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  "path": "/mike-babcock-is-proof-that-no-one-is-too-weird-to-get-hired-in-the-nhl",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-09T15:04:03.000Z",
  "site": "https://defector.com",
  "tags": [
    "NHL",
    "Coaches",
    "coaching",
    "connor mcdavid",
    "edmonton oilers",
    "Hockey",
    "mike babcock",
    "about to hire Mike Babcock",
    "destroying his reputation"
  ],
  "textContent": "The National Hockey League is no more prone to imitation than any other species of parrot, particularly when something that seems counterintuitive works out well. It is for that reason and that reason only that the news out of Edmonton this day is not as gobsmacking at it seems.\n\nWait, Edmonton? What the hell does Edmonton have to do with anything, and why should it pull one's attention from what may be the most weirdly compelling Stanley Cup Finals in decades? Well, grab some pine, meat, and belt up, because we have finally reached the throbbing nucleus of organizational WTF-ness. While the Final is in Vegas and being minded by noted former-and-future head coach John Tortorella, the Oilers are about to hire Mike Babcock, the Captain Philip Francis Queeg of coaches, who is noted in the distant past for guiding championship teams in Detroit and noted more recently for destroying his reputation through a series of bizarre psychological gambits against players that helped get him fired from one job and forced him to resign from another.\n\nAnd because hockey management is an inward-facing phenomenon along the lines of the Habsburg dynasty, the Babcock hire ties directly into these Finals. In other words, you couldn't make this up, and if you could, you should check into a mushroom detox center.",
  "title": "Mike Babcock Is Proof That No One Is Too Weird To Get Hired In The NHL"
}