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Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer

TSN & Got Yer Back Podcast's Ryan Rishaug (6/25/26)

25 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What are the latest updates on the Edmonton Oilers?

0.031 - 20.942 Bob Stauffer

Hey, it's Bob Stauffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. It is 4.34 in oil country. I want to mention 5 o'clock of the pregame show, the Edmonton Elks against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with Morley Scott and Dave Campbell. They'll have the call of the game at 6.30 tonight.

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20.922 - 48.55 Bob Stauffer

and should tell you royal pizza try the southwestern pizza tonight with chipotle mayo topped with ground beef italian sausage green and banana peppers starting just 17.95 visit royalpizza.ca all right uh we made a little switcheroo here and we're going to bring aboard ryan we'll tell you that bruce curlock will be on the show tomorrow when aiden gannum is going to uh man not just the board where are you going to be tomorrow by the way ed are you up in a what

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48.53 - 57.924 Aiden Ganim

55 feet in the air. Hopefully by the time the show starts, I'll be down on the ground. But for the entire day, I'll be 55 feet up in the Edmonton Food Bank parking lot.

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58.205 - 73.187 Bob Stauffer

Aiden and Brennan have the show tomorrow. Ryan Rashog is up next. His appearances are brought to you by Game Day Men's Health West Edmonton. Get back to feeling like yourself today. Call 780-800-4448 to book your free testosterone test. Hello, Ryan. How are you doing?

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73.167 - 90.949 Ryan Rishaug

You know how lucky you are to have Aiden? Do you know how lucky you are to have Aiden? You've had some great ops over the years. You've brought along some great talent in town and you've pushed them off to great careers. Aiden might be your, I don't know, he might be right up there with the best of them, Bobby.

91.049 - 112.45 Bob Stauffer

I hope you know that. I think it helped having a father that was a broadcaster, of course, and Shea. But if you look at the launching pad that this show has been, Reed Wilkins was the first producer. He's on to bigger and better things. And then Brendan Ulrich, who is now like the top sales guy for Chorus in Edmonton, working in tails and sales now.

112.69 - 120.242 Bob Stauffer

And then Brendan Escott was the third producer of the show. And he now does Overtime, Open Line, and the Face Off show, right?

120.603 - 130.478 Ryan Rishaug

They've all survived you. They've all survived you. You've somehow made them better, and they've gone on to great things, Bob, despite whatever you threw at them.

130.458 - 137.406 Bob Stauffer

Well, you know, and Aiden does have a lot of upside. I will grant you that. He's also the youngest of the producers to get started here.

Chapter 2: How does Ryan Rishaug view the Oilers' coaching decisions?

205.854 - 225.417 Bob Stauffer

I had Leon on today. We did a pre-tape this morning. Yeah, it was a great interview. Do you maybe see things a little bit differently after having the opportunity to talk to Connor and Zach a bit about their involvement in the decision with Mike Babcock? And do you maybe, like I said, now the floor is yours. I'm going to shut up and go for it.

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225.818 - 245.617 Ryan Rishaug

No, I would say that I understand where these players are coming from. You know, they're aligned in listening to Leon talk, my conversation with Connor Zach. They're aligned very much in the core idea that as good as we are, we need to be better, talking about themselves.

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246.318 - 267.48 Ryan Rishaug

And I think when you have a leadership group that can be some of the best players on the planet with some of the best results on the planet, who were one game away, a couple of goals away from winning a cup and went to back-to-back finals, they're not even close to resting on any laurels. And I think they are resisting the temptation to point fingers at everything else, right?

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267.5 - 272.886 Ryan Rishaug

They didn't give me this. They didn't give me that. They haven't equipped us or furnished us with this or that.

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272.866 - 298.755 Ryan Rishaug

outwardly facing Bob they're saying we feel there's more percentages that we can give and we think the way to do it is to be uncomfortable somebody needs to come in and make us uncomfortable because we know ourselves and we know we need to be pushed that's an incredibly mature approach I deeply respect where it's coming from and I respect the intentions here I think it speaks volumes about these guys

298.735 - 320.921 Ryan Rishaug

It does not change my feelings on the risk that they're taking, but I completely respect where they're coming from. Like, I asked Connor, this might mean that the second unit jumps over the boards, you know, and where he used to maybe look over his shoulder like, huh? There's not going to be any more of that. You look over your shoulder at Mike Babcock, he ain't looking back.

