The Oilers have time. It’s a good time to use the time. I just thought we’d have a few more names directly linked to them by now, either for permission or outright interview.

An image of Stan Bowman refreshing his email over…and over…

Hence, my “Babcock Zone” column, which wasn’t met so fondly. Babcock’s name took on a life of its own after being suggested by Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now. But in terms of the pressurized situation heading into next season and the reports of what type of coach the Oilers are after, it’s given us both time and creativity to speculate.

But there’s also the possibility we hear very little about this search. Despite the backlash, the wind is blowing that Butch Cassidy and the Permission Leak might be Albertan in origin. It’s rare that lips are sealed around the Oilers, but maybe that’s the recent protocol.

Wouldn’t be a bad idea. There are more patient teams in the league at the moment, like Nashville.

Obviously, the benefit of having /experience/gravitas/expensive-diamond-studded-ring on your finger builds immediate trust with the incoming head coach and McDrai.

But you can’t rule out interviewing people who you don’t immediately assume will fill out those immediate criteria. That’s what the interviews are for.

And the Oilers are probably planning, intending to do that.

They have time, but it’s not useful if you don’t use it. I know every week I have a column to publish Sunday, yet Saturday night seems to be the night of heavy lifting. That’s human nature to some degree.

I’m growing warmer on Todd Nelson as a Plan B. Three-time Calder Cup champion, most recently back-to-back with Hershey in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Last season, he was an assistant with the Penguins.

Other than his half-season stint with the Oilers, he’s had three separate stints as an NHL assistant.

To me, he seems far more likely than David Carle or Misha Donskov to impact change immediately, not to mention accessible.

Another random thought: Darryl Sutter is four years younger than Rick Bowness, so it isn’t the craziest thing to imagine… I’m just sayin’.

Preds after MacFarland?

Speaking of waiting, what are the Nashville Predators waiting for?

Nashville gets the luxury of doing things all-patient-like, being in a sunshine hotbed more than a hockey hotbed.

In February, Barry Trotz said he was stepping down as general manager. There’s new ownership involved, and some are suggesting these new powers are learning to understand the hockey business.

But it does feel slow. The Preds are a month removed from their battery of interviews in late April, the list including “lucky sock” owner Bill Scott in the Oilers front office.

This could be the wrinkle: Toronto Star reporter Jonah Sigel says there is “buzz” that the Preds will name Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland as their new vice-president of hockey operations.

They have to be waiting for a playoff name with how long the search is taking.

With this speculation coming out Saturday before Game 3, the Western Conference Final has even more noise unrelated to the games.

Dude, where’s Makar?

The Avalanche obviously miss Cale Makar, but boy, do they seem uncomfortable. They held an unconvincing 1-0 lead in Game 2 and were broken in the third period. Their inability to figure out the power play in the regular season is rearing its head now.

The trends of previous Avalanche playoff losses are coming home to roost. Their second-line centre issue of old has come back in the playoffs, as Brock Nelson has two goals in 18 games since being acquired.

It’s not the only reason, nor am I trying to sum up the series on narrative street, but Colorado seems bizarrely tight and nervous.

Jared Bednar seems to be one of the best coaches in the NHL, but if the Avalanche finish this season with just eight playoff wins, is he at risk?

He shouldn’t be.

But Bednar’s comment about Makar raised an eyebrow: “It’s gonna be Cale’s decision on if he’s coming back. He’s doing all the work. I don’t make that decision for him.”

The implication that it’s solely Makar’s decision whether he plays or not, which by consequence pins the blame all on him, was softened by Bednar in his press conference Saturday. But nevertheless, the injury is significant. The way Makar left the ice in Game 5 against the Wild…not good.

But alas, the West has not been won, yet. Colorado’s speed should’ve created more of an issue for Vegas, but not so far.

A long, long time ago…

Fast teams that clam up with the puck and can’t match the enemy’s physicality get knocked out of the playoffs all the time – regardless of how good their first 40 games were.

They had the second-highest point total ever in the first 40, only the 1929-30 Boston Bruins had more with a record of 35-4-1 (that was basically their whole schedule already played).

