The Oilers have officially chosen their next head coach, per Stauffer
The Edmonton Oilers have their man. According to Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now, Mike Babcock is the choice, endorsed from ownership all the way down through management and the players.
Stauffer posted this afternoon that it is 100 percent Babcock, calling it a unanimous selection across every level of the organization.
That is a remarkably clean signal for a hire that has not yet been made official.
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Babcock, 62, last coached in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he was fired in November 2019 after a rocky start that eventually produced a larger reckoning around his conduct with players.
The rehabilitation arc here is real. He spent time coaching at the University of New Brunswick and later with the Canadian Olympic program before returning to the pro conversation.
Edmonton finished the regular season 41-30-11 with 93 points, ranking 14th overall in the league.
Babcock returns as Oilers look to fix a team that leaked goals all year
The Oilers gave up 269 goals this season, third worst among Pacific Division teams, while scoring 282. That is not a roster built to coast.
Connor McDavid posted 138 points in 82 games. Leon Draisaitl added 97 in 65. The firepower is there. The question every off-season is whether the rest of the structure can hold.
Tristan Jarry went 16-10-2 with an .882 save percentage. Connor Ingram posted an .898 in 32 starts. Neither number screams problem solved.
Babcock is a two-time Stanley Cup finalist and a gold-medal Olympic coach. He is also a polarizing figure in this league, and anyone who tells you the players-first angle is not going to be scrutinized in that locker room is not paying attention.
GM Stan Bowman is the one making this call. He arrived in Edmonton in July 2024, and this is his most visible decision yet.
Whether Babcock can actually fix the team's defensive structure is the real question. The name recognition is significant. The results will matter more.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||