do dah do dooo, do dah do dooo “You have now entered… The Babcock Zone.” 

The Babcock Zone is a phrase I coined a couple of weeks ago to describe the eerie place the Edmonton Oilers were entering. In the most consequential franchise decision in a few years, with so much at stake, this Zone is where no option is considered too outlandish, where no stone is left unturned, as fans, media, and the team spitball quasi-retired or problematic coaches amongst candidates.

In a stunner on Monday afternoon, we learned The Babcock Zone isn’t a fictional place — it’s stranger than fiction.  

No, you didn’t walk through a time machine back to 2015. It’s 2026. Mike Babcock is indeed happening. 

The Stauffer Decision Desk declared the coaching search over.

“It’s inevitable,” Stauffer said on Oilers Now Monday about Babcock heading for Edmonton, provided there were no issues with the NHLPA. “One hundred per cent Mike Babcock is the Edmonton Oilers guy. From ownership to management, to the players, he is the selection for the Edmonton Oilers hockey club.”

What happened to Bruce Cassidy?

What the hell happened to Bruce Cassidy? For almost a month, the Oilers were linked exclusively to Vegas’ top hostage, described overwhelmingly as the club’s top candidate. 

Cassidy was going to be the man with the “gravitas” and the Stanley Cup ring, the one who employed winning systems and sturdy structure, while also being a hardass that players grew to hate. 

He was the man for the Oilers, and they were going to wait to find out if there was a possibility. 

The Golden Knights season, however, just wouldn’t end. But the end is in sight and could be over as soon as Thursday if they win their next two games. At the very latest, it would be June 17, with a handful of buffer days. Kelly McCrimmon’s self-amusing Permission Gate games of will-we-won’t-we were nearing some type of final answer.

So why now do the Oilers ditch the Cassidy idea once and for all, and enter The Babcock Zone when there was still time?

Look, I’m worried about a coaching holding........

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