provide a list of players ranked from hardest-working to least hardest-working. With that list, Babcock then shared the results with the rest of the team, putting Marner in an awkward and embarrassing spot.
In his last stint in the NHL, with the Columbus Blue Jackets, he didn't get to coach his team for one game. He was hired on July 1, 2023, but resigned two months later on Sept. 17 after allegations of him invading the privacy of his players.
Nonetheless, the Oilers are doing their due diligence and consulted with the NHLPA regarding any objections from the committee to potentially naming him as head coach.
Furthermore, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Babcock has spoken directly to the Oilers' owner, Daryl Katz. And while the final decision is up to Katz, because of Babcock's history, Edmonton's players would need to be on board.
Well, it turns out that Babcock also met with several members of the team's leadership group, per Friedman's sources, and that apparently "was enough to eliminate any potential objection."
With these reports, TSN's Pierre LeBrun on Monday noted that Babcock could be joined by D.J. Smith, who is another former member of the Maple Leafs coaching staff. Babcock and Smith stood behind the bench together in Toronto for four years.
With the Maple Leafs, Babcock led Toronto to three third-place finishes in the Atlantic Division, falling in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of those campaigns.
In total, Babcock coached the Leafs for 351 regular-season games, earning a 173-133-45 record, as well as 20 playoff games and an 8-12 post-season record.
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