{"id":491741,"date":"2026-06-23T12:15:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=491741"},"modified":"2026-06-23T12:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:15:36","slug":"oilers-hire-mike-babcock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/23\/oilers-hire-mike-babcock\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers Hire Mike Babcock as Head Coach Following NHL Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/05\/14\/edmonton-oilers-fire-kris-knoblauch-begin-head-coach-search\/\" target=\"_self\">Edmonton Oilers<\/a> hire Mike Babcock, as they have made things official today with their decision of their next head coach. This follows a consultation with the NHLPA and an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/18\/mike-babcock-investigation\/\" target=\"_self\">NHL investigation<\/a> to see if there were any objections to be resolved before hiring Babcock. The ploy for accountability in possibly <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcdavco01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connor McDavid<\/a>&#8216;s final years with the team begins now. In addition, the Oilers have hired D.J. Smith as an assistant coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBMgd412tz\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3847px; aspect-ratio: 3847\/2563;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p>Credit Image: \u00a9 Adam Lacy\/Cal Sport Media<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Oilers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Oilers<\/a> have named Mike Babcock as Head Coach. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WSNNP3Yrni\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/WSNNP3Yrni<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EdmontonOilers\/status\/2069435334895747359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Oilers Hire Mike Babcock Despite Controversy From Previous Stints<\/h2>\n<p>Babcock comes with his share of controversy, but he has had a solid track record of coaching in the NHL. In all ten seasons he coached the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/04\/nhl-rumours-larkin\/\" target=\"_self\">Detroit Red Wings<\/a>, the team made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in every single year, including a Stanley Cup win in 2008. He also coached the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/06\/nhl-rumours-leafs-update\/\" target=\"_self\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>. The 63-year-old has a record of 700-418-164 along with 19 ties in 1,301 career games coached. He has had 14 playoff appearances in his 17 seasons of NHL coaching.<\/p>\n<h3>A History of Controversy Worries Fans and Media Alike<\/h3>\n<p>A multitude of players have come out to voice their displeasure throughout the years, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kadrina01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nazem Kadri<\/a> comes to mind as he referenced it in <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/flames\/news\/exclusive-excerpt-from-nazem-kadri-s-new-book\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">his book<\/a>. Moreover, Babcock was a psychology major at McGill University, and he would often use a psychological style of coaching that involved pushing the right buttons and playing mind games, as described in Nazem Kadri&#8217;s book.<\/p>\n<p>The latest instance of controversy surrounding Babcock involves allegations of violating privacy after he got hired as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. <span>This led to Babcock announcing his resignation in that same offseason before training camp even began for the 2023-24 regular season.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Babcock Cleared to Coach After NHL Investigation<\/h3>\n<p>In an official statement, the NHL have deemed that Babcock is clear to coach.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe League has completed its review of Mike Babcock\u2019s tenure in Columbus, and of certain alleged conduct associated therewith. Our investigation has concluded that, even in a light least favorable to Mr. Babcock, there is no current basis to restrict his employment in the League,&#8221;\u00a0<\/em>said the league in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>Stan Bowman and the Oilers obviously want to win now. Babcock may be the coach who can emphasize accountability, but it comes at a high risk of it all crumbling down. Can Babcock&#8217;s style of coaching still work in this day and age? Time will tell, as the Oilers have decided their fate. The Oilers will hold a press conference at 12 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time on Tuesday to introduce their new head coach.<\/p>\n<p>Mandatory Credit: Kyle Robertson-USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Edmonton Oilers hire Mike Babcock, as they have made things official today with their decision of their next head coach. This follows a consultation with the NHLPA and an NHL investigation to see if there were any objections to be resolved before hiring Babcock. The ploy for accountability in possibly Connor McDavid&#8216;s final years [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5733,"featured_media":432030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4547,34,4548],"tags":[231],"class_list":["post-491741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oilers","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-mike-babcock"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5733"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491741"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492444,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491741\/revisions\/492444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}