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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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. 434 in oil country. Quickly into the Ashley Fine Floors text line from the 780. How you holding up, Bob? Gotta be hard trying to sell this crap show to your buddies.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, including the core that was clearly strong-armed by Kate's, likes this choice. Everybody will be watching the TMZ Gong Show. Whereupon I mentioned a piece that Mark Spector wrote today, dropped a couple hours ago, where he talked about the fact that Mike Babcock was grilled by the Oilers leaders in the meeting last week.
And at the end of their conversation, they came back with, to quote Speck, one implicit instruction for General Manager Stan Bowman. This is our guy. We want to be pushed. As we bring him aboard, and it's our pleasure to have him on. He's part of, I think, a strong argument to be made, the best and deepest national sports show in the country right now.
Jamie McLennan is our Oilers Now headliner for Wilhock Beef Jerky. Others can try to imitate, but nobody can duplicate the great flavor of Wilhock Beef Jerky. Only available in L.A., Leduc, Alberta. Hello, Jamie. How are you doing? Not too bad. How are you doing? Good. I watched your guys' stuff yesterday, and I thought it was really fair. It was an interesting perspective.
How would you respond to the sentiment from some, not all, but from some fans that this was a byproduct of the owner strong-arming the players?
I don't agree with that sentiment at all. The owner is going to put in place a manager who is going to put in place a coach. And yes, you want to have the feedback of your leadership group. It happens in every sport, every team, all of that type of stuff. When you have the best player on the planet, he's going to be able to weigh in, and rightfully so.
So, you know, I understand the sentiment and the blowback, but at the end of the day, you know, I made a joke on our show today saying, like, it's not, like, he wasn't released from prison, you know, for heinous crimes.
Like, yes, there's a reputation that comes with Mike Babcock, but the one thing I would ask, and if you just strip it down, Bob, you know, ask anybody, is he a good coach, first and foremost? I think he is.
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Chapter 2: How does Jamie McLennan view the Oilers' interest in Mike Babcock?
Yes, there's nobody that's going to argue that sentiment because he's a hell of a coach. And that's what Edmonton Oilers need right now. Now, if the checklist for what the Edmonton Oilers need... and will push the players.
I think Mike Babcock, Bruce Cassidy, Peter Laviolette, those would be the three that I would take to the leadership group and say, you know, we are looking at this type of coach. What do you feel? Well, Bruce Cassidy doesn't look like Vegas is going to play ball anytime soon. Peter Laviolette just got hired in L.A. You do your due diligence. Zach Hyman is one of the
Cassius you ever meet in the game of hockey he played for for Mike Babcock so I'm sure he's probably on board or they would ask him to weigh in he's part of that leadership group so it's it's not just a shoot from the hip here let's roll the dice and just see what happens you know this is thought through um if if the one thing I've learned throughout this season and even in this playoffs is
is the Vegas Golden Knights are teaching a lot of people one thing and what they don't care they're not making apologies for the way that they build their team or the way they go about business they're trying to win and they're two wins away from a Stanley Cup and if you are you know playing for keeps like I always say the Edmonton Oilers are trying to play for keeps they're trying to get the best person available to coach this group
And right now that seems to be Mike Babcock. And I know it ruffles a lot of feathers, but at the end of the day, the next perfect person that I meet will be the only one. So I do believe in second and third chances. Sometimes Mike Babcock might have to curb his style sometime, or, you know, maybe to get back into the league.
But I, you know, I come back to the foundation that he's a hell of a coach.
And I think he should have a chip on his shoulder and have something to prove here, Bob, where there's going to be a lot of negative feedback, like you just mentioned, and he's going to have to prove his way back in with what I think is going to be a very good team next year if Stan Bowman can put a couple extra pieces in place.
We're joined by Jamie McLennan, and I'm going to circle back to May 14th, the tweet that I put out that day. My belief is the Evans owners will target an experienced head coach with gravitas who has a history of having structure and process in his team's game and has won before.
In your opinion, does Mike Babcock have gravitas, and has he had a history of putting structure and process in his team's games?
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Chapter 3: What are fans saying about Mike Babcock's potential hiring?