321.081 - 342.586 Ryan Rishaug

He doesn't care, right? So it might mean... you're play a little bit less. It might mean if you're cheating a little too much for offense a little too often, maybe you'll get rolled over a few times and, and have a shot across the bow. Right. And he's like, we haven't had that. We need it. We need it. So the core of this is the order's best players understanding.

343.467 - 351.777 Ryan Rishaug

It's not really about pointing fingers around them. There's a few more percentile they can get out of themselves. And that's what they're very focused on with this. And I respect that Bob.

351.925 - 374.321 Bob Stauffer

Two weeks ago on Monday, I said, for full clarity, I said, you know, the report came out from Dregs and Darren Drager about the fact that the Oilers are investigating the possibility of looking at Mike Babcock and have spoken to the league about it. And I said, I could have come on the air, Ryan, and said, everybody just relax. This is a preliminary thing.

Chapter 3: What insights did Ryan gain from interviewing Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman?

461.105 - 484.113 Ryan Rishaug

Yep. But I think for it to be like, and look, Babcock, you know, I was retired. I was happy being retired. But when you have Connor and Leon ask you to come to town, well, that's tough to resist. All right. He has shaped this perfectly for himself. He has. Hey, man, Connor McDavid asked me if I'd come out of retirement and coach. Guess I'm willing to do that. There is so much more to that.

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484.874 - 505.699 Ryan Rishaug

That is so oversimplified. But from his perspective, that's a good way to look at it. It's probably the way I'd look at it, too. And when I'm sitting down to negotiate my new contract with Daryl Cates, knowing I was a guy that pulled six, seven million sheets a season before... I'd be saying, well, I don't know. What do you want to do? Your guys asked me to be here. What do you want to do?

0

505.719 - 507.983 Ryan Rishaug

We don't know what the deal is. We don't know what the number is.

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508.123 - 514.071 Bob Stauffer

I don't think he's here for peanuts. And we don't know what the term is either. Does anybody know? No. No one knows that. All right.

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514.271 - 517.956 Ryan Rishaug

It hasn't been out there. It's being a very closely guarded secret.

518.858 - 542.836 Bob Stauffer

And I want to say that you did reach out. You saw the interview I did with Mike Babcock. I believe we're closing on like 30,000 views on YouTube on that interview. Yeah, I did. And it shouldn't surprise people, Ryan, I think that when he's sitting there taking the questions, and you started it with some hard questions, and I know he didn't give the answer that some people wanted to think.

542.856 - 549.248 Bob Stauffer

He didn't show contrition. So give me your interpretation of how you thought that presser went.

550.173 - 574.425 Ryan Rishaug

thought it started horrendously um he's had weeks to think about what he was going to say when somebody put the very simple question to him what happened in columbus and i mean i got the quote here very evident before the year started i hadn't benched anybody i hadn't talked to anybody i hadn't sat anybody out and it was evident we weren't together as a staff right from the get-go my wife gave me a call said it's time to get out of here i've been retired i was pretty good at it i went back to being retired

574.574 - 599.265 Ryan Rishaug

Yeah. What alignment, Bob, there is, he just didn't even come close to addressing. Yeah. You know, I probably stepped out of line a little bit. It was tough internally when it all shook out. I ended up having to leave, got to reflect a little on that, but I'm back and I'm ready to do my thing. Like there was, it's like, it didn't even happen. Yeah.

Chapter 4: How do the Oilers' leadership players perceive their need for improvement?

659.877 - 683.208 Ryan Rishaug

Everybody knows, Bob, this is not a clean slate. You didn't look into this thing and find nothing. Or you don't get that slap upside the head on the way out of the investigation, quite frankly. There is something there. He's coaching. It's cleared. It's done. He's back. He's coaching. And he is who he is. Well, that's just it though, Bob. He is who he is. So how do you feel about that?

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684.01 - 702.018 Ryan Rishaug

Because I sat there watching a Mike Babcock who has not changed a lick. The exact same Mike Babcock I covered in those Olympics and those Stanley Cups. The exact same Mike Babcock that said what he said about the way the Oilers were deploying Todd McClellan after that game. Just can't help himself. same guy.

