The Edmonton Oilers’ coaching search may have turned on a matter of timing, and not much else. After hiring Mike Babcock, the club wound up with a veteran bench boss many around the league believe was not its first target. That name was Bruce Cassidy.
Edmonton had real interest in Cassidy, who is behind the bench for the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Oilers even asked for permission to speak with him. Vegas said no, and Edmonton moved on.
But veteran broadcaster Rod Pedersen said the door might have opened if the Oilers had simply waited a little longer. Pedersen suggested that if Edmonton had held off for one more week, Cassidy may have become available.
He stressed that it was still speculation, since there was no guarantee Vegas would have let a division rival hire him, but Pedersen said multiple agents told him that was how it would have played out.
Instead, the Oilers settled on Babcock after talks with team leadership. Babcock brings a strong résumé, and the belief is that he could be a good fit in Edmonton. Still, the reporting points to Cassidy as the original plan.
In Columbus, the Zach Werenski situation has cooled, but it is not exactly finished. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic said on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio Power Play this week that Werenski never formally asked for a trade, even though there were internal conversations about his future and the direction of the Blue Jackets.
Werenski has two years left on his deal, and the sense is that he wants to see Columbus prove it can become a playoff team before he commits long term. The uncertainty does not stop there, either.
Kirill Marchenko remains part of the picture, and so does the extension for Adam Fantilli. The tension around Werenski has eased for now, but people around the league do not sound ready to close the book on it.
If the Blue Jackets stumble early, this could become a fresh storyline fast.
For the moment, both sides appear to want to keep moving together. The bigger challenge for Columbus is convincing its top defenseman that the organization is headed in the right direction.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, spent the offseason aiming high and ending up short. Kyle Dubas wanted to make a real splash, including a push to move up in the first round of the draft. That effort may have involved players such as Bryan Rust or Rickard Rakell, but the market was steep and teams wanted major returns for premium assets.
Dubas also tried to land Jason Robertson before Robertson signed a one-year extension to remain with the Dallas Stars. In the end, Dubas decided against “sell the farm,” which says plenty about where the Penguins see themselves right now.
There is still some cautious optimism around the roster, and Dubas may simply be setting up for next summer instead. Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote:
“Next summer, the Penguins could have in excess of $70 million in cap space. The market will be much better.
They’ll have a better feel for which of their aging players can still be helpful down the road. They’ll have a feel for just how good [Sergei] Murashov is.
They’ll have a feel for which of their young players and prospects are ready for the NHL.”
That patience comes with a big-picture reality attached. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang are all getting older, and Pittsburgh has not won a playoff series since 2018. The Penguins are still trying to find the line between staying competitive and starting the retool.
In Other News...
Bowman Says The Oilers Are Set But Bakersfield Looms Large
The Oilers may be content with where their NHL roster stands right now, but the conversation around the team is hardly finished. Executive Stan Bowman has said the group is set for the moment, even as the reality of a long season usually brings injuries, slumps and the need for a fresh look. That makes the pipeline in Bakersfield especially important, because Edmonton will almost certainly need help from below at some point.
The names worth tracking are beginning to line up, with Isaac Howard and William Nicholl viewed as candidates to help either right away or not long after, while Owen Michaels and Josh Samanski are also edging closer to NHL readiness. For the Oilers, the significance of that depth is not just about filling a temporary hole, but about having real options when the season starts to push the roster in different directions. Bakersfield may end up mattering far more than the quiet confidence of a set lineup suggests. [Read more 🡒]
Vasily Podkolzin Gave The Oilers An Edge Fans Noticed
Vasily Podkolzin has brought a different sort of edge to the Oilers this season, one that fans notice long before the box score catches up. Edmonton has been involved in plenty of scrums across the 2025-26 campaign, and Podkolzin has been right in the middle of that identity shift, stepping into the rough stuff and setting a tone that fits a team willing to get greasy when the game calls for it.
He has led the Oilers in fights and come out on top in several of the more notable ones, including bouts with Peyton Krebs and Anthony Cirelli. And he has not been alone in adding some bite to the lineup, with Connor Murphy and Connor Clattenburg also dropping the gloves more than once, giving Edmonton a physical presence that has become part of the conversation around this group. [Read more 🡒]
Russian Stars Absence Leaves International Hockey Facing Unseen Cost
The International Ice Hockey Federations decision to keep Russia out of major tournaments is reverberating well beyond the bracket sheets, with the ban now set to cover the 2027 Mens World Championship, the 2027 World Junior Championship and the upcoming U18 mens and womens events. The move came after Russias hockey organization sought a fresh review, but the federation stood by its earlier call, citing safety, security and sporting integrity concerns.
For a sport that still prides itself on global competition, the absence of Russian teams leaves a visible hole in events that shape the next wave of stars and establish the pecking order among hockey powers. The on-ice consequences are obvious, but the larger question lingers too: how long can international hockey keep drawing its lines this way before the political backdrop starts changing the game itself? [Read more 🡒]