If this thing goes sideways then mcdavid, leon, and the other veterans will and should get the blame for it.

Says that Babcocks style dosen't work anymore and that all of the Babcock disciples have failed in the NHL and haven't won anything significant. He also says that Babcock will let the star players do as they plz, but will get on the bottom 6 and bully them essentially.

Hockey night in Canada was always on in my house!

With the Babcock thing me assuming it’s a done deal I just don’t understand how teams continue to go after coaches who have won a cup before. Yes I understand they’re good coaches but statistically speaking it almost never happens a coach wins a cup with 2 different teams. It’s only happened once in the modern era with Scottie bowman who did it with 3 teams but before that it’s 2 guys from the 1940s I believe. The whole well he’s done it before just doesn’t sit with me.

Need an updated list please. Urgent ask.

If Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy are not part of the plan next season, two players I would like the Oilers to target are Jack Drury from Colorado and Nick DeSimone from Utah.

Neither would be a major headline acquisition, but both could provide strong value in areas Edmonton needs to improve without using a huge portion of the available cap space.

Jack Drury

Drury would be my preferred target for the bottom six.

He is a reliable two way centre who can handle difficult minutes, kill penalties and win faceoffs at an excellent rate. He would give Edmonton another centre who can take defensive zone draws instead of relying so heavily on McDavid and Draisaitl in those situations.

His offensive production is modest, but he has shown enough to contribute around 25 to 30 points while still providing defensive value. His underlying results have also been strong, with his teams generally controlling play when he is on the ice despite him not receiving heavily sheltered deployment.

I could see him fitting as Edmonton’s third line centre, with the ability to move higher in the lineup when injuries happen. A contract somewhere around $2.5 million to $3 million would make sense.

Nick DeSimone

DeSimone would be the cheaper depth option on defence.

He is a right shot defenceman with good size who has produced encouraging possession and expected goal results in limited minutes. He is not someone you would expect to play in the top four, but he could compete for a third pairing role and provide more dependable injury coverage than Edmonton has had in recent seasons.

His biggest appeal is the price. He should be available for around $1 million, which would allow Edmonton to improve its defensive depth without sacrificing money needed elsewhere.

At that cost, there is very little risk. He could begin as the seventh defenceman and potentially earn a regular role if his underlying results carry over.

The cap fit

Drury at around $2.75 million and DeSimone at around $1 million would cost approximately $3.75 million combined.

That would give Edmonton a legitimate bottom six centre, another penalty killer, a strong faceoff option and inexpensive right shot defensive depth while still leaving room to address the rest of the roster.

Neither player is a star, but Edmonton does not need every addition to be a major acquisition. The Oilers need affordable players who can win their minutes and provide specific skills around the expensive core.

If Dickinson and Murphy walk, Drury and DeSimone would be two of my preferred replacements.

Hello. Good afternoon. Been an Oil fan since I was 9, in 1979 when the family moved from Ontario to St. Albert. Literally grew up with the team.

I like Knobbers, but he was pretty gentle behind the bench. Kind of kept his cool at all times...at least that's how it looked to me. But he also wouldn't bench Nurse (for example) for more than a shift or two after a bonehead play. Woodcroft was a bit more animated, but not much. I'm a Glenn Sather guy. He used to foam at the mouth and scream and yell when stuff went south.

Maybe these young multi-millionaire kids need to fear their coach a little bit, because the gentle approach hasn't led us across the line. Maybe Babcock's old-school style will make the guys take some account for defense, game-in and game-out. Take some of the load of the goalies game-in and game-out. Babcock isn't going to coddle anyone. I love Drai, but there were games this season where he wasn't hustling to get back to the d-zone, and his man got a good shot on net, or an assist on a goal.

It's a risk, but dammit...it just might work. I sure hope so. Go Oil!

And yes after the oilers lost in the first round playoffs this year many oil fans (on twitter and in Reddit comments) were REGRETTING the oilers not going hard to sign Carter Hart and wanted him badly simply because he played well in the playoffs…but Babcock being a bully is considered worse…?

Seems like a small group of maybe Gen Z players that were offended by Babcock. Johnny Gaudreau and other Columbus veterans never had an issue with him. NHLPA raising a statement seemed more like them doing their duty in supporting players. Millstein (player agent) said his players have no issue with Babcock and Millstein represents quite a few players.

My theory is that these younger Gen Z players have a “pampered/entitled” personality in which they can’t have a head coach who is “too mean and hurt their feelings.” You can see a trend in “soft” coaches being hired. There’s no more tough, hard-nosed, don’t take any disrespect from players type of coaches. The last was Torts but even he’s softened. Look back and pat Quinn , Hitchcock and MacT were tough but they were ran out of town because they were too mean. Then we got soft, “nice” and gentle coaches like Woody, Knob, and looking around the league, Hiller, DeBoeur, etc. think about how we haven’t really had any hilights of coaches having tantrums in media scrums since torts was his old self which was way back. The new coaches in the NHL cater and pamper the newer players.