Oilers’ Draisaitl welcomes Babcock’s hard coaching: ‘I want that’

Leon Draisaitl is one of the most astute and articulate hockey players in the game. When the Edmonton Oilers star sits down to speak his mind, he doesn’t mince words.

His honesty at the end-of-season media availability put the Oilers on notice. He said he was concerned with the direction of the team after a poor season, failing to reach the Stanley Cup final for a third straight season. Not just how it finished in a first-round defeat, but the entire year.

With the hiring of Mike Babcock shaking up the hockey world, Draisaitl thinks he’s the right coach for the position the Oilers are in. They all want an elusive Stanley Cup, and after he, Connor McDavid, and Zach Hyman met with Babcock during the hiring process, they believed he could help guide them there.

It’s no disrespect to past Oilers coaches, Draisaitl says, but for what will be another pressure cooker of a season to succeed, Babcock is the choice.

“I do think that sometimes certain teams are in a situation or players at a time in their career that they need certain things,” said Draisaitl, who joined Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Thursday. 

“I think right now for us, where we’re at as a group, as a team, what we’ve gone through. I think that Babs will be great for us. I think he’s going to have us really dialled in, and he’s going to make everyone feel a part of it. Really, that’s the most important thing when you want to be a really good hockey team.” 

‘Babs will challenge us’

Draisaitl said that in the dressing room, you can get the sense of what the group needs at different stages of a season, or in the long term for a franchise. Not that their opinion is always correct, but their input on a seismic decision like this coaching hire, can be better overall for the group.

Just like what Connor McDavid said in an interview earlier this week, they want to be coached. After that “upfront” meeting, they got the sense the timing was right.

“We wanted to know what he thinks of our team, what he thinks of certain individuals, and I think he nailed it there, too,” said Draisaitl. “We want to be coached. I want to get better. I need to get better, and there are a lot of things in my game that I didn’t like last season.” 

“To me, it seems like everyone is excited. Everyone’s looking forward to knowing that it will be a challenge. Babs will challenge us, Babs will demand the most out of us, but at the end of the day, I think when you want to get to where we want to get to, you need to demand the most out of every single player, out of every single coach, out of our management group.

“Everybody in our organization needs to demand a little bit more from each other, and I am not worried about Babs doing that, and like I said in my year-end meeting, I think that starts with Connor, that starts with me.” 

Tactically, Babcock didn’t talk too much to McDavid and Draisaitl about whether they’ll play together on a regular line, or centre their own lines. The coaching cycles in Edmonton have fluctuated. The first season with a new coach, McDavid’s minutes are reduced from the year before. The longer the coach stays, the more minutes McDavid and Draisaitl play.

Draisaitl said they did talk about some hockey philosophy, recognizing some non-negotiables that Babcock will demand of them.

“Babs will be hard on us, but I want that,” he said. “I’m looking for that. I want to get better. I want to become a better hockey player all around, and I want to help our team win in even more ways than I have.” 

Draisaitl loves signings

There are still significant chapters in the calendar before the Oilers begin their summit for 2026-27, including the NHL Draft and free agency. But as Edmonton’s roster rounds into shape, consider Draisaitl a fan of re-signing Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, who have big roles playing without the puck.

“I love it,” said Draisaitl. “I love both of them, great guys. First of all, most importantly, I think they fit really, really well with our group. I think they both of them felt extremely comfortable within our group, and in the short time that they were with us.

“Players that you don’t have to worry about on the daily, everybody loves those players. You’re never going to have to worry about Murph. He knows what he has to do. He knows the way he has to play. You’re never going to have to worry about Dickey. Dickie knows how to play the game. He knows what he is. He knows exactly the way that he needs to play to be extremely successful. I really like it.”