Stunning new details emerge years after Mike Babcock's resignation

The Edmonton Oilers currently have no head coach listed, and the situation around Mike Babcock just got significantly more complicated.

Frank Seravalli reported Wednesday that sources believe the photo-sharing incident was not what ultimately cost Babcock his job in Columbus.

It was a separate, previously unreported allegation that led to his resignation from the Blue Jackets.

That distinction matters enormously for Edmonton.

According to Seravalli, the NHLPA is in receipt of "significant" additional claims from its own investigation into Babcock, claims that were never made public in 2023.

If the Oilers move forward with Babcock as their bench boss, they are walking into that minefield with full knowledge of what the players' association is holding.

Stan Bowman now owns this decision entirely

GM Stan Bowman is the one steering this ship in Edmonton, and there is no head coach in place at the moment.

Hiring Babcock under these circumstances would be one of the most defensible bad ideas in recent NHL memory. The Oilers finished 41-30-11, good for 93 points, and they are a team built to compete now, not to burn down and rebuild.

Connor McDavid posted 138 points this season. Leon Draisaitl added 97.

You don't surround a 138-point player with a coaching controversy and call it a plan.

The Columbus situation offers a cautionary tale. Rick Bowness was hired as head coach on January 12, 2026, after the Babcock episode forced the Blue Jackets into an emergency pivot mid-season. Columbus limped to 40-30-12 and went just 2-7-1 in their final 10 games.

That is the kind of organizational disruption the Oilers cannot afford.

The unknown allegation is the real story here. Not the photos. Not the 2023 public investigation. The part nobody talked about publicly is apparently the part that ended Babcock's tenure, and according to Seravalli, the NHLPA hasn't forgotten it.

For Bowman, the question is not whether Babcock can coach hockey. He clearly can. The question is whether the front office has done the full accounting of what they are inheriting, and whether they believe the locker room can function under that weight.

McDavid and this group went 6-2-2 over their last 10 games. They have the talent. What they need is stability, not a story that keeps growing.

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