Daniel Winnik is the latest former player to come out against Mike Babcock.
Despite playing just one season under Babcock, Winnik was adamant during an interview with TSN 1050 that the Edmonton Oilers should end their pursuit of the controversial head coach.
“No, do not do it,” Winnik said. “No. He’s the only guy that’s ever made me hate hockey. Don’t do it.”
Winnik played under Babcock for part of the 2015-16 season, appearing in 56 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs before being dealt to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline. The campaign marked Babcock’s first season with the Leafs after he departed the Detroit Red Wings and signed an eight-year, $50 million contract in May 2015, making him the highest-paid coach in hockey.
“I just hated coming to the rink,” Winnik said to TSN 1050. “He’s just a bully. He just gets guys he wants to be on. And I think it started out fine with me and Mike. I was playing well. I was coming off my career year when I came back here. And then I had a high ankle sprain happen in Washington in November, and I missed like five games. That was it. With a high ankle sprain. I should have been out for eight weeks. I came back, and I always thought skating was my strongest attribute. And I just couldn’t skate. I wasn’t the same player.
“It cratered from there,” he continued. “He’s on me all the time. I just think how he treats people is not great. And that’s been well documented at this point. Sure, the top guys aren’t going to have a problem. He’s just going to let them play.”
Not only did Winnik claim Babcock was miserable to play for, but he also thinks hockey has passed him by after being out of the league since 2019 — a span of seven years (Babcock resigned with the Columbus Blue Jackets before he even coached a game in 2023-24).
“I just don’t think his style works anymore. That’s another thing as well,” Winnik said. “Why the [Jim] Hiller hire (by the Leafs) doesn’t make sense to me, because I just call them Babcock disciples. It’s like a coaching tree if you follow it, right? Right now, you still have (Jay) Woodcroft, Hiller, DJ Smith, and Todd McClellan. Have any of those guys had a resounding career in coaching? That’s one. Or say you’ve been on the precipice of winning. It’s no. And it’s just that style. Even Babcock, if you look back, he hasn’t won a playoff series since 2012. Why is that your hire?”
Winnik’s comments came shortly after the NHL cleared Babcock to return to the league, saying on Thursday that its investigation found “there is no current basis to restrict his employment in the league.”
The Oilers are now in the process of hiring him, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, and if there are no snags, he’s expected to be officially hired early next week.
