The Edmonton Oilers have begun consulting with the NHL Players' Association about a possible hire of Mike Babcock as their next head coach, TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger reported Monday.
Dreger said the Oilers reached out to the NHLPA to determine whether there are objections that must be resolved before a hire could move forward. Sources who spoke to TSN added that, should an investigation be required, the National Hockey League would manage that process. The NHLPA declined to comment at that stage.
The consultation is the clearest public step yet in Edmonton's search after the club fired Kris Knoblauch last month following a first-round exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Babcock has not coached in the NHL since the 2019–20 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs and resigned before the 2023 regular season began with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The circumstances that led to the Blue Jackets resignation remain central to the Oilers' outreach to the players' association. A report on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast alleged Babcock had asked players to share personal photos from their phones; the NHLPA investigated that situation before Babcock announced his resignation. Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen later called the hiring "a mistake." Those facts are the nucleus of the potential opposition the NHLPA might raise.
Edmonton's pursuit of Babcock appears set against a broader coaching marketplace. The Oilers had expressed interest in Bruce Cassidy, but Vegas has withheld permission to interview him. TSN's Pierre LeBrun said he would not be surprised if DJ Smith, who spent this past season as interim head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, wound up on Babcock's staff should Babcock return to the league in Edmonton; the Kings hired Peter Laviolette as their head coach on Monday.
The active consultation with the NHLPA creates immediate, practical constraints on the Oilers' options. If the players' association objects, or if it identifies issues that warrant a formal probe, the NHL would step in to manage any review, according to people who spoke to TSN. That sequence would slow — and could block — any move the Oilers might otherwise try to finalize quickly.
For Edmonton, the choice is now procedural as much as it is philosophical: proceed toward a potentially controversial veteran with a Hall of Fame résumé that includes a 2008 Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medals in 2010 and 2014 and a career regular-season record of 700-418-164, or await the outcome of an NHLPA review that could require NHL oversight. The Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of Knoblauch's first two seasons, then were bounced in the opening round this year by the Anaheim Ducks — an outcome that drove their coaching vacancy.
What comes next is concrete and narrow: the NHLPA must respond to Edmonton's inquiry, and if it signals objections or a need for investigation the NHL would be the body to run that process. Until the players' association clears the way or the league concludes any required probe, a Babcock hire in Edmonton remains unresolved — and the Oilers' search will hinge on the association's decision more than on interviews or contractual terms.
