As the Toronto Maple Leafs get set to face the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, we are looking at two teams that are basically headed in opposite directions. The Oilers have been red-hot to start their 2026-27 NHL season with their stars really carrying the team to success. The Leafs, on the other hand, despite having some of their stars being productive, have been mired in an ugly five-game losing streak and has taken a nosedive in the standings.
It is certainly frustrating for Maple Leafs fans as many were expecting much better results with the revamped team this year following last season’s debacle. But it has been even more painful for Toronto fans knowing that another former Maple Leafs head coach has been successful in leading the way for the unstoppable Oilers. That incumbent head coach is none other than Mike Babcock of all people.
Former Maple Leafs head coach succeeding with the Oilers is painful for Toronto fans
For an Oilers team that had been looking for some consistency with their defense and goaltending to help complement their prolific offensive attack, Babcock has certainly provided that as their main honcho behind the bench. Edmonton is off to a blazing 14-3-3 start, the best start they have registered during the Connor McDavid era. More importantly, Babcock’s structure and style has helped the Oilers lock things down defensively, giving up just 58 goals in 20 games this season to date.
As for the goaltending, since a dismal showing in their first two Oilers games of the season, the duo of Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi have posted a league-best .918 combined save percentage with both Jarry and Levi among the top five goalies in the NHL in the same category individually, as per Sportsnet. As a result, Babcock has transformed Edmonton into one of the most feared teams in the league now, with the perfect balance of offense, defense and goaltending. Once again, he has shown why he is one of the most successful winning head coaches in NHL history.
Despite his faults, Babcock did show the Maple Leafs faithful why he is one of the winningest coaches in NHL history
Obviously things might not have ended up too well the last time Babcock was at the helm for the Leafs. The controversy that he stirred up using his unorthodox coaching tactics ultimately led to his demise with the Toronto organization. However, despite that, Lesfs fans should agree that Babcock did manage to do his job in converting a bottomed-out Maple Leafs squad back into a legitimate contender.
Following the tough Leafs rebuild campaign of 2015-16, Babcock helped led the Leafs to three consecutive 40+ win seasons and three consecutive playoff berths. If it wasn’t for their luck drawing the Boston Bruins for two of those three years, perhaps they would have had even more success than just a first-round exit. Eventually, Babcock would be let go in the 2019-20 season by the Maple Leafs due to a poor start along with the aforementioned controversy mentioned above.
Nevertheless, just seeing how Babcock has made the Oilers team so well-rounded this season and “having fun” doing it while new Maple Leafs head coach Jim Hiller has struggled to do the same with Toronto certainly makes it a hard pill to swallow for Leafs fans. So the more Edmonton keeps on winning or the Maple Leafs keep on losing, it would leave Toronto fans just shaking their heads wondering what could have been.
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