Edmonton Oilers officially hire the controversial Mike Babcock

After a nearly month long debacle, the Edmonton Oilers officially named Mike Babcock head coach. He takes over the Oilers at an incredibly vital time in their team's cycle as the Connor McDavid era is threatened to end.

Babcock brings to the Oilers a winning pedigree, having captured a Stanley Cup win in 2008, along with two Olympics gold medals behind the bench for Team Canada in 2010 and 2014. Now, he joins the Oilers having not coached a single NHL game since 2019, when he was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

However, in between these two teams, he famously was named coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets but never made it to training camp and was forced to resign early. There were reportedly incidents involving him going through player's phones and invading their privacy as well as other incidents that the NHL needed to investigate.

Last week, it was revealed that the NHL's investigation had concluded and the Oilers were free to hire him. Much to the dismay of many fans and members of the media.

Babcock comes with controversy

The 63 year old decorated coach joins the Oilers with plenty of controversy given his questionable tactics and player relationships, being described as a bully by many. This is due to his treatment of Maple Leafs rookie Mitch Marner along with many others. He has a history of being accused of verbal abuse, especially with former Red Wings powerforward, Johan Franzen.

Between the Marner incident, Franzen incident, and the Blue Jackets incident, it is understandable why Babcock has so many harsh critics. There are also more minor grievances like healthy scratching Jason Spezza in his return to his hometown Toronto where he had dozens of family and friends. Scratching NHL legend Mike Modano, keeping his games played total at 1,499 and keeping him from 1,500.

Despite the long history of negative accusations against Babcock, there are some positives, right?

Babcock comes with winning pedigree

Mentioned before, Babcock has plenty of trophies in his cabinet from a Stanley Cup ring to multiple gold medals, he has been behind the bench and lead many great teams. The Oilers clearly hope that he can recreate this for their club.

Given recent reports, the Oilers leadership group is of the same mind, they feel that Babcock has the ability to push them to the next level. This apparently has already happened when the core players met with Babcock, he was unafraid to criticize the Oilers big guns.

There is plenty of risk given the overwhelming evidence that supports Babcock and his questionable conduct. If he can deliver as promised and the Oilers come away with a Stanley Cup, all will be forgotten most likely. Just, hopefully there are no stories coming out in the future of mistreatment.

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