Mike Babcock takes the Oilers bench with one real job this fall, tighten up Evan Bouchard and that shaky blue line.
Edmonton finished 41-30-11 last season, good for 93 points and 14th overall in the league. Not bad. Not what this roster is built for either.
The Oilers scored 282 goals but gave up 269, a plus-13 differential that still left Babcock's predecessor searching for answers on the back end.
Bouchard put up 95 points last season, elite offense from the blue line. But he also went minus-7 through six playoff games, and that swing is exactly what Babcock was hired to smooth out.
Mattias Ekholm, Connor Murphy and Jake Walman round out a group that plays hard but doesn't scare anybody. Ty Emberson can drop the gloves, sure, but toughness alone doesn't win playoff rounds.
So can Babcock actually fix this? He's got a track record of tight, structured hockey, but he's also walked into rooms before where the goals against didn't budge much.
Tristan Jarry posted an .882 save percentage last season, and Frederik Andersen sat at .874. Neither number moves the needle for a team with real Cup hopes.
Podkolzin's shot could be Babcock's hidden weapon up front
Vasily Podkolzin scored 19 goals and posted 37 points a year ago, and he was rolling in the playoffs with three goals in six games.
Give that Bouchard-Podkolzin dynamic more organized structure in front of a better goaltending platoon, and Edmonton's whole equation changes. That's not a small if.
Here's the blunt take. Running this back with the same goaltending duo and hoping structure alone fixes a 269-goals-against season would be a mistake, Bowman needs outside help in net.
Think of it like handing a mechanic a great engine bolted to a cracked frame. He can tune every piston, but if the frame keeps rattling, the car still shakes on the highway.
Isaac Howard managed just five points in 29 games last season, and Edmonton is still waiting to see if he can take real minutes from a veteran winger.
Matthew Savoie chipped in 37 points and five game-winners, showing he can be trusted in tight moments, something Babcock will lean on heavily.
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Training camp will tell the real story. Structure only travels as far as execution lets it, and Edmonton has burned good regular seasons chasing exactly that gap.
Is Mike Babcock the right coach to fix the Oilers' defense?
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