Leon Draisaitl just told the hockey world he wants Mike Babcock to yell at him. Not in some vague leadership seminar language. Straight up. Standing in Munich on the European media tour, the guy with four straight 100-point seasons looked into the cameras and said he sometimes deserves it, just like anyone else, and that Babs is not going to care who is wearing the C or the A when the accountability starts.
I have been waiting for someone inside that locker room to say the quiet part this loud. Two straight Stanley Cup Finals, then a first-round exit to the Anaheim Ducks in six games, and the best center tandem on the planet is now recruiting its own drill sergeant. That is the entire Oilers offseason in one sentence.
Draisaitl did not dress it up. “I think he’s got a very clear plan, and I think he holds guys accountable, and I think to him, it’s not about who it is when it comes to accountability,” he said. “Like, we’re looking to be coached. We’re looking to get better. and I sometimes deserve (to be yelled at) too, just like anyone else does. I don’t think ‘Babs’ is going to care overly much who we are in terms of that. I think sometimes that’s needed.”
Read that again. The Hart Trophy winner from 2020 is volunteering for the whistle. McDavid already signed off in late June. The stars sat in a room with a 63-year-old coach who had not finished an NHL season since the Leafs dumped him 23 games into 2019-20, and according to the reporting around that meeting, Babcock told them they were as much the problem as anyone else for the missing Cup. They agreed.
The Pattern They Never Built
Last season was the proof of concept for the complaint. Edmonton went 41-30-11, second in the Pacific, scored 282 goals, and still never found a real identity. Draisaitl put it cleanly: the good teams create a pattern over 82 games. They know what their game is. The Oilers never grabbed it. They did not win three straight in regulation until late January. A five-game streak in late March was the only real run. Everything else felt like talent papering over structure until the Ducks exposed it in the spring.
I watched that series and kept waiting for the Oilers to impose something. They never did. Injuries hit, Draisaitl and McDavid were not fully healthy, and still the larger issue was the one Draisaitl named: comfort never arrived. “It’s frustrating, for sure, because you’re trying,” he said. “Everyone’s trying. It’s not a lack of trying.” Effort without a spine is just expensive noise. Knoblauch got fired May 14 for exactly that reason. Nine days later the organization went shopping for the opposite energy.
Babcock brings 700 career wins, 12th all-time, a Cup with Detroit in 2008, and a reputation that does not bend for superstars. The NHL cleared him in June after reviewing the Columbus situation. The Oilers hired him June 23 with D.J. Smith as associate coach. The players wanted to be pushed. Now Draisaitl is on the record confirming the pitch.
Stars Begging for the Hard Edge
Here is where I plant the flag. This is not standard offseason happy talk. This is two generational talents admitting the previous culture let them operate above the system. When your 97-point guy (35 goals, 62 assists in 65 games) and your captain publicly invite the yelling, the franchise has reached the stage where talent alone stopped being enough and everyone in the room knows it.
I like the honesty. I also see the risk. Babcock is 63. His last sustained NHL work ended in Toronto with a 9-10-4 start and a locker room that wanted him gone. Old-school accountability can sharpen a group that has gotten soft on details. It can also curdle if the message never evolves past volume. The Oilers already moved Nurse to San Jose and brought in Frederik Andersen after his Cup run in Carolina. The supporting cast is shifting. The two centers remain the entire bet.
Draisaitl said Babcock will bring a different attitude and mentality, and that it is exactly what they need. “Everyone’s very excited about it and looking forward to working with him.” Excitement is free in August. The test arrives when Babcock actually sits McDavid for a shift or dresses down Draisaitl after a lazy defensive-zone coverage in November and the stars have to swallow it in real time.
I believe they mean it right now. The Finals losses and the Ducks series stripped the deniability. They never found their game across 82 nights. They are hiring the guy famous for forcing one. If Babcock actually holds the two best players in the league to the same standard as the fourth line, Edmonton might finally build the pattern Draisaitl keeps describing. If the stars flinch the first time the yelling gets personal, this becomes another expensive experiment on top of a window that is already burning daylight.
The Oilers just put the hard coach in charge because the soft results stopped being acceptable. Draisaitl said he deserves it. I am going to hold him to that quote all season.
