Expectations were impossibly high for the Edmonton Oilers heading into the 2024-25 NHL season, but a stellar, historic start from the team’s top players has thrust them right near the top of the league standings. Yet, as the victories pile up, a compelling question naturally emerges across the hockey world: Just where has Mike Babcock influenced this group the most, and how much credit does the veteran bench boss genuinely deserve for Edmonton’s dominant early-season surge?
When he officially took the job as coach of the Edmonton Oilers, Mike Babcock knew precisely how high the bar was going to be set for him. Stepping into a locker room featuring two of the absolute best players on planet Earth in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, alongside a rapidly flourishing, elite-tier defenseman in Evan Bouchard, meant the margins for error—and praise—were razor-thin.
Under ordinary circumstances, it would have been extraordinarily difficult for a coach to earn significant credit if the Oilers had merely performed as a fringe playoff team with that kind of generational firepower. In that scenario, virtually all the credit would have automatically gone straight to the players on the ice, and the controversial choice of hiring Babcock to run this high-octane Edmonton squad would have been heavily questioned and criticized by Oilers fans high and low, from passionate supporters in local pubs to analysts across North America.
Instead, the reality in Alberta has played out quite differently. Edmonton currently sits comfortably in second place in the entire NHL standings with an impressive .775 points percentage, having suffered a mere three regulation losses through their first 20 games of the campaign. Babcock has successfully instilled an aura of extreme confidence within his roster, transforming the Oilers into a group that looks just as dangerous and formidable as practically any squad in the league.
So, how much credit does Babcock really deserve for orchestrating this incredible, head-turning start to the season?
To fully understand the magnitude of the Oilers’ current success, it is important to look back at their recent history. The Oilers were notoriously slow, sluggish starters for the past few seasons under former bench boss Kris Knoblauch, routinely finding themselves forced to dig out of early-season holes and chase the pack in the Pacific Division. Furthermore, Babcock came into this job operating under an almost comically short training camp, forced to work completely on the fly with a brand-new lineup with which he had zero prior familiarity until the very first whistle of the pre-season exhibition schedule.
Despite those initial hurdles, the results on the ice speak volumes about the team’s current trajectory. Not only do the Oilers boast the NHL’s third-best offense—averaging an elite, even four goals per game—they also feature a power play that remains remarkably potent, operating at an incredible 33.3 percent efficiency.
To be fair, that top power-play unit has been widely recognized as one of the most lethal and dominant units in the league over the past few seasons, meaning there wasn’t a massive overhaul required from the new coaching staff. Consequently, Babcock deserves a considerable amount of credit simply for exercising restraint—specifically, for wisely choosing not to make sweeping tactical changes just for the sake of putting his own stamp on things, and for readily acknowledging when certain elite elements of the team simply did not need to be adjusted or disrupted.
Of course, the modern Edmonton Oilers are far from a flawless, impenetrable group. Their penalty-killing unit currently ranks 18th in the league at a modest 76.9 percent efficiency. They are almost certainly never going to be mistaken for the modern incarnation of the defense-first, dead-puck era New Jersey Devils. Yet, despite those specialized teams’ areas for growth, Edmonton’s overall five-on-five and team defense has proven to be surprisingly effective, ranking tied for seventh overall in the NHL by surrendering just 2.80 goals against per game.
Some of that defensive stability can certainly be chalked up to the stellar individual performance of goaltender Devon Levi. However, when a team is managing to string together results and make a netminder like Tristan Jarry look competent and stable when called upon, it is a clear indicator that the collective group is doing something right structurally. Any NHL coach who happens to receive consistently good goaltending is naturally going to look like a smart tactician, and Babcock is undoubtedly benefiting from both Levi and Jarry holding down the fort during high-pressure stretches.
Ultimately, however, there is a tangible systemic change that has clearly paid dividends for the Oilers early on in the schedule, and observers must give Babcock his due for effecting positive, measurable change. He arrived in Edmonton carrying a massive cloud of baggage, having taken the job with his professional reputation and personal character heavily questioned—and, quite frankly, rightfully so.
The severe backlash and criticism from several of Babcock’s former players, compounded by the abrupt and dramatic implosion of his very short coaching tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets, meant that there was absolutely zero room for error for Babcock upon taking the reins in Edmonton. The spotlight was glaring, and skepticism was the default setting for much of the hockey world.
While there is still an immense amount of hockey left to be played in the current NHL season—along with plenty of potential for things to eventually go sideways or hit a mid-season speed bump—Babcock has undeniably earned the positive praise and laurels that have come his way of late.
He is certainly the fortunate beneficiary of having superb, generational hockey players in his daily employ, but he has effectively pushed the right tactical buttons and provided the foundational structure necessary for the Oilers to climb toward the top spot in the Pacific Division. In doing so, they are actively setting themselves up to secure crucial home-ice advantage throughout the grueling Stanley Cup playoffs.
Mike Babcock may not necessarily be everyone’s cup of tea, whether evaluated on a personal level or through a purely professional lens. But it is time to give him his due credit: he has positioned himself as a clear-cut, legitimate candidate for the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach, and Oilers fans have every reason to be elated with his immediate and profound impact on the franchise.