Bryan Hayes

I found the gear very...

babcockian like he had the golf shirt that he had to put the jacket over which i appreciate right no suit and tie it's summer and yeah he's been retired for a while so he's just trying to ease back into it but i was asked about that um meeting he had with the leadership group mcdavid dry subtle hyman how that conversation went down and and basically give us some detail on what came out of it here's what mike mike babcock was willing to say about that meeting earlier today

I think we should be surprised because the story of Babcock is he is very confident in Mike Babcock.

Mike Babcock's got a compound fracture.

Mike Babcock, that's a Seinfeld reference for those of you that aren't aware of it.

But he is in a scenario here where I think he realizes the only way this is... He only knows how to coach one way.

And honestly, if you're the players...

As ridiculous as that whole soliloquy sounded, that's what you're asking for.

Because if you get...

a softened Mike Babcock, that's not going to work.

Yeah, like the Babcock that you're kind of pining for here is the 2009 Mike Babcock who told, you know, I'm friends in this, or Mike Medano that, but also got the wins in a cup ring and all that kind of stuff.

So if you want the full Babcock experience...

then I actually think this is probably what you needed to see today.

Because if you had Babcock softened or just neutered in a way, I don't think that's not what the Oilers are asking for.

And he said, hey, I'm harder on the star players than I am the other players.

I don't know if the other players would agree with that necessarily, but here's Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline.

The full Mike Babcock experience, right?

They're 100% in on Mike Babcock, and I guess that's what they're getting.

If you're Connor McDavid and company, is that actually a good sign, the fact that it doesn't sound as if he has changed in any way?

Go ahead, play this one.