Mike Babcock receives another major setback just weeks after his hiring

Mike Babcock takes over an Edmonton Oilers team built to win now, and the outside grading already looks brutal.

The Hockey News dropped its full coaching rankings this week, and Babcock landed at 28th out of 32 head coaches league wide.

That's not a throwaway slot. That's bottom five in the entire NHL, for a team that just finished 41-30-11 with 93 points and a Cup-or-bust mandate hanging over every decision.

Babcock was hired by Oilers GM Stan Bowman on June 23, taking over a roster still built around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

McDavid put up 138 points last season. Draisaitl added 97 in 65 games. Neither number buys Babcock any patience if results slip.

Edmonton lost its first-round playoff series to the Anaheim Ducks, dropping four of six games in that stretch. That's the resume Babcock inherits, not a clean slate.

Why the Oilers gambled on a coach nobody else wanted

Vegas reportedly blocked Bruce Cassidy from taking the Edmonton job, according to the Hockey News piece, which left Babcock as the fallback option.

A fallback hire for a franchise with two of the best players alive is a strange kind of confidence.

Babcock hasn't won a playoff round since 2013. That's not a résumé, that's a warning label with a Stanley Cup logo stapled to it.

Give him credit for one thing: he's still a Cup winner, and locker rooms respect that on day one. Whether they respect it in March is a different question entirely.

The Oilers finished second in their division and posted a plus-13 goal differential, respectable numbers that will mean nothing if the power play stalls again in April.

Bowman didn't hire Babcock to finish 14th overall again. He hired him to get McDavid and Draisaitl back to a Cup final, and the ranking says the hockey world isn't buying it yet.