Mike Babcock has a way of turning a hockey conversation into a referendum on how the game should be played, and this week in Edmonton he leaned hard into that style again.
The new Oilers coach kept circling back to the same theme: veteran players, direct talk and what he sees as the right kind of men to build around. Leon Draisaitl sounded receptive to it, saying of Babcock: “He’s just so clear.
He knows what this team needs and he doesn’t shy away from telling you straight to your face. He’s a real man about it.
And we’re all men in here. And we want to win.
We’re all here for the same reason. I think he’s going to be great to us.”
Babcock, for his part, made it clear he sees this Oilers group as one that should be able to handle blunt honesty. “We got veteran guys that are going to have a voice.
Ekholm. He’s been around forever.
He knows. He’s a man.
He’s not shy. Nuge’s been around forever.
They know. Not shy.
Hyman knows. Not shy.
Draisaitl and McDavid aren’t kids. They know.
They’re not scared of any coach. They’re sharing their thoughts with you and I’m sharing my thoughts with them.
We’re going to come up with whatever is the best for the Oilers and go.”
That wasn’t the only time Babcock reached for examples from his past to make the point. He pointed to Patrice Bergeron, saying, “I coached Bergeron.
I’m thinking 04 at the World’s 2010, 2014 Olympics, 2016. Like this guy did everything right.
He knew. Great man.
Just knew how to do (things). They’re teaching you stuff.
Like I don’t care if it’s Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, all these guys over the years that taught you a ton… I think that’s what it’s all about.”
He also brought up his Canadian university championship team in Lethbridge. “We had men on that team.
Gregg Nicol led that team. He played harder than any man.
He was a dominant checking centre. He did things right.
He worked.”
And Babcock didn’t stop there. Sidney Crosby came up too.
“I’ll tell you something about Sid is that number one, he didn’t have to say anything nice about me. That guy’s a man.
And I had a chance to coach him in 2010, 2014, 2016. And to see him grow as a player, yet unbelievable defensively, unreal in the circle, but the way he shared
himself and the older and the more comfortable he got, the more he shared himself with his teammates, it made him better.”
Babcock is a Canadian original, and he has enough personality and presence to make the Oilers worth watching on his own, no matter how the season goes.
The bigger question is whether this message lands where Edmonton needs it most. Draisaitl clearly responded to it, and that matters because one of the central jobs here is getting Connor McDavid and Draisaitl fully bought in while pushing the team toward better defensive play than it had last season. In that sense, Babcock’s tone is hard to dismiss.
He’s never been a coach who leaves people neutral. It’s easy to see why some people bristle at him. It’s also easy to see why others gravitate toward him.
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