What Draisaitl said after Babcock's first Edmonton Oilers practice
The Mike Babcock era has officially begun for the Edmonton Oilers.
Players took to the ice in downtown Edmonton on Thursday morning for the first on-ice session of training camp. That provided Babcock with his first opportunity to get acquainted with Oilers players and marked the first time since September 2019, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, that he has opened an NHL training camp.
The 63-year-old coach wasted no time getting players in shape, as he ran a high-tempo practice and wasn’t afraid to let the players know when a drill wasn’t going as he envisioned. It was a stark departure from ex-Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, but one the players seemed to respond well to.
Following about two hours on the ice, the first session came to an end. Leon Draisaitl met with reporters after the skate to offer up some first impressions of his new coach.
“It was great; it was intense,” Draisaitl said. “He’s energetic, he wants things done a certain way, and he wants them done right. I think anyone in the building could hear it, and probably see it. It’s great. Details are great. He cares about the little things, so it was a good first day.”
“It ramps everything up by a week. All the vets know that you’re maybe going to get two games, you better be ready to go & make sure you’re feeling good on September 29.”
Leon Draisaitl on the shortened #Oilers pre-season schedule.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/q2baHYDlr2
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 17, 2026
It seemed like Babcock wanted to put an emphasis on the players executing plays right away. There was a noticeable lack of time spent at the whiteboard going over the drills, and more of a quick gathering at centre ice to quickly give instructions before launching into things.
Though Babcock has been away from the NHL for quite some time, it certainly didn’t look as though he lost much of his enthusiasm for coaching. Draisaitl seemed optimistic that the way Babcock operates could help this team correct some of last year’s issues.
“Your everyday is the practices, the details, the little things that I think have gotten away from us a little bit over the last couple years,” Draisaitl said. “Now is the time to dial these back in, and it was a great start.”
There was some question about how Babcock would get along with Oilers players from the day he was hired. He has a bit of a controversial past that includes allegations of bullying and invasion of privacy from former players, and the concern was that that behaviour could potentially follow him to Edmonton.
The dialogue between coach and player after day one got off to a great start.
“I’m sure there’s going to be times where he wants our input and asks about things, but at the end of the day, he’s going to be the one making decisions,” Draisaitl said. “That’s the way it should be, and we’ll have our opinions on certain things if he cares to hear them.
“We’ll see how it all plays out.”
Draisaitl began training camp on a top line with Connor McDavid and Vasily Podkolzin. That is the same line he played on during the captain’s skates earlier this month, and Babcock has previously been open about playing Draisaitl on the same line as McDavid.
When asked about the line, Draisaitl didn’t read too much into things, saying there is a lot of time to make changes before opening night on Sept. 29.