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Will hiring Mike Babcock hurt the Oilers in free agency?
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Photo credit: © David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Michael Menzies
Jun 16, 2026, 13:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 16, 2026, 13:20 EDT
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What’s going through Connor Murphy’s head right now? What is Jason Dickinson thinking about? Or Kasperi Kapanen?
What do these pending free agents think about the Edmonton Oilers coaching search? Do they share the vocal majority’s opinion on Mike Babcock?
Of course, I’d just be guessing.
Surprise? Frustration? Or is there excitement and enthusiasm, like the Oilers leadership group?
It’s a delicate game of Jenga the Oilers are playing right now, needing the steadiest of hands to make the Mike Babcock hire worth it. 
The Oilers have eight pending unrestricted free agents and two restricted free agents. Edmonton won’t re-sign all of them, obviously, but they can sign any time, and there are still two weeks until free agency begins.
But the courting of Mike Babcock is enough to make any agent pause and take a wait-and-see approach with their client, as we learned in Elliotte Friedman’s report on Monday.
“Several agents of Edmonton players who were not involved in the direct conversations with Babcock also voiced concerns, adding they didn’t like the idea of clients being traded there, either,” wrote Friedman.
Then there were the brackets.
“(One thing those Oilers players who met with Babcock should do is explain to teammates what convinced them this should be a legit option.)”
Oilersnation’s Jason Gregor tweeted on Monday evening that he got this response from an agent who represents players in the league.
“The opportunity to play with McDavid or Draisaitl is diminished with the potential to be coached by Babcock. It is a valid concern voiced to me by a few of my clients.”
There is noise. So far, no good.

McDavid and co have to sell the move

There are plenty of hard-ass coaches players have problems with that aren’t named Mike Babcock, or won’t waive to play for. That isn’t new.
The issue is that a candidate like Babcock is a step beyond and requires a league investigation to determine whether he’s even available. You’d need unprecedented buy-in from the rank and file in the lineup, not just the leadership group, to make this work.   
And how can you ever achieve that with any candidate? It isn’t feasible, nor is it responsible as an organization, to have all the players talk to a potential coach, or at least the types of players with whom Babcock has crossed personal lines with in the past. That’s not how you run a franchise.
But how else would you feel this is a good decision given Babcock’s history? 
By approaching a guy the league’s avoided for years because they believed the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze, despite how good an x’s and o’s coach he is – and when given another chance, blown it – the Oilers have put themselves in the most delicate of positions.
Like removing a Jenga piece from a tower about to collapse.
That’s where McDavid, Draisaitl, and Hyman would have to sell it to the room and see who’s buying.
Daryl Katz can think it’s right. Jeff Jackson and Stan Bowman can think it’s right. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl can think it’s right.
But that group of players, the ones who create the forechecking turnover in a Game 7, or a crucial shot block in a -30 game in January, need to buy in to what Babcock is preaching.
Connor Murphy, who seems like the most valued of the pending free agents, has options in just two weeks. He doesn’t need to find out if Babcock is right for him if he doesn’t want to. Mark Spector said on Friday that Edmonton is on Murphy’s radar, but Babcock and defence partner Darnell Nurse’s pending trade, are factors in his decision. 
Let’s say Murphy is looking at this situation and thinking, what the hell are these guys doing?
That should give you serious pause as an organization. Fan opinion is one thing, but the opinions of players on your team and those you’re trying to bring to Edmonton needs to get your attention. 
If it’s more than Murphy, and recruitment by and large is more difficult, you’ve undercut the reason you’re even approaching The Babcock Zone – trying to improve your roster to win the Stanley Cup. 
Unless they ditch the Babcock idea during this investigation and hire someone else. That’s a possibility, but every insider is saying the same thing. When Stauffer is saying, “he’s their guy,” I have every reason to believe him. If there’s no league sanction, it seems to me Mike Babcock will be their next head coach.
The Oilers leadership core has to stake their reputation in the locker room and their word across the league to make this move reasonable to their teammates. 
Free agency is the first tangible test. We’ll see if those Jenga pieces come crashing to the carpet. 
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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