'I Have Nothing But Respect For Him': Oilers' Babcock Responds To Messier's Comments

After morning skate on Thursday, Edmonton Oilers head coach Mike Babcock briefly shared his thoughts on Mark Messier after the Hall of Famer made comments about the team's decision to hire him behind the bench.EDMONTON — Edmonton Oilers legend Mark Messier isn't on board with the team's decision to hire Mike Babcock as head coach, and he said so bluntly on Wednesday.Speaking on ESPN's NHL Opening Night media call, Messier said, "I am just horrified about the whole thing, to be honest with you." He added that he was "absolutely shocked" the Oilers brought Babcock in as their coach, and even more surprised that the organization let the leadership group basically make the call. But Messier took issue with more than the allegations against Babcock. It was the process the Oilers underwent to hire Babcock in the first place. "The way that he was onboarded through the players interviewing him is absolutely something that I've never heard of before. Maybe the game has changed, and that’s the way it's going. Great. I don't know. It certainly wasn't like that."Interestingly, there's been some pushback against the Hall of Famer, with some pointing out that the comments are quite ironic. Given that Messier was instrumental in getting Mike Keenan hired in Vancouver back in 1997, he might be guilty of doing then what he's accusing the Oilers of doing now. Messier added: "I think there has to be a separation of powers on the structural level of any team. I think from the management to the coaching to the players, there has to be a divide. The leadership of your team have to protect the players inside the dressing room."How can you do that when you're directly involved with the decisions they’re making at the management level and hiring of the management and coaches? I don't understand it."He argued that if the leadership group helps pick the coach and things go badly, who do players turn to?In Edmonton, the answer seems to be each other. From everything I've gathered at skates and in post-practice scrums, the Oilers don't seem worried about this. Babcock offered nothing but praise for Messier when asked to share his thoughts on his comments Thursday following the Oilers' morning skate. He called their previous interactions very positive and pointed to the Oilers naming a training camp team after him. When asked if he heard the comments, Babcock said, "Yeah, they sent it to me yesterday. I just sent it to my family, so... You know, one of these teams is Team Messier, right? He won four Cups here. I'm younger than him, so when I'd watch him, hard, leader, two-way, competitive. Went to New York, hard, two-way, competitive, real leader."I've dealt with him two times in my life, one time we were presenting Olympic gold medals here. My daughter was seven or eight then, he treated us great. Another time was at the Hall of Fame thing, he treated me great. Like I said, Team Messier is a legend here. It is ESPN that he does? He does great on that. I have nothing but respect for him."Babcock Is Who The Oilers WantedSince the first official announcement of Babcock being named head coach in Edmonton, management and the team's stars haven't shied away from saying the players were a big part of the decision to hire Babcock. The common phrase being thrown around in Edmonton is that "This is what they wanted." As such, the Oilers players will have no one to blame but themselves. So far, it's not an issue; they like what they've seen. Even after being called out for a lacklustre practice, the Oilers stayed supportive of the decision. McDavid said, "I want the standard to be at the very highest, and if he didn't like practice, he didn't like practice," he said. "We'll be better tomorrow."This was the same day that Babcock stopped a drill in the first few minutes of practice because Draisaitl cheated for offense on one of the exercises. Babcock made them all stop and start again. After a later session, Draisaitl said, "I'm excited to learn from him, I think we're all extremely excited to be around him and get to work." This is a group that wants to be held accountable. Part of that has to do with the decision to hire Babcock in the first place, and not just on the ice when the man they picked gives them a talking-to. Messier might think that the lack of separation is a bad thing, but the Oilers seem to know what they need. They've been unable to get there with their past coach or by motivating themselves. If Babcock is what it takes, this team is prepared to be run through the ringer in order to win. And, if things really go sideways? McDavid already addressed that concern. "Babs is there to be Babs and to coach the way that he sees fit," he said at training camp this week. "We're also a team and teammates who care about each other. If there's an area or a place where we have to step in, of course we're going to do that. But we would do that with any coach."This came after GM Stan Bowman said the organization had already made it clear they won't stand for any of the unethical behavior Babcock used in the past, only to use them again in Edmonton. For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.