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702.319 - 720.175 Bob Stauffer

So Ryan, you said you watch and change the lick. Ryan, you said you watch the interview I did with them and some will say, well, you're the houseman stuff. You work for the orders entertainment group. I thought he showed a little bit more. And again, it's in a one-on-one. It's a little bit different. Even you did a one-on-one with them as well. Maybe did you get a more, uh,

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720.425 - 723.396 Bob Stauffer

Did you maybe get more of what you were looking for in your one-on-one?

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723.436 - 740.453 Ryan Rishaug

Because I think he showed... Well, I pushed him. He gave me more of an answer to the question of what happened in Columbus. He said, I made... You know, somebody was uncomfortable... I found that out, I had to move on because the organization didn't back me. I mean, that's as far as he was willing to go. I made someone uncomfortable, the organization didn't back me and I was out.

740.473 - 760.742 Ryan Rishaug

Yes, Bob, he was more comfortable sitting in that interview with you, but respectfully, you didn't do the same interview with him than I did. I would have been more comfortable sitting in that interview with you too. Sure, that's fair. You took a different path with him. Everybody respects and understands why, right? It was time for you to talk hockey with Mike Babcock.

760.722 - 780.503 Ryan Rishaug

That wasn't the day for us to dig in and talk a bunch of hockey with Mike Babcock. There were some things we just needed to see where his head is at. For a guy that has this many stories out there about his past, this many stories about not treating players properly, you just want to open a window into where are you at? Because that informs, does this have a chance to work?

780.668 - 796.251 Ryan Rishaug

And if Mike Babcock comes out and goes, yeah, you know, I thought a lot about it over the years. And I, yeah, I've probably been a little too hard in some situations. And I realize you can't necessarily do that. And, you know, I've done some looking in the mirror and I'm going to do my best to be better. I'm going to apologize for everything I've ever done, but we all need to be better.

796.291 - 804.583 Ryan Rishaug

And I think of that way myself. How hard is that, Bob? That fixes so much. And he can't even do that.

Chapter 5: What are the implications of Mike Babcock's return to coaching?

855.728 - 878.698 Ryan Rishaug

my guess is bob years ago there was a show maybe an afternoon drive show don't know who the color guy's name is maybe it was him and they were doing a show talking about mike babcock on the way in and they mused the exact same point that you just mused so you understand what i'm saying here like this exact thought process and conversation

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880.012 - 900.668 Ryan Rishaug

apply it all to years ago when he was on his way into Columbus. So nothing changed. It was the same old, same old there. So I don't want to sit here and harp on this, Bob. I think you know how I feel about it. I think he could have done himself a massive favor by coming up with that much. It would have meant so much. And it just couldn't find it.

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900.688 - 917.376 Bob Stauffer

All right. Now that you've also, we did talk a little hockey. We talk about clearly the team's going to play different defensively. They're going to take time and space away. Clearly he's going to deploy McDavid and dry settle differently. He even said he might deploy them home and away. Give me a quick rip on that stuff.

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917.575 - 942.608 Ryan Rishaug

Yeah, so as hard as I was on him for that part of the press conference, I have to say, Bob, everything that had to do with hockey in that press conference, he absolutely knocked out of the park. Like, that is Mike Babcock, the brilliant orator, the storyteller, the hockey guy with that passion. Every single thing he said, the way he positioned it, I talked to those guys.

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942.949 - 964.488 Ryan Rishaug

I told them exactly what I was going to do. I said to them, unless you're on board with me and who I am, I don't want to be here. He's positioned himself to come in here and Bob and just do whatever the hell he feels he needs to do and go. I told you I was going to do this. Like everything that he talked about, accountability for the big guys, leaning on the big guys, being hard on the big guys.

964.548 - 985.177 Ryan Rishaug

Now, the one side of it that I'm interested to see, because Connor talked about this, Zach talked about this. It sounds like he's under explicit expectations. Be hard on the big boys. Help everybody else out. Lift the other guys up. And that's going to be the part for me, Bob, because that's where in the past his targets have been.

985.957 - 1006.56 Ryan Rishaug

But if the message from Connor and Leon is you grind us and make the rest of them better, I'm fascinated to see if Babcock can be on that program and if we'll see real signs of him lifting some of those other guys up while at the same time being harder on the big guys. I think they'll hustle to the bench on changes. That's the one I'm interested in.

