Mike Babcock is the new head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, and his first day on the job came with questions he could not sidestep. The Oilers hired Babcock on Tuesday, and at his introductory press conference, he was pressed about his brief, messy stint with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Babcock said he did not believe he crossed the line with players there.
He pointed to his own exit as the proof, putting the decision to leave on his wife.
“It was very evident before the year started…I hadn’t benched anybody, I hadn’t talked to anybody, I hadn’t sat anybody out, and it was evident that we weren’t together as a staff right from the get-go,” Babcock said. “My wife gave me a call, and she said it’s time to get out of there. I’ve been retired, I was pretty good at it. I got back to being retired.”
Pressed again on whether he had gone too far, Babcock leaned on the language of self-improvement.
“No, to be honest with you, anytime you make anybody feel uncomfortable in your life, you should take a look at yourself, and you should say, ‘How could I do that better?'” Babcock said.
He went on to thank the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association for their full review of the Columbus situation and said it simply did not work out for either side.
The backdrop is heavier than that framing suggests. Babcock was hired by Columbus in July 2023 and resigned that September without coaching a single game, after reports that he had asked players to show him personal photos on their phones.
When the Oilers began pursuing Babcock this month, the union asked the NHL to investigate his Columbus tenure again. The league cleared him on June 18.
For Edmonton, this is a high-stakes gamble. The Oilers lost the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and 2025, then exited in the first round this spring, costing Kris Knoblauch his job. Connor McDavid has two years left on his deal, and Babcock says the room is all in behind him.
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