Mike Babcock wasn't happy with what he saw from Connor McDavid and the Oilers at practice Monday.
Babcock, hired back in June, is running his first Edmonton training camp. And apparently, the tape wasn't pretty.
Word out of camp is simple. The speed wasn't there. The puck wasn't moving clean. The competing level fell short of what he wants.
Is a shaky practice in September actually news? Not usually. But a new coach saying it out loud, that's a message.
Practice habits work like homework. Show up sloppy in September and you're scrambling to catch up by April.
McDavid carries a $12,500,000 cap hit this season. Nobody wants to hear that his details are off, even in a camp scrimmage.
Leon Draisaitl sits even higher at $14,000,000, and Evan Bouchard isn't far behind at $10,500,000 on the back end.
The standard starts with McDavid and Draisaitl
That's a fair ask from Babcock, honestly. This roster has the pieces. What it hasn't always had is consistency in the habits that show up when the score is close.
Edmonton is coming off a 5-2 win over Winnipeg in preseason play Saturday, extending a one-game win streak into Tuesday's rematch at Winnipeg.
GM Stan Bowman built this roster to win now, not to grind through sloppy exhibition reps in late September.
Babcock clearly isn't interested in style points from a preseason win. He wants the identity locked in before puck drop actually means something.
Whether that message sticks past training camp is the real story here. Words are cheap. Execution against Winnipeg on Tuesday will start to say more.
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Is Mike Babcock right to demand more from the Oilers this early in camp?
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