The Edmonton Oilers coaching staff is taking shape, not long after the team officially named Mike Babcock as the 19th head coach in franchise history Tuesday morning.

D.J. Smith will be joining Babcock’s staff as an associate coach, the club announced.

The 49-year-old most recently was the interim head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, while his coaching roots date back to 2004-05, when he was hired by the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. A Windsor native, he spent eight years there before joining the Oshawa Generals for three years as a head coach starting in 2012-13.

The Toronto Maple Leafs then hired Smith to work as an assistant coach under Babcock in 2015, holding onto the role for four seasons, before he joined the Ottawa Senators as a head coach in 2019. The Senators struggled under Smith, going 131-154-32 for a .464 points percentage, failing to make the playoffs in each of the four full seasons he was behind the bench. Smith was fired 26 games into the 2023-24 season.

It didn’t take long for him to land on his feet, however, as in February 2024, the Kings hired him as an assistant coach. He took over as head coach in March of this year when the team fired Jim Hiller, coaching the Kings to an 11-6-6 record down the stretch of the season, ultimately getting swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

Hiller was hired as head coach of the Maple Leafs, while the Kings have brought in Peter Laviolette, who was once a candidate for the Oilers’ head coaching position.

Recently, Smith was an assistant coach for Team Canada’s 2026 IIHF World Championship, where Canada finished fourth.

The Oilers are expected to hold a press conference at noon on Tuesday to introduce Babcock.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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