EDMONTON — The Mike Babcock era began with a loud voice and constant demand Thursday, as the latest head coach to try to get the Edmonton Oilers over the top ran his first practice.

“What we're trying to do is send the message on how we want to play,” began Babcock. “We've asked them to learn the details and then find your game within our game. So if you know the details and everyone's detailed, everybody on the team can be important.

“When you're not detailed enough, no one knows where to go. And only the best guys get to be important.”

Get used to that theme, folks, as Babcock tries to do what so many have failed at here: empowering the entire roster to have a role in the fate of the team — not just the top guys.

“We're going to play without the puck, and in order to play here, you’ve got to be fit,” Babcock declared. “We're going to play 12 forwards, and everyone's going to be important. So you have to have a role, and you have to understand what we expect.”

Babcock opened with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on a line with Vasiliy Podkolzin, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins centring Zach Hyman and Ike Howard.

“I'm going to try to start with the two of them together for sure,” he said of No’s 97 and 29. “The third piece on each one of those top three lines, I don't know.”

No one is taking anything for granted in Edmonton this fall, perhaps a metaphor for the season to come.

“That's your everyday, right?” said Draisaitl. “Your everyday is........

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