The Mike Babcock Oilers situation is the only place to start. It was reported during the finals that the Oilers have decided to hire Mike Babcock as their next head coach. Now, if you don’t remember Mike Babcock has been publicly shamed for his over the top hard-ass coaching style by several players. Mitch Marner was essentially bullied by Babcock. Bab’s got fired without ever coaching a game in Columbus because he was attempting to see the phones of his players, sicko was likely trying to see what chicks the guys were banging tbh. Even players from Detroit have come out to say that he was a dick to them and they were winning. We know that there are hard-ass coaches, Bruce Cassidy and John Tortorella immediately come to mind, but Babcock is on a whole different level that sometimes tiptoes into major HR issues for a franchise. Despite the allegations, the firings, and the complete lack of interest in him the Oilers believe him to be the savior.
Mike Babcock Oilers and the McDavid Question
Not only is Mike Babcock a bad guy, not even allegedly, he hasn’t been a good coach in a long time. As a matter of fact, I will take it a step further and say that he was never a good coach. He really underperformed with the Red Wings. Yes, he won a cup, but those late 2000s Red Wings were the best team(s) created post lockout, and he only won one final. People will talk about the gold medals as if it’s some sort of achievement for Babcock, I think a Pidgeon could have coached the 2010 and 2014 Canada teams to gold medals, they had a prime Sidney Crosby no shit they were going to win. In terms of NHL success, he hasn’t had any in years. He flat out said that he was coaching to lose in Toronto to secure the team Matthews. Children born the last time Babcock won in the playoffs are likely going through puberty right now, that’s how long it’s been (13 years). No one in their right mind would hire this guy, I truly think Stan Bowman needs sent in for a wellness check. What’s even crazier is that the players are the ones who have seemingly signed off on this decision. McDavid cannot leave Edmonton because he is now officially part of the problem, he should have pushed for literally anyone else. I can’t say I’m shocked though; the sport’s biggest loser pushes for a loser coach, so he continues losing.
Edmonton news won’t stop there; they have plenty of shit to throw at the wall. Bowman is going back to the old playbook of calling Kyle Dubas. How someone hasn’t deleted Dubas’ number out of Bowman’s phone is beyond me. Dave Pagnotta has reported that Pens and Oilers have been in trade talks for Darnell Nurse, Pittsburgh is his preferred destination. Now, I want it on record that I do not want Nurse on the Pens. I don’t think Nurse is as bad as the public believes but his contract is an atrocity and his age profile doesn’t fit what we need. However, Dubas is Dubas and Bowman is Bowman. There is absolutely no way this trade gets completed without the entire public saying Bowman got fleeced. Imagine a scenario where the Penguins trade Graves for Nurse and the Oilers 2nd. The Penguins utilize that 2nd, Winnipeg’s 2nd, their 1st, and Rakell to move up and Ivan Stenberg or Viggo Bjorck. Now, that would be a total masterclass. The Penguins are uniquely positioned to acquire Nurse, but only if the Oilers are paying to get rid of his services. Edmonton needs to open up cap space and the best way to do it is to get rid of Nurse’s contract. If Nurse forces them to make Pittsburgh their only option, then Bowman is going to have to pay up. This will essentially be a cap dump but one that can still provide you useable minutes.
Regardless of the Nurse talk, the Penguins seem to be feverishly attempting to move up in the draft. It’s one of the worst kept secrets to be honest as it’s been reported on for almost a month at this point. It’s gotten to the point that both Rust, and Rakell, are appearing on trade lists (again). Now, I don’t think either guy is traded to move up unless the Penguins are getting firmly into the top 10. There seem to be a few trade partners willing to move off their top 10 picks; Chicago, Seattle, Winnipeg, and Florida. Now, Chicago has the number 4 pick in the draft, and it seems like the Penguins target is Viggo Bjorck and I don’t believe he would be available after Calgary selects at number 6. Therefore, the only chance the Penguins have at getting him is getting up to number 4. The Blackhawks are obvious trade partners because they are actively trying to get a scorer to play with Bedard, and I think either Rakell or Rust fit the bill. Odds are nothing with materialize because high picks are seldomly traded, but it would be fireworks if Dubas were able to pull it off.
The Oilers aren’t the only team making stupid decisions in Canada. The dumbest team in the league, Toronto, is back at it again. Just this morning they are finalizing a sign-and-trade with Tampa for Darren Raddysh. Raddysh had an incredible season for Tampa, and he was always going to get a bag because of his performance. However, he’s 30 years old with only 3 full seasons of NHL play. Two decent years and one great year during his three full seasons. It also helped that Hedman was hurt, and his responsibilities were elevated. It helped that he had the second-best collection of forwards on the ice with him for every game. So, while he had a good season, you could imagine a scenario where he easily falls back down to Earth on a worse team. The Leafs are definitely a worse team, as a matter of fact they should be a rebuilding team. Rebuilding teams shouldn’t be trading for inexperienced 30-year-old defensemen and giving them 8million dollars for the next 8 seasons. I understand that Raddysh was always going to get this type of deal, especially in a weak free agent market, but the Leafs being the team to do it seems out of control. MLSE will never let the Leafs go back into tank mode, but Raddysh in a few years is going to be talked about as one of the worst contracts in the league, book it.
