Mike Babcock ran his first practice as Oilers head coach on Thursday and kept the group out there for four hours.
He was not shy about the toll it took. My feet hurt right now, he said afterward.
The message underneath it was the real story. You have to be fit to play here, all 12 forwards are going to matter, and everybody needs to know the standard.
Leon Draisaitl backed that up without much hedging. The coach is energetic, wants things done a certain way, and anyone in the building could hear it.
Ryan Shea heard it too. He said the emphasis was speed and little things, finishing every drill, stopping at the net, the stuff that separates a good team from a loud one.
That endorsement carries weight. The blue liner put up 35 points across 80 games and finished at plus-30, second on that roster only to Mattias Ekholm.
He signed a five year deal as a free agent this summer, which means he will be around long enough to find out if the standard sticks.
Mike Babcock makes a huge statement in first Oilers practice
That is the part people gloss over. The club moved on from a coach whose new three year contract had not even begun.
The man replacing him only got here after the league wrapped up its investigation into his conduct in Columbus in 2023. He was cleared, then signed this spring.
The Blue Jackets chapter lasted less than three months. His requests for personal photos from players drew heavy criticism as an invasion of privacy at the time.
His own version of how this happened is blunt. If the Oilers had not called, he would be in Ohio bow hunting, and he says he was not looking for work.
He credits the leadership group for the pitch. Connor McDavid, Draisaitl and Zach Hyman told him they want a championship and he decided to help.
They are worth the phone call. The captain put up 138 points and Hyman scored 31 times in only 58 games.
Then comes the contradiction nobody asked about. Twelve forwards all matter, and the plan is to start the two best ones on the same line.
His explanation was short. They are going to learn about each other, and he is just going to watch them.
“He wants things done a certain way, and he wants it done right.”
- Leon Draisaitl
The reason any of this is urgent sits in April. Anaheim took the series in six and the captain finished it at minus-8.
None of the skating drills touch the actual hole either. Tristan Jarry posted a .882 save percentage and Frederik Andersen is out until at least October 20.
So what happens the first night the standard costs somebody ice time?
Preaching that everyone matters and then stacking your top two is like telling the table everyone gets a say, then ordering for all of them.
Four hours in September buys nobody anything in April. The interesting part is whether a room full of veterans still buys it in February.
Source : Mike Babcock is back on the ice in Edmonton, and the pace left even him sore
Was hiring Mike Babcock the right call for the Oilers after firing Kris Knoblauch?
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