Babcock ‘OK’ with taking media heat off players

EDMONTON – Mike Babcock’s hiring by the Edmonton Oilers has been a distraction in more ways that one.

It created a storm of controversy because of his history. A storm reignited by Oilers legend Mark Messier saying he was “horrified” by the hiring.

But throughout training camp it has also kept much of the media focus off the players, allowing them to concentrate on the new system Babcock is trying to instil, one full of details, speed and positioning.

“Babs is taking everything. He’s OK with it,” veteran winger Zach Hyman said as camp entered its final days. “The players can just go out and play and not worry about (that stuff). There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of positivity here. Nothing but good is happening.”

Babcock was cleared to work for the Oilers after the league concluded an investigation into his conduct while with Columbus in 2023.

He resigned from the Blue Jackets less than three months after taking the job. At the time, his requests for personal photos from players, which he said were part of an effort to get to know them, drew criticism as an invasion of privacy.

Babcock is not the only distraction in camp. The Oilers drew some significant fan backlash when they signed free-agent forward Alex Formenton, one of five players from Canada’s 2018 world junior team who were charged and later acquitted of sexual assault.

A petition to reverse the signing on the website Change.org has eclipsed 70,000 signatures, and some fans protested outside Rogers Place during the Oilers first pre-season game.

The Oilers have defended the signing, saying they performed due diligence and noting Formenton has been reinstated by both the NHL and Hockey Canada. Formenton made an early impression on the ice, scoring in a 5-2 pre-season win over Winnipeg and showing he still has the speed that made him a useful NHL forward before the Hockey Canada scandal broke.

The Oilers otherwise kept most of the key components of the team that finished 41-30-11 and second in the Pacific Division last season before losing in the first round of the playoffs. It was an unacceptable result for a team that went to the Stanley Cup final the previous two years. Edmonton had a slow start to the season — 11-10-5 at the end of November — and never really found its game.

“No question, we have to be ready to go,” general manager Stan Bowman said. “This summer was different than the previous two because we had more time for the players to ramp up their training and be ready, not just really physically ready but mentally ready for what’s ahead.

“I expect to see a better start from our team and we need a better start.”

The Oilers will have to get off to the start they want without goaltender Frederik Andersen, a free-agent signing still out with a knee injury suffered in last spring’s playoffs, defenceman Alex Regula and forwards Matt Savoie and Mattias Janmark.

Edmonton overhauled its goaltending from the start of 2025-26. Gone are Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, replaced by Andersen, Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi.

Offensively the team remains strong, led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The pair, however, present Babcock with one of his early decisions: play them together or separately? Babcock says he will start them on the same line, likely with Vasily Podkolzin, and see how things develop.

That gives him the opportunity to give more playing time to the other three lines.

“We want more guys involved and that includes giving guys more (ice time),” said McDavid, who played an average of more than 22 minutes a game last season. “That’s what we want.”

“It’s not so much how many minutes you’re out there, it’s what are you doing with the time you get,” added Hyman. “When you’re out there you play our style of hockey … it’s fast, no resting, It’s going to be hard to play 22 minutes a night in this system. You have to play hard every shift.”

The Oilers gave up an average of 3.23 goals a game last season, 25th in the NHL, leading to constant criticism of the goaltending and the play of veterans Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard. Nurse is gone, traded to San Jose, and Bouchard, one of the league’s top offensive defencemen, says he’s committed to better defensive play.

Babcock has a number of decisions to make on defence where he has 10 NHL veterans vying for six or seven spots. Who plays with Bouchard to protect him? Who pairs up with 36-year-old Mattias Ekholm? How does he best use newcomers Ryan Shea and Shakir Mukhamadullin?

“I think the guys that we brought in, the guys that we have here, we have the ability to kind of play different styles and do what’s called upon us,” Jake Walman said of the defence. “I think we’ve got a good group of guys that can bring a little bit of everything right now and I’m excited to kind of put it all together.”

Offensively, the latter days of camp saw Hyman playing with centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Trent Frederic on a second line while Babcock continued to try to put together his third and fourth lines. There are plenty of options for the final six forward spots with Colton Dach, Jason Dickinson, Isaac Howard and several newcomers vying for those.

“Everybody’s buying into what we want to do,” Hyman said of the newcomers. “Everybody’s skillset will show better within the details of our system. Those guys complement exactly how we want to play.”

The players say one thing is for certain: this year’s team will be fast and everybody will be involved, even the third and fourth lines and the fifth and sixth defensive pairings.

“In order to play here, you’ve got to be fit,” said Babcock. “We’re going to play 12 forwards and everyone’s going to be important.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2026.