The Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and Evander Kane all found themselves in the same conversation this week, but for very different reasons. One story is about whether a coach can steady a team that needs to clean up its own mess.
Another is about a new bench boss walking straight into a pressure cooker. And the third is pure social media static, with Kane once again making noise while still looking for his next job.
Start in Edmonton, where Mike Babcock is stepping into a situation that leaves very little room for a slow start. The concern isn’t that he’s automatically a bad hire.
It’s that if the Oilers don’t come out strong, the whole thing could turn fast. Kris Knoblauch was let go not because he was awful, but because the organization didn’t believe he could get the team to the next level.
Babcock is being asked to do exactly that, and he’s doing it with a very different kind of approach than Knoblauch’s more teacher-like style.
That matters because the Oilers are built for the present tense. There’s no patience baked into this setup.
If players don’t buy in quickly, if the system doesn’t land right away, opponents will expose it. If the power play and penalty kill stumble early, the confidence can drain out of the room in a hurry.
In a market like this, there’s no long runway. The moment things feel off, the pressure lands on Babcock, and hard.
The Jets’ situation is less about a single flashpoint and more about whether Scott Arniel can get the group moving in the right direction. He has not been around forever as a coach, but Winnipeg’s first year with him was impressive enough to show he can get results. The Jets posted the best record in the NHL that season, so the idea that he can’t coach doesn’t hold up.
Last season was clearly disappointing, but the source of that disappointment doesn’t seem to sit only with Arniel. The bigger issues sound like roster problems, an aging core and a team that lost its identity along the way.
The chatter around Connor Hellebuyck is also being treated as noise, since moving him would be a massive call and he’s still been a major reason Winnipeg has had a chance. The broader point is simple: Arniel can help, but the Jets have to tighten things up around him.
Then there’s Evander Kane, who is keeping the temperature up on social media. Kane pushed back after Sportsnet’s Mark Spector called his take “selfish” in response to Kane reacting to a Dr.
Anthony Fauci tweet. Kane answered with a sharp comment of his own, and the exchange stayed petty and personal.
Kane is still a UFA after his deal with Edmonton ended, and there had been rumors about whether he might circle back on a PTO or a one-year deal to provide depth. Moments like this probably don’t help his case, though it would not be a shock if he still finds a team once training camps open up.
In Other News...
Jets Problems Go Far Beyond Scott Arniel
The Jets rough stretch has put Scott Arniel under the microscope, but the bigger picture in Winnipeg looks a lot messier than a coaching debate. Arniel has a track record with this group and plenty of familiarity inside the room, yet the teams uneven season has also pointed back to deeper issues that have been building for a while, especially the way the roster has been put together around an aging core.
Connor Hellebuycks name keeps coming up in trade speculation, which only adds to the noise around a team already searching for answers. Still, a move of that scale feels far-fetched, and the more realistic question is how much of Winnipegs current problem can actually be fixed from the bench at all. [Read more 🡒]