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As Oilers wait for Cassidy, talk enters ‘The Babcock Zone’
Mike Babcock
Photo credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Michael Menzies
May 22, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: May 22, 2026, 02:59 EDT
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do dah do dooo, do dah do dooo “You are now entering…The Babcock Zone.” 
The Babcock Zone is a weird place, one whose namesake carries a “stench of desperation,” as Jason Gregor put it in an Oilersnation column earlier Thursday. 
Memberships are held by veteran coaches, quasi-retired coaches, or “problematic” coaches. It exists beyond the immediate radar, where the mention of a coach-of-yore brings an “hmmm” response. 
Darryl Sutter? Barry Trotz? Gerard Gallant? Bob Hartley? Winners, close to winners, hard-ass coaches that demand from their players. 
As we sit in the Bruce Cassidy permission-holding pattern, everyone’s spitballing names to pass the time. We’re doing the same at Oilersnation HQ.
“What about ____?”
The older and more obscure, the loudest “hmm” or “wow, good pull” you hear, you win.
Yesterday I said the name Michel Therrien for the first time in years.
Do I think he should be on the radar? No. But do I think he’d be the coach the Oilers need? Also, no. But what about his track record? No thanks. But you spitball and play the game.
Does anyone have Alain Vigneault’s number?

Gravitas

Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer has used the word “gravitas” to describe what he believes the next head coach will have. That, plus experience, plus hardware. But we all know it’s Bruce Cassidy they want. 
The Vegas Golden Knights are playing in the Western Conference Final and, much to my sarcastically slanted chagrin, took Game 1 over the Avalanche. 
Fair play. Name a more galvanizing force in sports than “Us Against the World.”
Cassidy doesn’t appear to have an option to terminate his contract, according to the insiders. 
Whether the Oilers are so committed to Butch they’d do a dummy trade with Vegas – totally unrelated to Cassidy, of course – for this magical ‘yes’ to appear isn’t clear. Both because we’re not sure it’s allowed, and second, would you want to give in and say, “Uncle?”
I still have my uninformed hunch that the Oilers would’ve preferred to keep Knoblauch, wait on a sneaky Cassidy interview, pull the switcheroo if the interview went well, and if not, make a coaching change perhaps mid-season next year, save their bullet for the future…yada yada yada. 
Time will tell whether Kelly McCrimmon and Bill Foley will relent and permit. You’ll know the latest when it happens. 

Waiting game

One week has passed since Knoblauch’s firing. It’s still in the early days of filling the coaching position.  
As you, dear reader, have pointed out (I’m starting to hang out in the comments a bit more), there isn’t much else to talk about. The phrase “deep in the off-season” is part of the vernacular.
Bob Stauffer said the Oilers are in pro meetings on Thursday.
Otherwise, it’s a waiting game. The last time the Oilers had an extended head coaching search was 2019 after Ken Holland was hired. It took three weeks until Dave Tippett was hired.
Edmonton has time  — a luxury they haven’t had in a couple of years. 
Despite Stan Bowman saying in the firing press conference that they’ll perform a wide search, it’s not exactly a public manhunt here. 
Craig Berube? Sure, let’s chat, says Bowman. We know the Oilers will talk to him. Anyone else? Peter Laviolette, it seems, will get one. I’d like to see him interview as the team’s second option. 
Otherwise, the manhunt is being done by the fans and commentators alike, rattling off a full list of what-ifs on yesterday’s headline makers. 
Time to grind the Sebastian Cossa tape, or be stuck in The Babcock Zone… 
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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