1006.54 - 1023.926 Bob Stauffer

All right, I got another one for you here. No, let's do it. And maybe for the big boys, less is more, but he's got to get more out of more on the team. And I think back to Dustin Penner, and people laughed at me, and I said, you watch Penner will be way better under Pat Quinn than he was under Craig Metavish.

1023.986 - 1042.213 Bob Stauffer

And Penner had, if you look statistically at the season he had with Pat Quinn that year, 32 goals plus seven on a terrible team. He had an unreal year. I'm here to tell you I expect Trent Frederick to look like a player again this season under Mike Babcock. Because Trent Frederick got buried early last year. He brought some of it upon himself.

Chapter 6: How does the Oilers' coaching strategy differ under Babcock?

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1088.806 - 1093.317 Bob Stauffer

Gave up a good prospect to get him. Had to convince him to come here.

0

1093.337 - 1111.25 Ryan Rishaug

And I think, Bob, like some would say you can't have Savoy and Howard in your top six or you're not big enough. Maybe. You might be right about that, but it doesn't change the need to develop Ike Howard into a player. They need to develop this guy into a player, and Mike Babcock needs to take the lead in doing that. McDavid and Dryside will need to embrace it.

0

1112.011 - 1131.123 Ryan Rishaug

It's insane, Bob, that Ike Howard, who was the best player in the American Hockey League for a month, got called up and got nowhere near a power play and nowhere near either of the team's two-star players. That crap cannot happen anymore. So... Mike Howard's not going to be a Mike Babcock favorite. That's not who he is. That's not what it looks like.

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1131.683 - 1151.921 Ryan Rishaug

I'm fascinated to see how Mike Babcock brings this player in, the opportunity he gives him, how he challenges him. And if that, because that player right there, Bob, he might not be in the order lineup come playoffs because maybe he is too small. But if you develop a player there, you've developed an asset that you can turn into something that'll help you. It can't just turn into nothing.

1151.941 - 1161.663 Ryan Rishaug

It can't. Made some great points. Yeah, this was fun. I feel, is this the last one? I feel like you and I just got started this year and we're done.

1161.884 - 1168.974 Bob Stauffer

Well, you know, you can maybe do some more down the road. We'll see if we can work our magic. Thanks, Ryan. How do people check your stuff out and got your back?

1169.555 - 1185.098 Ryan Rishaug

Yeah, you bet. We've got a podcast we're going to drop tonight with me and Struds. Just all our channels, man. We're on YouTube, we're on X. That one-on-one I did with Zach Hyman today, some really interesting stuff. Bob, like, I flat out asked him, how do you reconcile your positive experience with Mike Babcock

1185.078 - 1197.721 Ryan Rishaug

With all these other stories that are out there from other guys and other respected players, how do you process and reconcile that in your head? You gave a really thoughtful answer. So some good stuff from Hyman on tsn.ca and all our platforms. Thanks, pal.

Chapter 7: Who are the players to watch for the Oilers this season?

1269.176 - 1269.697 Aiden Ganim

There we go.

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1269.717 - 1285.474 Bob Stauffer

Do you want to mention Modern Measure? Define fitter, define style, define you. Right in the heart of Ice District at Edmonton Tower, Modern Measure, MDRN. Measure, they can make me look good. Imagine what they can do for you. Yes, Aiden and Bryn will host tomorrow. Tomorrow, up next, an 880 News weather traffic update with Zach Ferguson, followed by the countdown to the kickoff show.

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1285.494 - 1297.772 Bob Stauffer

Special thanks to Aidan Ganim, Eamon Hashim, Derek Scott, Kellen Kennedy, and the whole team. We got football for about the next five hours. Morley and Dave with the countdown to the kickoff show up next.

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1298.225 - 1320.988 David Boris

Since the dawn of time, humanity has been at war. It has shaped the world around us. And if it somehow feels like we've been here before, it's because we have. I'm David Boris. I'm a military historian. And on my new podcast, Hostile History, I take us inside history's most defining wars and rebellions. From Genghis Khan to the war in Iran, find out how the past can explain the present.

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1321.008 - 1328.215 David Boris

Search for and follow Hostile History on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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