The latest volume of the Mike Babcock Saga, coming soon to an Edmonton Oilers home game near you!
Yeah, he's actually on the verge of being hired.
As people on the East Coast had their lunch, the NHL added a special side dish of misery in the form of Babcock being cleared to coach in the league once again.
If you're wondering what such a side dish resembles, it has the smell of tuna, the taste of straight tonic water, and the established precedence to be very controversial.
Caution: may contain locker room tensions
Even though the Oilers are seemingly set to blindly hire Babcock, more opposition to the potential hire is surfacing.
A recent article published by Yahoo Sports documented the internal and external reaction to the potential hire. A discussion between Daily Faceoff co-host Jason Gregor and an unnamed NHL agent highlighted the fact that any interest in playing with two of the best hockey players on the planet is more or less offset by the presence of Babcock. At the same time, the article highlighted Elliotte Friedman's claims that several agents within the organization did not welcome the news of the front office's pursuit of Babcock and would be unwilling to bring players that they represent to the team.
Prior to Friedman's claims, it was established that one Oilers player did not welcome the initial news, though it now seems that the discomfort could extend to cover more of the roster. It remains to be seen if the players represented concur entirely; if so, the arrival of Babcock could easily create tension within the locker room.
How do the Oilers proceed?
With extreme caution.
If they truly decide to go ahead with the hire, they're not only putting every member of the front office, from Stan Bowman down to the person who prints his press releases, on high alert, but they're also jeopardizing the immediate future of this organization. Almost immediately, players and agents would examine options outside the team.
But beyond that, the conversation surrounding the Oilers being a Cup contender will immediately become one of the Oilers being a Cup contender while managing the shadow that Babcock will inevitably cast over the locker room. That will all but certainly be the topic of discussion throughout the season, one that could easily ramp the pressure up way too high on this organization.
Doctor Strange said it best after he surrendered the Time Stone to Thanos: "we're in the endgame now."
The Oilers are well and truly in this saga's endgame, but the ending could easily be less than fruitful.
Add us as a preferred source on Google