You may remember that season for the invention of the forward pass. Many of the records those Bruins set took decades to break, or still stand.

No one is touching their .875 win percentage. Under a new 84-game schedule, that would require 74 wins to break. Ain’t happening.

However, in a best-of-three Stanley Cup Final that season, the Montreal Canadiens won two in a row and that was it. Over. Why the semifinal was a best-of-five and the final a best-of-three, I dunno, they used to be longer, but it did change the length of the format back.

Carter Hart is called a lot of things online…this will be the first comparison to George Hainsworth, the Habs netminder in that series.

The game has changed a lot in 100 years, but a hot goaltender taking out a superior team is an eternal recurrence…

‘A ball of yarn in your D-zone’

Since then, there’s been the invention of the backup goaltender. As the game changes, the days of the dominant solo starter versus occasional backup are fewer and farther between.

Recent examples like Sergei Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevsky show the old way is still leading to Stanley Cups. Those are rare breeds in tax-free zones.

Laurent Brossoit won five of Vegas’ 16 victories in the 2023 Cup. Pavel Francouz won six of Colorado’s 16 victories in the 2022 Cup.

Even amongst this year’s final four. Hart has won all 10 games for Vegas, but only played 18 of 82 regular-season games. Frederik Andersen lost more starts than he won for a conference-leading Hurricanes team. Jakub Dobes had a good regular season and played half of the Canadiens games.

Mackenzie Blackwood was acquired to start the lion’s share of Avalanche games, but with injury and inconsistency, Scott Wedgewood took the net early and never relented, leading the NHL in goals against average and save percentage.

I’m not breaking any news saying you need two goalies. But I thought Wedgewood provided good insight as to why the game is trending this way in a recent piece by Mark Lazerus of The Athletic.

“The game’s gone from a little more north-south to a little more east-west,” Wedgewood said.

“It’s not just straight — now, it’s like a ball of yarn in your D-zone, so there’s a lot more ups and downs and post integrations and torque on the body than maybe the early ’90s, early 2000s, (when it) was more of a linear game. (Goalies back then) could just push downhill, get to a post, and there was a lot more standup. So just torque on the body would be the first thing.

“And now, everyone can shoot and everyone can score. The mentality of preparing for a game in the NHL now is not just, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to focus on three guys.’ You’ve got to focus on a 20-man roster, always know who has the puck. There’s a lot that goes into it. The skill level of all the players makes you work a little bit harder, then just the way the game’s played a little more east-west makes it more fatiguing.”

How many do the Oilers need?

So, do the Edmonton Oilers have one goalie right now, or zero goalies?

To call Tristan Jarry risky is like saying gas prices are high – we know.

Was his good start to the season with Pittsburgh the truth or the outlier? I’m inclined to say outlier. Nevermind that his past injury concerns could and should be a worry for the team in how they build their crease this season.

Having Jarry around means the Oilers need a third goalie with the potential to start games.

This is where the Sebastian Cossa conversation gets intriguing. In a tandem with Connor Ingram, I can get behind it. In tandem with Jarry? Potentially high-reward, but that’s also the type of move that could have Stan Bowman relegated to Peter Chiarelli status around town.

In principle, acquiring a player with Cossa’s past pedigree, about to pop toward some NHL level, is tidy business. It could be a Jesper Wallstedt-esque rise to the NHL.

But for the Oilers, pushing chips in to win right now? I think you’d need to feel really good about the second goaltender.

Another thing to keep in mind, Cossa won’t be waiver-exempt starting in 2026-27.

If you start Jarry in the minors with an Ingram-Cossa tandem, okay, that could be interesting. That will likely lead to a three-headed goalie situation at some point.

The last one

On this day in 1990, the Edmonton Oilers won their fifth Stanley Cup at Boston Garden.

After captain Mark Messier receives the Cup, the first guy he passes Lord Stanley to is Adam Graves. Vintage Oilers on X posted the video this morning:

Vintage Oilers

@VintageOilers

·Follow

OTD 1990 @EdmontonOilers win their 5th #StanleyCup

Watch on X

2:05 PM · May 24, 2026

Read 1 reply

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.