Mike Babcock was happily retired.

He was good at it, he said, but when Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman called with an opportunity to coach a team with players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman, it was one he couldn’t pass up.

“I have to tell you, I was enjoying retirement like you can’t believe,” he said. “I was enjoying retirement like you can’t believe and never thought that we’d be back in this room or coach again.

“When I knew that I was going to get together with Connor, Leon, and Zach, that was worth the drive. That kind of changed everything.”

Along the way, Babcock said a nearly four-hour-long meeting with Bowman, CEO Jeff Jackson, and Harrison Katz, son of Oilers owner Darryl, revealed alignment between all parties about what the organization needed to do to “get to be championship material” — something he added wasn’t in Columbus, leading to his resignation.

Those conversations continued with the players, with Babcock detailing what needs to be done for the Oilers to get to where they want to go.

Babcock flew with Bowman and Jackson to meet with Oilers owner Darryl Katz, and that’s where the details were hammered out.

“We sat down, and that’s where we worked everything out, and Darryl was committed that I was going to be his coach and we were going to go through the process,” Babcock said to Oilers Now’s Bob Stauffer. “We worked out the way we’re going to communicate because that is so important for a management team of any pro sport. Is to be in line that way and to sit back now and look at the process we went through and say, holy, it’s a pretty special thing.”

In the years since he left Columbus, retirement hasn’t been only about kicking his feet up, Babcock said. His son, Michael, has been working through the coaching ranks, most recently getting a job with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs — owned by Zach Hyman and his family — and along the way, he was getting his dad to help out.

“I get to break down lots of clips and watch lots of hockey because he’s involved, so you get your juices that way,” he said.

There’s been some concern from the Edmonton market about whether or not the game has passed Babcock by. After all, it’s been seven years since he stood behind an NHL bench. Bowman, however, was unfazed after conversations with him.

“I had questions about that to Mike when we met, about the fact that you haven’t been behind the bench, and I think the one thing is coaches of Mike’s level of experience and accomplishment don’t forget how to coach,” said Bowman. “Sometimes, perspective away from it is not a bad thing. I was impressed with his level of detail, how close he’s still following the game.

“I think it helps that his son was working, and he was serving as a resource to him. So when you asked him about specific things that are going on in the game today, he was right on it. I think it’s going to be like riding a bike. By the time you get to the regular season, his instincts and his experience is going to lead the way for us.”

Michael Babcock wasn’t the only one keeping the Oilers’ new head coach busy in recent months.

D.J. Smith, who was hired as an associate coach to work under Babcock in Edmonton, said when he took over as interim head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, he tasked him with some things to do.

“The first person I called right away was Mike,” said Smith during Tuesday’s press conference. “I know that he follows the game.”

“You know, I gave him a couple of projects. It was good to give him some stuff to do and tell him to have a timeline,” he added with a smirk.

For Babcock, though, it was the buy-in from the Oilers’ leadership group that solidified his decision to come out of retirement.

“We’re all committed, all-in on winning. Obviously, in that time period, we had gone through enough things and talked about enough things that they felt comfortable with the process, or I wouldn’t be here. I was very clear to them: Unless you’re 100 per cent all-in on Mike Babcock, I have no interest in being the coach.”

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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