It’s late July, there’s not much going on around here, so I figured why not throw together three of the biggest questions I have when it comes to the Edmonton Oilers as we head into the 2026-27 season. The coaching staff is new, we have a goalie triangle, some cap space in our pocket, and the same old pressure to win the Stanley Cup. Has Stan Bowman done enough? Do we have any Jack Roslovic-like surprises coming? It might be the middle of summer, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still thinkin’ Oilers.

WILL THE COACHING GAMBLE PAY OFF?

Now that the noise has quieted about Mike Babcock being named Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 58th head coach, I’ve been thinking about the gamble the team is taking here. When the social media reaction was still white hot, one might have thought that the world was ending. Ignoring the fact that Babcock hasn’t won a playoff series in over a decade, there was the lingering stories out of Columbus that had him fired before he even started. You know the story, we don’t need to re-tell it for the 1000th time. But when it comes to the 2026-27 Edmonton Oilers, I think it’s fair to wonder what we’re going to get from a guy who kept saying that he was happily retired. I do think it’s fair to wonder what he’s going to bring to this team outside of the well-documented reputation. How it Mike Babcock going to get the Oilers two goals further than they were in June of 2024? Our new man hasn’t won much since the Apple Watch was invented, and I do think it’s fair to wonder if the old dog has any new tricks that are relevant with today’s flavour of hockey.

Just because he’s known to be a hard ass doesn’t mean that he’ll be yelling about the right things. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Mike Babcock turn this team into a killer, but we also........

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