Mike Babcock has a winner in front of him, wiping the slate clean for once-ostracized coach
Mike Babcock has successfully led the Edmonton Oilers to a strong 8-2-1 start, defying initial skepticism regarding his controversial hiring. The team's performance is largely driven by Connor McDavid's elite offensive production.
Why it matters
The turnaround highlights the impact of coaching changes in professional sports and the high-stakes nature of NHL team management.
A controversial hire in the off-season, Mike Babcock has steered the Edmonton Oilers to an 8-2-1 record, with Connor McDavid producing at an astonishing rate. Tony Avelar/The Associated Press
It took Mike Babcock four months to thaw out after most of a decade in the cold.
In June, Babcock was the Oilers’ impossible-to-explain choice to salvage Connor McDavid’s career in Edmonton. In terms of personality matching, this move didn’t make any sense. On the one hand, you had the softest spoken man in pro sports. On the other, you had Saskatoon Machiavelli.
What were they going to talk about? How would Babcock run mind games on someone who could snuff out whatever remained of his reputation with an offhand comment? Which of the two would play in net?
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