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Why hire Mike Babcock without clarity on Cassidy?
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 9, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 9, 2026, 03:10 EDT
do dah do dooo, do dah do dooo “You have now entered… The Babcock Zone.”
The Babcock Zone is a phrase I coined a couple of weeks ago to describe the eerie place the Edmonton Oilers were entering. In the most consequential franchise decision in a few years, with so much at stake, this Zone is where no option is considered too outlandish, where no stone is left unturned, as fans, media, and the team spitball quasi-retired or problematic coaches amongst candidates.
In a stunner on Monday afternoon, we learned The Babcock Zone isn’t a fictional place — it’s stranger than fiction.
No, you didn’t walk through a time machine back to 2015. It’s 2026. Mike Babcock is indeed happening.
The Stauffer Decision Desk declared the coaching search over.
“It’s inevitable,” Stauffer said on Oilers Now Monday about Babcock heading for Edmonton, provided there were no issues with the NHLPA. “One hundred per cent Mike Babcock is the Edmonton Oilers guy. From ownership to management, to the players, he is the selection for the Edmonton Oilers hockey club.”
What happened to Bruce Cassidy?
What the hell happened to Bruce Cassidy? For almost a month, the Oilers were linked exclusively to Vegas’ top hostage, described overwhelmingly as the club’s top candidate.
Cassidy was going to be the man with the “gravitas” and the Stanley Cup ring, the one who employed winning systems and sturdy structure, while also being a hardass that players grew to hate.
He was the man for the Oilers, and they were going to wait to find out if there was a possibility.
The Golden Knights season, however, just wouldn’t end. But the end is in sight and could be over as soon as Thursday if they win their next two games. At the very latest, it would be June 17, with a handful of buffer days. Kelly McCrimmon’s self-amusing Permission Gate games of will-we-won’t-we were nearing some type of final answer.
So why now do the Oilers ditch the Cassidy idea once and for all, and enter The Babcock Zone when there was still time?
Look, I’m worried about a coaching holding pattern taking too long as much as the next person.
In an ideal situation, the coach would be hired by now, given legitimate time to work with management, get acquainted with the new players, and have input as they approach free agency and the draft without being rushed. Getting that figured out early has value, there’s no doubt.
But Mike Babcock wasn’t going anywhere. The Toronto Maple Leafs, the last team left to hire a bench boss, wasn’t walking down that road again. So why now?
Did they get worried when the Los Angeles Kings hired Peter Laviolette, presumably settled over the weekend, making it official on Monday? Was Laviolette their Plan B, and with him off the board, were they panicking that Plan C had already upgraded a level?
They can hire Babcock any time
What this hire says to me is that the “patience” and the “no need to hurry, it’s about getting it right” sort of attitude the Oilers brass was selling the fanbase on was not being used very wisely.
They could’ve hired Babs two weeks ago, they could have him two weeks from now, or two months from now. The time they’ve spent being patient in (presumably) waiting for Cassidy, who’s all but said he wants the job, is thrown away for a guy who’s six-and-a-half years removed from an NHL bench.
During the explosive back-and-forth on Oilers Now on Monday, Stauffer, who provided a full-throated defence of Babcock, was challenged by insider Frank Seravalli, who called it “a massive tactical error.”
I tend to agree. McCrimmon can relish in the victory without even having to do the deed himself.
Now, I’m skeptical that the Golden Knights will end up granting permission, and some of the more optimistic voices who believed eventually it would happen have cooled in recent days.
But I’d like to know for sure. Maybe behind the scenes they do know for sure.
But aren’t you even a little intrigued by what Vegas might do with their other head coach? The one two wins away from the Stanley Cup? It’s not a 100 per cent lock that John Tortorella is kept on in Vegas. That’s worth a conversation.
Is Babcock a dictator or facilitator?
Don’t get me wrong, the numbers in Babcock’s resume, the all-time record, the winning at each level is intriguing. Mike Babcock has been a great coach in the National Hockey League, and for that reason, I’m not sure I hate the hiring in a theoretical, NHL 27, sense.
But that’s in the past, a growing, ever more distant past, and there is a chance that he can change — third, fourth, fifth time’s the charm — and that he’s learned his lesson.
On the other hand, he hasn’t won a playoff round since before Leon Draisaitl was drafted, nor coached in the NHL since November 2019, and at the highest level has only won with teams that were absolutely stacked. But he has won in the past, and the Oilers have a roster that is close, if not capable of competing for the Stanley Cup.
However, can he still coach in today’s NHL without being a dictator? This is a guy who has treated many of his players and support staff like absolute garbage, as this article from The Athletic outlines. A lot of them. Through every stop along the way.
I’m blown away it’s actually happening.
But why should we be? Once the Oilers hired general manager Stan Bowman, who helped cover up a real-world crime, hiring a head coach with hockey-world crimes isn’t as big of a deal, I suppose. Edmonton is not interested in public perception.
Katz’s call
Speaking of Bowman… actually, no one is speaking of Bowman.
Elliotte Friedman and Bob Stauffer both said that Daryl Katz (and son Harrison, don’t forget Harrison, according to the latter of the two) met with Babcock personally. The leadership group has also met with Babcock, and that has eliminated their objections.
But Bowman’s name is way down the pecking order in public mentions, at least mentioned fewer times than the owner’s son.
Is he the general manager in name only? Or a man with great connections who is keeping his name distanced from the third rail? It speaks to who’s making the decisions.
Another note: McDavid and Draisaitl were involved and had to be. By consequence, this will be everyone’s screw-up, or everyone’s success, if fortune favours the bold. But it also speaks to their long-term reputations if things go sideways.
If Vasily Podkolzin is called a “fat pig” or if youngster Isaac Howard is embarrassed in front of the team, will that cause friction among teammates looking at the captains and saying, ” You wanted this guy here?”
The other idea that floated through from 32 Thoughts was that the Oilers could hire a one-year stopgap coach, like an NFL team employs a stopgap quarterback, and wait for Cassidy to be available a year from now. Depending on the terms of the deal, this could be part of the thinking, as unusual as this is.
Again, it’s The Babcock Zone.
Desperate to win or…
I have more thoughts, and there will be enough time to litigate them all in the coming days.
The NHLPA’s answer could take days too, we don’t know. It would be perversely funny if that dragged past the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final. Or, by sometime today, the deal could be final.
I just don’t understand. Why right now?
The Oilers could have Babcock at any time. The fact it’s happening says a lot about where the organization is at – they’re desperate to win. Or maybe just desperate…
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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