But it's just a different world. And I think with a guy like Connor McDavid... Even Ryan Nugent Hopkins, who's been through a lot of different coaches, he would be a guy who's got tremendous experience and would be able to weigh in and say, how is that going to affect the room? How is that going to affect the psyche of the group? I think a lot of these guys, they want to win.
And if this is a pathway to at least be better in structure and if that's what they've identified that what that team needs. This is a guy that they would circle and say, you know, we're going to put him in the room and see if he can help us get to that next level more consistently game in and game out.
Longtime NHL goaltender Jamie McLennan joining us in orders now. Bob Stauffer with you, Jamie, one of the top analysts in the business and part of TSN's Overdrive. So let me ask you this, Jamie, do the best want to be driven? Is that part of what's going on here? Yes, 100%.
The best is always looking for a competitive edge. They're always looking. They push themselves. And I'll give you an example. I played with Chris Pronger, and Chris Pronger was known as a fierce competitor.
and he was very demanding as a captain he was demanding of you as a player but he was demanding of himself for perfection and he pushed everybody it was uncomfortable sometimes and there were some hard conversations but in the end the respect was there because you knew he wanted what's best for the group and he wanted to win and i think that's the scenario best players always want that competitive edge and again i come back to a guy like connor and leon
if they feel that the team needs to be pushed, including themselves, like that's the one thing that I would say. They're not sitting there going, we're on an island and everybody else is the problem. I think they look at it and say, how can we be better as players?
How can we be pushed and play with structure so that it melts in game, that it becomes second nature, that if we're in a Stanley Cup final... Our structure doesn't break down. And against a team like Florida, which happened two years in a row, Florida, you know, their system was airtight.
And we heard McDavid, even after the first Stanley Cup loss, saying, you know, we were butting our heads up against a wall. We were trying to, you know, do the same thing over and over. To me, you've got to think outside the box. You've got to have a proactive coach, and you have to have a proactive system and be able to adjust. And top players have to buy in.
So I look at it, and I think that's what top players always are looking to be pushed to that next level.
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Chapter 4: What does Jamie McLennan think about Babcock's coaching reputation?
He's won a gold medal. He's coached the best players in the world. Yes, he hasn't had a lot of success recently. His tenure in Toronto, it didn't go well in Columbus even before it started. You can point to a lot of failures, but you can also point to a coach that really was a demanding guy, but got the most out of his players, and sometimes it wasn't the most comfortable situation.
But I come back to it, and you said Jeff Jackson is, you know, it's a different scenario, but you've got Stan Bowman and Jeff Jackson. This is one of the decisions that they have to make of several to make the team better, to make the organization better, because I think, you know, like you mentioned, They need a good offseason here.
They've got the pieces in place, a lot of them, to be a very good team, but they need that next level. They need to be a very good team every night to be that cup threat. And if Mike Babcock, if they believe in this core group, including management, believes that Mike Babcock's the guy, they're looking for every bit of competitive advantage. So it may not be the most popular choice,
But in the end, you don't need to be making apologies. What you need to do is try and win games and win the Stanley Cup. And I point to the team that's playing tonight. Vegas makes no apologies. What they're trying to do is win games every night. And it sounds like they're taking a page out of that book.
One final one for you, goaltending. And it's a position I... You know, some of you accuse me of being a know-it-all, Jamie, over the years. I think I got a pretty good handle on forwards because I know why I failed, okay?
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Chapter 5: How does Mike Babcock's coaching style align with the Oilers' needs?
So I can see when guys, when they're developing, which guys have a nose for the net, which guys pay the price, which guys might grow and develop. But when it comes to goaltending, that's not exact. You played the position. And I want to just, your thoughts on Tristan Jari. I thought that Jari had a higher ceiling than Stuart Skinner when the trade was made.
It was a lot to sort of work in, especially factoring Kulak in the second. Maybe a quick rip on Skinner versus Jari and what Jari needs to do to get back to being the Jari that had some good years in Pittsburgh.
So you're right. I do believe that Jari had and has a higher ceiling than Skinner. Skinner is a good goaltender, but he's predictable. And what I mean by that, there's not a bad thing. You can be 6'4", use your size to your advantage, and if you don't get opened up side to side...
you know he can he can really hold his position and i like his durability you know he's a guy who played 60 plus games two years in a row plus deep playoff runs but i always felt and i told you this that they needed a change and even if it was deemed a lateral move they needed to change to tell the team we're trying to improve in every position I liked Connor Ingram.
