After a short review, the National Hockey League has cleared Mike Babcock to coach again.

The NHL released a statement following their review:

“The League has completed its review of Mike Babcock’s tenure in Columbus, and of certain alleged conduct associated therewith. Our investigation has concluded that, even in a light least favorable to Mr. Babcock, there is no current basis to restrict his employment in the League.”

Babcock’s name surfaced about a month ago, when it was reported the Edmonton Oilers were interested in hiring the veteran head coach. This news came after the Vegas Golden Knights denied the Oilers permission to speak with Bruce Cassidy, who they let go with just eight games remaining in the regular season.

Oilers fans, along with most other NHL pundits, were up in arms with the fact that Edmonton would even consider hiring Babcock at such a pivotal point in their contention window, given his track record of how he treats his players.

Our colleague over at OilersNation, Jason Gregor, had this to say when Babcock’s name first came up as a possibility in Edmonton:

“This is not a hot take, and I don’t even think it should be controversial. Mike Babcock has lost the right to be an NHL coach. His actions, spread out over multiple teams, are why he shouldn’t even be mentioned as a possibility. If you are a believer in second chances, Babcock had his second chance in 2023 when Columbus hired him on July 1st, 2023. They hired him after knowing about the Mitch Marner story from Toronto. Babcock didn’t even make it to training camp before he resigned on September 17. That was his second chance. The NHL doesn’t need him and the Oilers surely don’t need his antics.”

Babcock has a history of mistreating his players. Mike Commodore said Babcock made him take a ‘fat test’ in Anaheim for showing up out of shape, even though Commodore claims he did not. Chris Chelios spoke about Babcock verbally abusing an injured Johan Franzen on the bench during a game. Babcock sat Mike Modano in the second-to-last game of the season in what would have been game 1,499, but then played him in the season-finale, so the Hockey Hall of Famer did not reach 1,500 games.

Then, there was the story of rookie Mitch Marner in Toronto. Babcock asked him to list his teammates in order from the hardest worker to the least hardest worker. Babcock then shared the list with the entire team in the locker room, embarrassing the rookie in front of his new teammates. Marner was so shaken up that it brought him to tears.

Despite these multiple acts, Babcock was given another chance behind a bench in Columbus, where he was fired before he even coached a game, after he asked players to go through and show him the pictures on his phone.

After all of these stories, Babcock now has yet another chance to coach in the NHL, this time, for Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers, who have all the pressure in the world on them to win in the next two years under McDavid’s two-year extension.