The Edmonton Oilers have sure gotten themselves into a mess, haven’t they? The Mike Babcock saga has quickly turned the biggest off-season in franchise history into a soap opera. The outside noise has reached a fever pitch across the hockey world.

Former defenceman Frank Corrado, who played for Babcock in Toronto in 2015-16 and 2016-17, is one of the latest to speak about his former coach since the Oilers inquired with the NHLPA about potentially hiring him earlier this week.

“He says his name, like ‘Mike Babcock is not pissed about this’ or something — he just says his name in the third person,” said Corrado during a recent appearance on Sekeres and Price. “People that do that, that’s already a red flag.”

The stories of narcissistic behaviour, bullying, and abuse of power dynamics by Babcock are nothing new. Everything from berating players for their weight to needlessly scratching veterans as they approach milestones has been well documented.

“He likes to assert his power over the players, over management,” said Corrado. “He wants to make the first move before someone else makes a move on him. He’s obsessed with power and the power dynamic. And so that’s something that’s obviously gotten him in some trouble.”

This isn’t the first time Corrado has publicly spoken out against Babcock. In a 2024 article published by The Athletic, he detailed his experiences with the head coach after the Leafs picked him up off waivers in 2015.

“I have no idea who you are,” he recalled Babcock saying when they first met. He detailed instances where Babcock would quietly tell him to skip the line and go first for drills in practice instead of the star players, a faux pas in hockey etiquette, in what he felt was a way to “sewer” him with his teammates.

Corrado’s anxiety from playing under Babcock led to puking and panic attacks before games.

The Oilers seem to be committed to the “experienced hard-ass” archetype in their head coaching search after ousting the calmer, more inexperienced Kris Knoblauch. Bruce Cassidy, Craig Berube, and Peter Laviolette have all been on their radar.

Hardened veteran John Tortorella coaching Vegas to the Stanley Cup final is the latest example that these types of coaches can still have success in today’s NHL. Corrado warned, however, that there’s a big difference between Tortorella and Babcock.

“Torts says it to your face, good or bad, and he’s the first guy to come down to the bench and pat you on the back when you do something good. He’s the first guy to give you reassurance when he thinks you deserve it or you need it. So as much as Torts can be prickly, Torts cares about the individual. Babs cares about Babs,” he said.

Corrado explained that while he understands Edmonton’s thought process. He knows they want to be cutthroat and unconcerned with outsider opinions, like their division rivals. The Anaheim Ducks hired the controversial Joe Quenneville as head coach last offseason, and the Vegas Golden Knights brought in Carter Hart fresh off a criminal trial. Corrado believes, however, that the Oilers are teetering on recklessness with a Babcock hire.

“I wouldn’t hire him. I wouldn’t want anything to do with him.”