Mark Messier didn’t hide how he felt about the Edmonton Oilers bringing Mike Babcock in as head coach. In Messier’s view, the whole process around the hire crossed a line, especially the part where players were asked to sit in on interviews.
“I am absolutely shocked they hired him,” he said during the ESPN NHL Opening Night media call, transcribed by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “I’m absolutely shocked from the stories that I heard from very good, reputable, character people about the way they were treated. It’s been no secret.
“I agree with Ray the way that he was onboarded through the players interviewing him is absolutely something that I’ve never heard of before. Maybe the game has changed, and that’s the way it’s going.
Great. I don’t know.
It certainly wasn’t like that.”
Messier went even further when describing the setup.
“I think there has to be a separation of powers on the structural level of any team,” he said. “I think from the management to the coaching to the players, there has to be a divide.
The leadership of your team have to protect the players inside the dressing room. How can you do that when you’re directly involved with the decisions they’re making at the management level and hiring of the management and coaches?
I don’t understand it.
“Maybe the game has changed to the point where that’s the way things are going now, where players have that much say. I just don’t know, if it does go bad and players are having difficulties, who do they turn to?
“Because if they turn to the leadership, the leadership is management. There’s no separation there. I am just horrified about the whole thing, to be honest with you.”
Babcock officially joined the Oilers on June 23 after a months-long search that had been slowed by the team’s push to land former Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy. Earlier that month, reports said Oilers owner Daryl Katz, his son Harrison, and members of the player leadership group, including Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman, met with Babcock.
The hiring process has drawn attention because of Babcock’s history. He had been out of the NHL since 2023 after controversy over going through players’ phones and looking at photos with them. He stepped away before an NHL investigation could be completed at the time, and that review was later pushed to when the Oilers explored hiring him.
The league cleared Babcock, saying that “light least favorable (sic) to Mr. Babcock, there is no current basis to restrict his employment in the League.”
When he was hired by the Oilers, Babcock did not apologize for what happened. His past also includes multiple stops where he was accused of mistreating players.
Messier’s criticism also carries its own baggage. In the late 1990s, while he was with the Vancouver Canucks, he pushed for Mike Keenan to be hired as head coach and was involved in player personnel decisions. Vancouver gave Messier a three-year, $18-million deal and sacrificed depth in the process, moving franchise names Kirk McLean, Trevor Linden, Gino Odjick, and Pavel Bure.
Maybe that’s why he’s still public enemy number one in Vancouver.
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