Mike Babcock has been in the spotlight since he was hired; however, two other coaches have also joined the Edmonton Oilers.

D.J. Smith and Misha Donskov are both highly rated, 49-year-old coaches with a lot to offer. Smith will be on the bench with Babcock, and Donskov will be a consultant. Most recently, Smith worked as an assistant for Team Canada under head coach Donskov at the World Championship.

D.J. Smith is a very experienced coach with a long history with Babcock. The Oilers’ new associate coach is from Windsor, Ont., having played defence for his hometown Spitfires in the OHL and was drafted by the New York Islanders. Smith’s NHL playing career included stints with the Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Colorado Avalanche.

In his first coaching job in the OHL, he returned to the Windsor Spitfires from 2005 to 2012 and led the team to two Memorial Cup wins. Later, he coached the Oshawa Generals from 2012 to 2015, winning a league title and another Memorial Cup.

In 2015, Smith joined the Maple Leafs as an assistant under Babcock. He worked there until he was hired as head coach of the Ottawa Senators in 2019. Smith led a rebuild in the nation’s capital and won 131 games, the second-most of any Sens coach. However, in December 2023, he was relieved of his duties. He wasn’t out of work for long, though, as the Los Angeles Kings hired him as their interim head coach a couple of months later. With the Kings, he had a veteran lineup, but they couldn’t get past the Oilers in the playoffs. Following the Kings’ dismal loss to the Avalanche in the spring of 2026, Smith was relieved of his coaching duties.

After his time with Team Canada, the Oilers hired him in June of this year. He’ll be tasked with looking after the defence; he is especially qualified to improve the Oilers’ woeful penalty kill. At today’s training camp press conference, GM Stan Bowman revealed Smith was “blown away” by Evan Bouchard: “I knew this guy was a good player coaching against him, but when I had him on my team at the World Championships, he’s like, he’s even better than I expected.” Bowman also said his new associate coach “can help Evan take his game to the next level, up to the next level.”

D.J. Smith is known as a players’ coach and a good communicator. Players have said he’s upfront and lets them know what he thinks. Some pundits have said he has his finger on the pulse of his dressing rooms. Smith clearly values toughness and paying attention to defensive details. He also likes his teams to use a hard forecheck to pressure the opposition. In his time with Babcock in Toronto, their different styles appeared to mesh well.

Misha Donskov has a great name; I mean, one of a kind. Only a select few are lucky enough to have a handle that sounds like a character from an epic novel.

He’s originally from Montreal, Quebec. In 2001, the Columbus Blue Jackets hired him as a team development consultant. Then he moved to the Atlanta Thrashers in 2004 as a player development consultant. From 2004 to 2010, he was a graduate assistant coach with the Western Mustangs of the CIS. Later, Donskov worked for the London Knights as an assistant coach and assistant GM from 2009 to 2012. From 2012 to 2014, he was an assistant coach with the Ottawa 67s.

Donskov then left the OHL and returned to the NHL as director of hockey operations and then as an assistant coach with the Vegas Golden Knights from 2016 to 2023. While on the bench with the Knights in 2023, he won the Stanley Cup. He moved on to the Dallas Stars as an assistant coach from 2023 to 2025. Then Hockey Canada hired him to work with Canada’s national teams in 2025. That year, he was an assistant coach when Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off. A year later, he was an assistant coach with Canada’s silver-medal-winning team at the 2026 Olympics. Last spring, he also coached Team Canada to fourth place at the World Championships; they went 7-0 in group play but lost in the semifinal. Evan Bouchard was their star player until a mindless head shot sidelined him.

Babcock wanted Donskov on his staff as they had worked together for Team Canada at the 2016 World Cup. The Quebec native is known for his player development, focus on team culture, and video analytics. Donskov is a highly educated coach, with a master’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario. His family also runs a hockey school in Columbus, Ohio.

As a consultant for the Oilers, he’ll mostly work remotely. Donskov will join the coaching staff in Edmonton for a few days each month. He’ll also continue in his role as vice president of hockey operations and national teams coach with Hockey Canada.

Both coaches have been brought in to improve the team’s defensive play. Stan Bowman also addressed this at Wednesday’s press conference.

“So when you are an offensive team that scores a lot of goals, even-strength goals, sometimes there’s a reason for that, and it’s because you play a high-risk, high-reward, which the reward is offensive opportunities,” he said. “The risk is giving the other team a lot of easy looks, odd-man rushes, putting your team in a bad spot to defend. So I think we need to tighten that up.

And I think, you know, the coaching staff has spent a lot of time preparing. So I think there’s going to be some different things that are that are focused on.”

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