Reaction Exploding Around Hockey As Mike Babcock Named New Oilers Head Coach
The @EdmontonOilers have hired Mike Babcock as their new head coach 🔵🟠 pic.twitter.com/AniyZMVA5D
— NHL (@NHL) June 23, 2026
DJ Smith has also been named as an assistant coach.
Babcock made it clear at a press conference on Tuesday what he talked about with superstars Connor McDavid & Leon Draisaitl ahead of his hire, and he made it clear exactly what he expects from those two.
Oilers HC Mike Babcock details his conversation with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman ahead of being hired. pic.twitter.com/49hYZdXhDE
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 23, 2026
Babcock is certainly not short on accomplishments on the biggest stages of hockey. He is the only coach to have won a Stanley Cup (2008), an Olympic gold medal (two of them in 2010, 2014), an IIHF World Championship (2004), and a World Cup of Hockey title (2016). And as Oilers insider Bob Stauffer notes, he brings experience, and is a veteran coach "with gravitas", who'll establish a structure and a process in the Oilers' game that's needed.
The controversy, of course, surrounds his well-known combative nature with players, and the questionable treatment he allegedly gives the lesser players on his teams.
And this has led to an outpouring of interesting reaction around hockey to the hiring, highlighted here with the help of an aggregation by David Staples of the Edmonton Journal:
Everything will work out just fine. Right? ........ Right?!?!?#LetsGoOilers
— OILERSLIVE 🇨🇦 (@oilerslive) June 23, 2026
DJ Smith is a solid hire by the Oilers. Well-liked by players and has plenty of experience behind the bench.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 23, 2026
You know, on the off-chance Edmonton might need a different head coach this season …
I think the dominant narrative "he's an asshole/hardass and therefore good/bad" are mostly a distraction. We'll see if the Oilers struggle to recruit and break in young players. That would be something worth watching. Bigger issue is more simple: is this guy any good today? https://t.co/rDzKENR6ZV
— Romulus' Apotheosis (@RomulusNotNuma) June 23, 2026
The leadership group apparently wanted this - so they have to live and die by this choice.
— JB 🇨🇦 (@JackieBee_16) June 23, 2026
I hope they make me eat my words but this is a mistake and I hate this decision https://t.co/AtMZg6sHtT
I may not agree with Babcock being hired but I will say I agree with Oilers needing to be pushed instead of coddled..
— Savs 🥷 (@Savoilers) June 10, 2026
We need championships not friendships.
Babcock couldn't get a similarly constructed Leafs team past round one in four attempts. His Leafs teams were never good defensively. I don't see how Babcock is a good fit from a coaching perspective. Add the off ice stuff to the mix, and it becomes an awful hire. https://t.co/Q2567b6WcB
— x - Lotsy (@lotsryan) June 23, 2026
Going to go against the grain here to say that Mike Babcock is going to be a phenomenal coaching hire.
— Captain Jack 🏴☠️ (@OilersJack) June 23, 2026
DJ Smith as an assistant coach addition is huge and Coffey could still join to get the Oilers as top 5 in Defence again.
The Edmonton Oilers are known for successfully…
Yesterday we spent a few hours with 2 members of the @EdmontonOilers and both of them said “Our organization can’t talk about how important Mental Health is to them anymore with the hiring of Mike Babcock, it will be on us as players to do more at the rink and away from the… https://t.co/3MEVWxz04l
— 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast (@2MuttsHockeyPod) June 23, 2026
The proof will be in the pudding. Let's see how the Oilers are able to recruit secondary pieces this summer, and then how the superstars actually perform on the ice.
