McDavid, Draisaitl Praise Sparks Babcock Backlash

Sid Seixeiro, a Toronto-based broadcaster and analyst, says he has been taken aback by how effusively Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been praising new head coach Mike Babcock.

"I could put together a 15-minute reel of just McDavid and Draisaitl talking about how great a coach Babcock is and basically the perfect human being. Something unbelievable is happening in Edmonton. A couple of days ago it was McDavid after the captains' skate, yesterday it was Draisaitl. Now it's not Mike Babcock any more, it's Mike Babcult. That's how I see it in Edmonton. It's a cult of Babcock, because there are people in this league who think this guy is incapable of doing anything wrong. Those people really exist. Was Babcock such a great guy when he tried to completely wreck Mitch Marner's career when he was still a young player in that room? I'm not the biggest Marner fan either, but that was a pretty murky story. And how great was he when he fled Columbus after he got exposed? They haven't played a single game yet, and two of what might be the biggest names in hockey are already saying Babcock can't do anything wrong. Just wait, it's coming. This whole thing just feels very strange to me," Seixeiro said.

Babcock takes over an Oilers side built around McDavid and Draisaitl, the two players now leading the tributes before a puck has dropped. Seixeiro's reference to Marner points back to Babcock's spell in Toronto, where the winger's relationship with his former coach was widely reported as strained during his development with the Maple Leafs.

If the friction Seixeiro describes from Babcock's Toronto and Columbus spells resurfaces once Edmonton starts playing for real, the current warmth from the dressing room's biggest names may not last the season.