The Edmonton Oilers are facing intense scrutiny for their decision to hire Mike Babcock for their head-coaching role given all of the baggage he brings with him. Babcock did not exactly do himself any favors at his introductory news conference, refusing to take much — if any — accountability for some of his treatment of past players in his previous stops with the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets (where he resigned before ever coaching a game).
It’s not hard to see why the Oilers went in this direction and took this risk.
They are desperate.
They are desperate to win, and they are still clinging to some misguided hope that Babcock can win like he did earlier in his career with the Red Wings.
Beyond that level of desperation, the Oilers’ best players, led by captain and Connor McDavid, seemed to be fully on board with the decision to hire Babcock.
They also seemed to push for it.
In doing so, nobody sounded more desperate than McDavid himself.
Connor McDavid sounds painfully desperate in support of Mike Babcock hire
In a sit-down interview with Sportsnet’s Mark Spector this week, McDavid spoke extensively about how this is what the Oilers’ top players wanted.
They want Babcock to come in and push them.
They want somebody to come in and get players to sacrifice for the team and perhaps play a different way that can help them get over the hump and finally win a championship.
McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been the best offensive duo in the league for more than a decade now, and while they have made two Stanley Cup Final runs and a third Western Conference Final trip, they have yet to actually put their names on the cup.
Until they do, their legacies will both be missing something.
“The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result,” McDavid said. “Babs is different. He gives us a different personality, a different approach to our group, and an approach that we’ve probably have never had.
“We’ve tried it the same way for a really long time. Let’s try it different.”
McDavid was then asked about Babcock’s reputation for the poor — and at times shocking — way he has treated players in the past, and he didn’t seem to shy away from it.
“We brought Babs in to be hard on me. And Leon. The top guys — that’s who we want to point the finger at. As the leaders of the team, we are always taking the temperature of the room and assessing things. Of course we’re always watching,” he said.
“All I can speak to is him being our head coach today, and we want Babs to come in and be hard on Leon and Nuge and Boosh and Ecky and Heisy, and me. We want to push those guys, and we want him lifting up everybody else. That’s what he’s here to do.”
There are some potential problems with McDavid’s mindset here.
The first is that Babcock’s harsh treatment and finger-pointing isn’t going to be limited to the top players on the roster who are asking for it and hoping for that pressure.
There are 23 players on that roster, and if history is any indicator, they are all going to get harsh treatment.
In Babcock’s past coaching stops, it is typically the players at the bottom of the lineup who get the most abuse. That is a problem, because they are the ones who will be most powerless to speak up. The fact the NHL and NHLPA had to do an investigation into Babcock’s past behavior before the Oilers could hire him is a major red flag, and it would probably scare off most teams. The fact he showed almost no remorse this week is not exactly encouraging.
But the even more pressing issue might be McDavid’s delusion into what Babcock can do for the team from a hockey perspective. He talks about him like a coach that has won multiple championships and been wildly successful.
He hasn’t been.
His one Stanley Cup was in 2008, which is 18 years ago.
He hasn’t won a playoff series since 2013, and has won just one since 2011. There have been 40 different head coaches who have won a playoff series Babcock last did, including 17 who have won at least one with multiple teams. He also hasn’t had a team finish higher than third in its own division since 2010-11 and has consistently been middle-of-the-pack in the NHL during that stretch.
There is plenty of evidence he will treat players poorly.
There is not as much evidence that he will win.