I think Tristan Jari is an upgrade over Stuart Skinner in a couple ways. Now, keep in mind, I thought he played very well early on when he got there. That might have been emotion. That might have been coming from Pittsburgh where he was having a good season. And then after the injury, he never got right. And to me, there's a lot of factors in that. That's Tristan himself.
I think he needs to be in top shape. I think he needs to be in a great head space. And I think he needs to work with his goaltender coach to maximize what he has. And believe me, I've talked to people in Pittsburgh. that liked his game this year. The one thing that I'm going to point out, Bob, is if the team in front of him plays good structure, then you can be a predictable goaltender.
And I think he moves side to side better than Skinner. I think he handles the puck a lot like Stuart Skinner very well. But you've got to have that drive in the net. And it starts with work ethic. It starts with between the ears. And he's got some work. He needs to have a really good summer to get back to giving them a chance to win every night.
Now, if you believe that it's going to be Jari and somebody else, they've got to bring in somebody else that can push him. And if it's a tandem situation, we see it. There's only about six, seven teams, maybe eight teams that have a clear-cut number one. Everybody else, and now you've got two extra games next year at 84.
So if you have somebody that plays 50 games, you need somebody that plays 35. So you're in a tandem. You need two capable NHL goaltenders to push each other to have that healthy competition and net. So Tristan Jari, this might be the biggest offseason of his career. because he can get it back on track if the team plays structured in front of him, and he can play to his capabilities.
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Chapter 6: What factors are influencing the Oilers' coaching decision?
Book your seat at jvebenton.ca. When we come back, Aidan and myself, I'll read a text or two, but we're going to talk a bit about Tristan Jari and where he can get his game back to. This is Winners Now. All right, welcome back, everybody. It's 4.54 in oil country. Thank you very much for listening, and thank you for texting. We'll blast through some texts, certainly between 5.30 and 6.
We're going to squeeze one in right now. T-Hop has texted us to say, the Michael McCarran contract puts some other recent deals for debt forwards in perspective, specifically Trent Frederick, who I expect to do much better in 26-27. All right, so here is one where I had somebody reach out to me today.
It was a listener to the show via the Twitterverse, and we had a communication, and he said, Stoff, you've been too critical of Chris Knobloch on Trent Frederick. Trent Frederick has to own the season that was. And my theory on this is always 75-25. 75% on the player, 25% on the coach.
Trent had a good start to the year in the first couple games, didn't score, and seemingly was banished to purgatory from that point on. But valid point. Perhaps it could be construed that I was too critical of Chris Knobloch for Frederick's handling during the year. That is, we've discussed it a lot.
It's not lost on me that I'm going to go back to the game against Calgary before the Olympic break. Trent Frederick was a healthy scratch that game. I personally disagreed with that decision. I felt that he should have been kept in the lineup. We watched Klapka and Longberg run around in the course-like game that night.
The Flames' Ryan Longberg scored the GWG, and that was the night that Leon Dreisaitl uttered the phrase, you know, the coaches need to be better. It's the first thing he said post-game, and I was like... Uh-oh. But I just, hey, I think that Trent Frederick will be the first to tell you he needs to play a lot better. Chris Knobloch is no longer the head coach of this team.
And with the assumption that Mike Babcock will be the next head coach, whether some of you like it or not, the organization is clearly headed down that path. 100% from ownership to management to the players. And again, speaking of players, if you've not seen Mark Spector's piece from Sportsnet today, dropped about two hours ago.
Babcock was grilled by the Oilers leaders at a meeting last week, asked about former transgressions and how exactly he came to the reputation as the hardest of hard-ass coaches. The point, the specs line goes on to say they came back with one implicit instruction for general manager to Stan Bowman. This is our guy. We want to be pushed. Now, I'm paraphrasing Mark in that story.
So I'm going to tell you, it looks like Babcock's going to be the head coach. The Oilers have made their decision, and he's going to have to get more specifically consistency-wise and out of both Trent Frederick and out of Jake Wallman and, frankly, out of Tristan Jari. I'm going to jump in here with Aidan Gatton. Aidan, you heard Jamie McLennan. What did you think?
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