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Mike Babcock, John Tortorella emerge in Oilers coaching search
Mike Babcock
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Zach Laing
May 20, 2026, 14:00 EDTUpdated: May 20, 2026, 15:15 EDT
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The Edmonton Oilers have backed themselves into a corner in their hunt for a new head coach, and in order to get their No. 1 guy, they need a division rival to play ball.
There’s no indication that there’s any sense of urgency for the Vegas Golden Knights to give the Oilers permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy, evident by General Manager Kelly McCrimmon’s comments yesterday, despite the NHL Coaches Association’s concerns.
News broke Monday that the team had been granted permission to speak with Craig Berube, who fits the mould of a grinder-type coach with Stanley Cup-winning pedigree the Oilers covet for Kris Knoblauch’s replacement, but two other names have emerged: Mike Babcock and John Tortorella.
Both names came up in conversation during Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer Tuesday. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was a guest in the early hour of the show, where Friedman theorized about Tortorella.
“The wildest possible scenario is, I’m not convinced Vegas’ initial plan was to keep Tortorella (beyond this season),” he said. “I’ll tell you this, it would be an all-timer if he ended up in North America… I’m sitting here spitballing.
“(The Oilers) have asked permission to speak to Berube… I’ve seen your tweets Bob, you’re talking about guys with rings. Tortorella has got a ring.”
Babcock’s name, meanwhile, came later in the show when Stauffer was joined by former NHL executive Brian Lawton.
“I don’t know if Vegas is going to eventually have to give Cassidy permission to interview with anybody,” said Stauffer. “Maybe he just isn’t a head coach for a year, even though he’s already stated he’d like to get right back at it.
“If you’re Stan Bowman, could you look at a guy like Mike Babcock? We have people from Western Canada that think Babs could be the answer.”
Lawton went on to say the Oilers would have to have their due diligence done, noting Babcock’s checkered past.
Both names, in fact, have checkered pasts. Babcock was most recently hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 1, 2023, and fired that September without having coached a game after he went through photos on players’ phones. He had been fired from his previous head coaching job with the Toronto Maple Leafs in November 2019 after the team got off to a 9-10-4 start.
After his dismissal, a story broke about how Babcock had then-rookie Mitch Marner rank his teammates in 2016-17 from “hardest-working to those who, in the eyes of the rookie, didn’t have a strong work ethic,” the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan reported. Babcock took ownership, telling Friedman “I apologized at (the) time” to Marner. A number of players have alleged mistreatment at the hands of Babcock during their pro hockey careers, including Mike Commodore, Johan Franzen, Mike Modano, Jason Spezza and Jason York.
Babcock, who has been out of the league since the Blue Jackets incident, has been considered one of the best hockey coaches of all-time, and the only coach to be in the Triple Gold Club with a Stanley Cup championship (2008, Detroit), an IIHF World championship (2004, Canada) and an Olympic gold medal (2010, 2014, Canada). He’s coached the 17th-most games in league history, notching the 12th-most wins during his time with the Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings, and Maple Leafs.
Tortorella wouldn’t come without his own off-ice baggage, known for his own controversial nature, never shy to be openly critical of his own players, referees, members of the media, and opposing coaches. He’s been fined multiple times by the league, most recently for the Golden Knights’ refusal to make him or players available to the media after their second-round win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Why are their names being linked to the Oilers?

The list of Stanley Cup-winning coaches isn’t long, limited to just 57 names over the league’s 108-year history, with Scotty Bowman’s nine wins and Toe Blake’s eight taking up nearly 30 per cent of the market share. They’re just two of 20 head coaches who have won multiple rings over their time in the NHL.
Since the turn of the century, there have been 18 head coaches to win a Stanley Cup: Joel Quenneville (three), Paul Maurice (two), Jon Cooper (two), Mike Sullivan (two), Darryl Sutter (two), Bruce Cassidy, Jared Bednar, Craig Berube, Barry Trotz, Claude Julien, Dan Bylsma, Mike Babcock, Randy Carlyle, Peter Laviolette, John Tortorella, Pat Burns, Bob Hartley, and Larry Robinson.
Of them, the only coaches who aren’t active in the league are Robinson, Hartley, Laviolette, Carlyle, Babcock, Bylsma, Sutter, Trotz, Berube, and Cassidy.
Tortorella, of course, is active with the Golden Knights right now, and of those 18, Claude Julien (assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues) and Barry Trotz (outgoing general manager of the Nashville Predators) are the only ones actively employed by an NHL team.

Are they legitimate options?

That’s what remains to be seen. Based on current reports, Berube is the only coach the club has been successful in contacting, and with the news of Knoblauch’s firing hitting the one-week mark Thursday, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that there hasn’t been more news about Edmonton’s attempts to contact candidates.
Peter Laviolette’s name has been mentioned as a potential candidate in passing, but despite his public comments about wanting to get behind a bench, there have been no reports indicating any team has contacted him.
Babcock and Tortorella fit the bill as grinder-type coaches who can be hard on teams, something the Oilers evidently feel is needed to get them over the hump, but the team would once again have to weigh the balance of backlash in its hunt for a Stanley Cup.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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