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Oilersnation Radio: Reacting to Mike Babcock becoming the new Oilers head coach

It’s Friday afternoon, which means a fresh episode of Oilersnation Radio is ready to massage your eardrums with an hour of off-season Oilers talk. On today’s podcast, the fellas discussed the Mike Babcock coaching hire, the public’s reaction to the move, line combinations, and more. We kicked off the Tuesday emergency episode of ONR with…

Insiders: NHLPA requests league investigation before Oilers hire Babcock

There is no guarantee Mike Babcock will be the next head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, with insiders on Tuesday night describing the path forward from the NHLPA and NHL. According to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnston, the NHL Players Association told the Oilers they want a full investigation into the events three years ago…

NHL Notebook: Wild sign McCarron; Puljujarvi loses gold medal

NHL free agency is on the horizon, and we are seeing more and more teams lock up their guys before the phones start ringing. Michael McCarron is the newest of the bunch, as he and the Minnesota Wild have reportedly come to terms on a six-year contract extension that will pay the six-foot-six forward $3.3…

McDavid expected to sign seven-year extension with Oilers: Stauffer

With the news of Mike Babcock becoming the Edmonton Oilers’ next head coach all but official, Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer believes Connor McDavid will be an Oiler for a long time to come. As a guest on The Fan 590, Stauffer said he believes McDavid will sign a massive extension to remain with the team. …

Why are the Oilers even considering Mike Babcock?

When we are searching for answers, starting a question with who, what, where, why, or how usually helps us find what we are looking for. Three simple letters make up my main question regarding the Edmonton Oilers’ interest in Mike Babcock: Why? Why hire a coach with a history of belittling players — a coach…

The Oilers are asking for trouble with Mike Babcock

The Edmonton Oilers’ desperation to win a Stanley Cup is clear and obvious.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Since Connor McDavid called them an average team with high expectations, the organization has made headlines for all the wrong reasons.  McDavid and Leon Draisaitl again made comments about the coaching in their…

Former Oilers forward Milan Lucic announces retirement

Milan Lucic’s career has come to an end.  The former Edmonton Oilers forward, who had been struggling to find work in North America, announced on Sunday that he’s retiring.  “Looking back on my career, I feel truly grateful to have fulfilled my dream of playing professional hockey, culminating with a Stanley Cup win in 2011…

Why hire Mike Babcock without clarity on Cassidy?

do dah do dooo, do dah do dooo “You have now entered… The Babcock Zone.”  The Babcock Zone is a phrase I coined a couple of weeks ago to describe the eerie place the Edmonton Oilers were entering. In the most consequential franchise decision in a few years, with so much at stake, this Zone…

A Priority Selection

At no point does anyone ever think they'll be the first to do something or to accomplish something, and today saw the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs do something that they had never done before, but it did happen once before. The player pictured to the left is 17 year-old netminder Sophie Jovanovic who played with the Toronto Nationals U18 AAA program in the GTHL this season, and, yes, she is a girl. She's not the first woman to be drafted by an OHL team - Sarnia did that with current MacEwan Griffi...

Stauffer: Oilers hiring Mike Babcock as coach ‘inevitable’

If you were holding out hope that the Oilers would find a way to get Bruce Cassidy locked in as the team’s next coach, that dream came crashing down to earth after reports started coming out that Edmonton was in talks with Mike Babcock. And during Monday’s episode of Oilers Now, Bob Stauffer reported, “Assuming…

NHL Notebook: Dylan Larkin narrows down preferred trade spots

Dylan Larkin has narrowed down his preferred trade destination to three teams. This, according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, who said that Larkin submitted his list of preferred destinations to the Detroit Red Wings, which featured three teams: the Florida Panthers, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Minnesota Wild. The Panthers…

NHL

‘It’s real’: Babcock has reportedly spoken with Oilers owner Daryl Katz, leadership group

The smoke about Mike Babcock becoming the next Edmonton Oilers head coach is “real,” according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Conversations have occurred between Babcock and members of the Oilers leadership group of players, who are on board with the idea of hiring the long-time head coach, Friedman reported. A conversation has also reportedly occured with Oilers…

Friedman: Oilers were interested in Laviolette before being hired by Kings

The Los Angeles Kings got their guy, naming Peter Laviolette the 32nd head coach in franchise history. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Laviolette’s hiring, and when he did, he mentioned the Edmonton Oilers were among the other teams interested in hiring the veteran bench boss. Peter Laviolette will be the next head…

Waiving The Clause

I had a good discussion tonight with a teammate in the adult beverage garden following our slo-pitch win. Normally, there are discussions about everything from trashy TV shows to funny family and work moments, but one topic that always seems to come up is hockey. Dylan Larkin's trade demand out of Detroit was the heated topic on this warm evening, and some were concerned that it may lead to similar outcomes for a handful of Jets. What caught my attenton in this was a quick conversation about h...

Report: Oilers checking with NHLPA on potential Mike Babcock hire

The Edmonton Oilers are apparently interested in Mike Babcock. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Oilers are contemplating bringing the controversial former two-time Olympic gold medal-winning coach on board, but are first checking with the NHL Players’ Association to see if any “objections that must be resolved” before a potential hire. This is the first…