Early in his NHL career, Wayne Gretzky appeared on the soap opera, The Young and the Restless. He played a mobster out of “The Edmonton Office.”
Gretzky was a big fan of soap operas and was thrilled when he was asked to be on the show. In the 1980s, being on a soap opera was a big deal. I’m not sure how popular daytime soap operas are anymore, but I remember Days of our Lives, Another World, General Hospital, All My Children and One Life to Live. I had a huge crush on Jennifer Horton on Days of our Lives, and I knew Nathan Fillion in high school. He played Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for best young actor in a drama series.
In my early 20s, I found myself watching Days of our Lives fairly regularly. It was comically cheesy, with more drama than you’d ever need, but when Marlena became possessed by a demon, I said goodbye to daytime soap operas. It was a fun run, but as I watch the Edmonton Oilers’ coaching search unfold, I can’t help but feel like this is a bad soap opera.
The Oilers’ season ended on April 30th when Anaheim defeated them 5-2 to win their first-round series in six games. The Oilers expected to play longer, but injuries to all four of their centres and an inability to kill off penalties cost them. Early in May, I wrote the main thing the organization should do is not overreact and panic. A week later, the coaching saga began, and it has had more unexpected twists and turns than a John Black, Marlena Evans love story. IYKYK.
May 12th: We find out the Oilers sought permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy about their head coaching job. Kris Knoblauch was still the Oilers head coach. Vegas blocks the Oilers from speaking to Knoblauch.
May 14th: Vegas eliminates Anaheim from the playoffs. John Tortorella doesn’t speak post-game and Vegas doesn’t open up their dressing room to the media.
May 15th: The NHL fines Tortorella $100K and strips Vegas of their 2026 second round draft pick.
May 19th: Vegas GM, Kelly McCrimmon said “Teams have asked for permission to speak with Bruce. We’ve been consistent that our focus currently is on the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the teams have respected that. I’ve spoken with Bruce; he understands this as well.”
Vegas’ reason for not allowing Cassidy to interview for vacancies in Edmonton, LA and Toronto is because Vegas, the team he isn’t coaching, is in the playoffs. This script was written for a soap opera villain. Vegas is the perfect villain: a ruthless organization that doesn’t care what anyone thinks. And they are always contending, which makes people loathe them even more.
May 28th: Cassidy speaks publicly and says, “There were two teams that asked (to speak to him for their head coaching position). It’s public knowledge now, and I would like to talk to them. I want to go to work. I’m a hockey coach.”
May 28th: Vegas GM, Kelly McCrimmon says the situation around Cassidy’s blocked interview request is “only news because Edmonton leaked it.”
We need more popcorn. This story just got juicier. It would be odd for Edmonton to leak it, since it made them look bad because they still had Knoblauch under contract. What benefit did they get from leaking it? McCrimmon was just stoking the flames of the Oilers/Golden Knights rivalry. Soap opera writers are applauding this script.
Throughout the Cassidy drama the Oilers did interview Craig Berube and Peter Laviolette. They also interviewed Jim Hillier, according to Elliotte Friedman. The Kings hired Laviolette on June 8th, and that same day is when the Oilers’ coaching saga took another turn.
June 8th: Darren Dreger tweeted out the Oilers were very interested in hiring Mike Babcock and reached out to the NHLPA to see if there were any unresolved issues.
If it’s determined an investigation is required to move forward, sources say the NHL would manage it. At this stage, the NHLPA has declined to comment.
Darren Dreger
@DarrenDreger
Sources: The Edmtn Oilers are consulting with the NHLPA to see if there are objections that must be resolved before potentially hiring Mike Babcock. Amid allegations of invading players privacy, Babcock resigned in CBJ as Head Coach in 2023. Further investigation may be required.
Babcock’s name had been mentioned three weeks earlier, on May 21st, as a possible candidate. Turns out the Oilers had conducted interviews with Babcock, and he met with some of the Oilers’ top players. They were in favour of hiring him. Later that day on Oilers Now, host Bob Stauffer says, “He (Babcock) is the oilers choice.”
June 10th: Another twist. Turns out, there are more skeletons in Babcock’s closet.
Furthermore, sources indicate that asking players to see photos is NOT what ultimately resulted in Babcock’s resignation. It was the subsequent (unknown) allegation reported below that cost Babcock his job in #CBJ.
Frank Seravalli
@frank_seravalli
If #Oilers elect to continue down the path with Mike Babcock, sources say the #NHLPA is in receipt of “significant” additional claims from their own investigation with players that were not publicly reported in 2023.
Those claims were presented to #NHL prior to his resignation.
Pardon? Soap opera writers are feverishly making notes and loving the endless plot twists. Many are wondering what these “significant” additional claims could be. They will likely become public if the Oilers and Babcock want to become partners. It isn’t a great look that the coach you want to hire will be going through a deep investigation due to his previous actions.
What’s next for the Oilers?
I can’t recall a month-long coaching saga similar to this. The Oilers have made this much harder than it needed to be. First off, they should have fired Knoblauch when they made the decision they needed a different coach. It is clear the organization wants a coach who will be firmer on players. That is fine. However, I think their thirst for that coach has blinded them to the proper steps in the process. They clearly were going to move on from Knoblauch when they reached out to Cassidy. Cassidy was on Toronto radio in early May talking about how he’d love to coach in a Canadian market and bring the Cup back to Canada.
Their first misstep was reaching out to Cassidy before canning Knoblauch. It created unnecessary conflict and chaos. The minute they would have fired Knoblauch, hockey fans and pundits would have compiled lists of possible candidates, and Cassidy would have been near the top of every list. But they didn’t do that, and it became a circus.
In their search for a hard-ass coach, they decided to go down the Babcock path. It is clear that while the organization was thinking, “We can,” they never stopped to ask, “Should we? Babcock’s history as an NHL head coach includes a Stanley Cup but also many instances of bullying players and staff. Yet, the organization felt it was worth the risk to push all their chips into the Babcock pot.
This entire process has looked unorganized. It is obvious the organization and players feel they need a “harder” coach. So much, in fact, they were willing to overlook all of Babcock’s previous transgressions. So now what?
Do they pivot to Daryl Sutter, Craig Berube or maybe Vegas will grant Cassidy permission once the final is over. I wouldn’t hold my breath on the latter happening. Vegas has no obligation to help the Oilers. It sucks for Cassidy, but I won’t be shocked if they don’t grant him permission to speak to the Oilers. They might, but the Oilers’ pursuit of Babcock suggests they were ready to move on.
I doubt a veteran soap opera writer could foresee what comes next.
Will they speak to Cassidy?
Do they take a road trip to Viking to see if Sutter wants to come out of retirement?
Maybe take the short drive to Calahoo and visit Berube and his family.
Maybe Claude Julien is interested?
Whatever is next, let’s hope the organization takes a deep breath, exhales, and devises a well-thought-out plan. Because so far, the only thing they’ve landed is a nomination for Best Sports Drama.
