After the Los Angeles Kings hired Peter Laviolette on Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers are the only two teams remaining with a head coach vacancy following the 2025-26 season.

Per TSN‘s Darren Dreger, the Edmonton Oilers are currently looking into hiring former Leafs head coach Mike Babcock as their new bench boss, but are first consulting with the NHLPA to see if there are objections. Babcock last served as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023, but resigned amid allegations he was invading players’ privacy. According to Dreger, “further investigation may be required” on the incident before Babcock is brought in. NHL Network‘s David Pagnotta later reported that the team has already consulted with core players, including Connor McDavid, on the possibility of hiring Babcock.

Months after being hired as Blue Jackets head coach, and prior to the start of the 2023-24 season, allegations that Babcock forced players to let him go through their phones arose, among other privacy violations. Given the controversy, Babcock stepped down as head coach before the preseason began.

Babcock previously served as Maple Leafs head coach from 2015-2019. He was hired in May of 2015, after 10 seasons behind the bench with the Detroit Red Wings, including a Stanley Cup win. From 2017 to 2019 he led the young Leafs core to its first consecutive playoff appearances in over a decade, though the Leafs fell in the first round all three times. Babcock was fired 23 games into the 2019-20 season, amidst a poor start to the year and allegations that he had created a toxic environment in the Leafs locker room. One notable example was that in the 2016-17 season, he reportedly asked Mitch Marner to rank his teammates’ effort level, then shared that list with the players he ranked lower. After his dismissal from the Leafs, numerous other reports emerged with similar stories.

Edmonton’s head coach position has been vacant since the team fired Kris Knoblauch in May. Knoblauch led the team to back-to-back Cup Final finishes in his first two years behind the bench, but saw poorer results this season, culminating in a first-round loss to the Anaheim Ducks. TSN‘s Pierre LeBrun later reported that if Babcock gets hired in Edmonton, it “wouldn’t surprise” him to see Babcock’s former assistant coach with the Leafs DJ Smith join him behind the bench.