Chop Wood, Carry Water. Maybe the Oilers Found That Guy in Mike Babcock

Oilers fans who remember Dallas Eakins probably don’t need much help recalling “chop wood, carry water.” He brought the philosophy to Edmonton in 2013, with its emphasis on hard work and doing the small things properly, then lasted 113 games. Whatever merit the message had, there weren’t enough wins to make anyone particularly fond of hearing it again. It became one more thing to joke about from a stretch of Oilers hockey that supplied far too much material.

With Mike Babcock behind the bench, there’s an amusing reason to revisit it. Here’s a coach who says he would happily have spent this autumn on his Ohio property hunting deer. You can at least picture him knowing his way around a woodpile, which gives that old Edmonton slogan a slightly different feel.

From the Bench to the Backwoods

Babcock’s Ohio connection goes back to his time coaching the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks from 2000 to 2002. A 2023 interview with The Rod Pedersen Show reported that he owned two farms in the state. In 2023, he told NHL.com he had promised his wife, Maureen, he would retire at 60. His brief Columbus appointment ended before the 2023–24 season, and by the time Edmonton approached him in 2026, he said he wasn’t looking for work.

He returned to the subject after the October 22 win over Carolina, joking about a huge deer passing his Ohio camera every morning and apparently taunting him. Asked why he had come back to coaching when he didn’t need to, he answered, “Because they asked me.” He went on to explain that the players wanted to win and he wanted to help them. Retirement had clearly offered him plenty to enjoy, which makes his decision to take on Edmonton’s expectations more interesting.

So Why Edmonton?

Meeting Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman persuaded him to return: they wanted a championship, and he wanted to help. Babcock also has an Alberta connection reaching back to Red Deer College, where he coached from 1988 to 1991. At 63, he’s back in the province with a group that gave him a reason to leave the woods behind.

Worth Listening To

His return came with scrutiny after his 2023 Columbus departure amid concerns over players’ private phone photos. An 8–1–1 start through ten games gives fans something to enjoy, and his media scrums offer a closer look at the decisions behind those results. After the October 22 win over Carolina, he was already looking at what the game had exposed: “For me, it was like a gift.” Even with two points secured, he saw weaknesses the team could learn from. That gives fans a useful view of the standards he is asking the players to meet.

His handling of Isaac Howard is worth watching, too. On October 22, Babcock acknowledged that the young forward had deserved more minutes against Minnesota and discussed the advice he had given him: “You don’t let any coach decide where you’re going. You decide where you’re going.” Howard also stayed in the lineup when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returned. For fans reconsidering what they expected from Babcock, that encouragement, followed by another opportunity to play, is a useful detail.

The crowbar has become a particularly good example of his message catching on. Before the October 17 game against Utah, Babcock was talking about earning the puck and winning battles when he said, “Your stick has got to be a crow bar.” After the October 20 win over Minnesota, Draisaitl introduced an actual crowbar as a dressing-room award, with Ryan Shea receiving it after blocking five shots. Seeing a leader turn that idea into something the players can hand to a teammate is a pretty good sign that the message is landing. It gives fans another reason to believe the group is embracing what Babcock wants from them.

Watch the Oilers’ dressing-room clip ↗

There’s still a season’s worth of work ahead, including the difficult nights when that commitment matters most. Thirteen years after Eakins, Edmonton has another chance to see what the old philosophy looks like when it takes hold. Babcock left a comfortable life in the woods to find out whether he could make it happen here, and now there’s a crowbar in the dressing room.