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Mike Babcock praises Colton Dach as Oilers test him at centre

Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

By Michael Menzies

Sep 21, 2026, 17:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 21, 2026, 17:06 EDT

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Colton Dach has one man in his corner — coach Mike Babcock.

There were inklings in the summer that Dach could be tried at centre, and in the Edmonton Oilers‘ first pre-season game on Saturday night, that came to fruition. He lined up as the pivot between Alex Formenton and Mathieu Joseph during the 5-2 exhibition victory.

After the game, Babcock made a point of mentioning Dach and how much he liked that line, even calling them “unreal.” On Monday after practice, Babcock repeated his praise.

“Their line was the best line,” said Babcock. “They were the best line just there in practice. Their number one is they all know they’re in that survival mode in their career, so they’re out there competing, setting the work ethic. Now, once again, it’s an exhibition game, but I thought he was good.

“He’s big. He runs over people. Seems to know how to skate. Stops on defense. Forechecks. Coachable. Looks good to me.”

Maybe to stand out in that practice is more impressive, as Babcock said during his media scrum: “It wasn’t very pretty.”

But overall, in the first of four preseason games, the Formenton-Dach-Joseph trio played 10:37 together at five-on-five with no goals for or against. They outshot the opposition 5-4, according to Natural Stat Trick, but were outchanced in great-danger looks 3-1.

Dach’s played on the wing for the majority of his 86 games in the NHL, and a switch to centre would pit him against Josh Samanski for the fourth-line centre job. On Saturday’s depth chart, Dach played with wingers likely to make the team and could be seen as a future line. Meanwhile, Samanski was between Isaac Howard and Max Jones.

Dach believes the key to having that responsibility is the sign of a more mature game and being defensively responsible.

“Getting a chance to play centre, which I grew up playing, so I’ll try and take that opportunity and roll with it,” said Dach before the game on Saturday. “Obviously, it’s going to come with some bumps, but if I’m going to make mistakes, learn from it and try not to do it again.”

Keep in mind, the Jets roster on Saturday was not NHL calibre, and stiffer competition is coming if Dach will continue at centre. He is under the threshold of 100 NHL games, which means he doesn’t qualify as a league “veteran” and isn’t limited to playing just two preseason games under the league’s new rules. But at minimum, you’d have to expect another go for Dach in a spot like this.

“It’s not playing centre in the American League — it’s real,” said Babcock on Saturday. “Now he’s [Dach] going to face lots of different competition coming ahead, but what I liked is he’s really worked hard on his faceoff circle. I thought tonight was way better than practice. He stopped thinking and just started playing.

“He’s an important piece for us. If we could have that looked after, we’d have way more depth than if we don’t. That’s for sure.”

McDavid and Draisaitl together? ‘I don’t have a clue’

Overall, the centre depth chart is a mix, depending on what the Oilers do with their two biggest horses.

On the one hand, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Jason Dickinson, and Josh Samanski/Colton Dach would seem like natural choices through the middle. If Draisaitl plays on McDavid’s wing, then Nugent-Hopkins could be the second centre.

People can keep asking on how it’ll all work, whether McDavid and Draisaitl will play together, and Babcock will keep repeating that he doesn’t know.

“That’s one way. The other thing is you can play them together, and then everyone else gets to play because there’s enough ice time to go around,” said Babcock. “But if you play them apart, and the top two groups play 20 minutes, what do the other guys do? So there’s lots of ways to talk about.

“I don’t have a clue, but that’s what you guys are supposed to do. You’re speculating on what I’m going to do. I’m telling you right now, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do.”

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.

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