"“Need (Mike) Babcock to get the bottom six going in the right direction. Coach needs to take ownership of the player’s focus. Woodcroft always has excuses and things that are learned from a loss…That doesn’t amount to points on the standings. Time for a change…” — Dennis Ejack"
This one actually made me LOL hardcore. So not only does Dennis here want to fire a coach who literally turned the Edmonton Oilers’ season around last year, who’s popular with the players including your two best ones, but he wants to replace him with Mike Babcock….
Mike….Babcock.
MIKE….BABCOCK.
Yes, the very same Mike Babcock who literally bullied his players in both Detroit and Toronto.
Ever wonder why Gretzky didn’t re-sign with St. Louis after his partial season there? Because Mike Keenan was a hard-nosed coach just like Babcock who bullied his players the same way, and Gretzky didn’t want to put up with that – and rightfully so, who would? He chased the G.O.A.T out of St. Louis when he still had a few useful seasons left in his career.
If you want to ruin the Edmonton Oilers by having Connor Mcdavid, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse, Zach Hyman, Tyson Barrie, Jack Campbell, and Stuart Skinner all demand a trade out of Edmonton at the same time, then yes I agree hiring Mike Babcock would be the way to go.
No one wants to work under a bully, and NHL players are no exception.
Then there’s also the fact that Holland and Babcock have a history in Detroit where Babcock was his coach for a long time. If he wanted Babcock to coach here don’t you think he would’ve hired him by now? Holland has been the GM of the Edmonton Oilers since 2019, he’s had time to hire Babcock and didn’t, so what does that tell you? Obviously, Babcock was fired for a reason.
Not to mention the black cloud that was lifted over the Maple Laffs in TO when Babcock was fired there three years ago.
Did Woodcroft suddenly forget how to coach? I think not.
These would be the worst two moves you could possibly make in our coaching ranks. Woodcroft hasn’t done anything that deserves a firing, and hiring Mike Babcock would be the worst possible thing you could do.
It appears the rest of the NHL agrees with me and not Dennis, since Babcock hasn’t been hired by another NHL team since being fired by the Leafs. Babcock had since got to the CIS to bully university men at the University of Saskatchewan, but “resigned” and “retired” last August.
Right…..I’m sure that had nothing to do with the fact that Babcock is a good tactician but human garbage as a person.
*voice of comic book guy* WORST…..SUGGESTION…..EVER.