Why focus is on Oilers’ Connor McDavid, Mike Babcock as Maple Leafs begin trip

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Nothing like facing a two-headed monster right off the bat as the Maple Leafs begin a four-game trip on Saturday.

That would be Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid, whose ridiculous start to 2026-27 — 31 points in 10 games — is the talk of the National Hockey League, and Oilers coach Mike Babcock, who hasn’t stumbled over his inflated ego in his latest return the NHL.

With an 8-1-1 record through 10 games, the Oilers’ .850 points percentage is the best in the NHL.

McDavid has been the driver, becoming the fourth player in league history — joining Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux, who did it three times — to record at least 30 points in his first 10 games.

Babcock, meanwhile, will make his only stop in Toronto with the Oilers on Nov. 14 and it can’t some soon enough before he continues on his way.

No matter the record in Edmonton, we remain of the opinion that Babcock — based simply on his treatment of some players under his watch in previous stops — wasn’t deserving of another shot to coach in the NHL.

Never mind that Babcock made it to just 4 1/2 years through an eight-year contract as coach of the Leafs, struggling to sub-.500 record in 2019-20 before he was fired that November. Presuming the Oilers win a playoff series next spring, it will be Babcock’s first trip to the second round since 2013. In his six seasons that followed, there was no post-season success.

On Friday, Babcock was asked in Edmonton about facing the Leafs.

“It’s about a hundred years ago, right?” Babcock told media. “You know, even the Beatles broke up. So you get on with it kind of thing.”

Oh sure, Mike. Who doesn’t think of the Beatles and immediately conjure Babcock?

Anyway, the Leafs knew what was ahead of them as they got on their chartered plane on Friday afternoon following practice at the Ford Performance Centre and headed west.

HOW DO THE LEAFS TRY TO CONTAIN MCDAVID?

Historically, the Leafs haven’t been able to put McDavid in a box and shut the lid.

He has 40 points (14 goals and 26 assists) in 27 career games against the Leafs. Among Eastern Conference opponents, McDavid has had more points against only the Ottawa Senators (49 points in 28 games).

What he is doing now is another level entirely. The Leafs have been able to push the pace in some games, winning three in a row and going 6-4-2 in 12 matches to start, but it’s going to be about trying to obstructing McDavid to the point that he can’t make a big impact.

We won’t be surprised if Babcock, even with last change, leans toward a best-on-best matchup, pitting McDavid against Leafs captain Auston Matthews.

“I think it’s the same thing when we were in Colorado a couple weeks ago (on Oct. 10, beating the Avalanche 6-3),” Matthews said. “You play some really elite players and you just try to limit their time and space as much as possible.

“They’re going to get their chances and they’re going to make something out of nothing sometimes.”

In that game, Avs captain Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals in the first period, but was not a factor in the final 40 minutes.

No matter who lines up against McDavid, the challenge will be to get in his way.

“I don’t know what we’ll see there,” Leafs coach Jim Hiller said of the matchup game. “They’re two great players (McDavid and Matthews), that’s well-documented. I’m not telling you anything that nobody doesn’t know. We’re really happy with the way Auston has played this year, definitely 200 feet.”

From afar, McDavid has been an eye-opener for Leafs rookie Gavin McKenna. If Babcock wanted to tilt the scales, he might put McDavid against the Leafs line of Colton Sissons between McKenna and Vinni Lettieri, which has not been sharp defensively, but that would open up Matthews and his line to feast on another Oilers trio.

“Now having a taste of what the NHL is like, it makes it that much crazier,” McKenna said of McDavid’s start. “Every night you are expecting him to put up five points. I don’t know how he’s doing it. I got to skate with him this summer and see what he was like. He’s out of this world.”

Veteran defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson summed up McDavid properly.

“What’s impressive about it to me is that everybody knows about him and he still does that,” Ekman-Larsson said.

With that in mind, we wish the Leafs luck.

WHAT DO THE LEAFS THINK ABOUT FACING BABCOCK?

For the first time since Nov. 19, 2019 — the date of Babcock’s last game as Leafs coach in Las Vegas before he was fired the next day in Arizona — the Leafs will look over and see Babcock standing behind an NHL bench.

Or, at least, that goes for three of them, as Matthews, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander are the holdovers from the Babcock era. John Tavares is as well, but is not on the trip as he continues to recover from a lower-body injury.

As much we don’t think Babcock should have been granted the privilege of coaching in the NHL again, we can’t deny the impact he had on a player such as Matthews in the latter’s formative years.

“There was a big focus on defensive stuff,” Matthews said. “A lot of video on guys like (Henrik) Zetterberg, (Patrice) Bergeron, (Sidney) Crosby.

“Coming in the league as a 19 year old, you don’t really think about that stuff too much. You come to the NHL level, it’s hard, it’s difficult, and defensive positioning, awareness, all of that plays a pretty big part in your offensive stuff as well. That’s what he preached a lot, especially in my first couple years.”

That helped lay the foundation for Matthews, who has been a top-notch two-way centre for several years.

Rielly said he was “a little bit surprised” that Babcock was hired by the Oilers, but understood once it became common knowledge that the Oilers’ core of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and others wanted Babcock to be hired.

“I don’t know if there’s one thing I can pinpoint (about Babcock’s influence in Toronto), but he was passionate about trying to make guys better and make the team better,” Rielly said. “That’s the one thing that comes to mind.”

Hiller had been coaching the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League and was fired in the spring of 2014.

A few months later, Babcock hired him to be an assistant coach in Detroit and Hiller followed Babcock to Toronto, spending four seasons as an assistant on Babcock’s Leafs staff.

“Babs gave me my chance, pulled me out of junior, where maybe others may not have,” Hiller said. “We had a lot of fun. It was an exciting time to be part of the Maple Leafs and I look back on it fondly.

“It’s nice to have him back (in the NHL). He has done a good job with the team. It’s not only Mike. It’s (Oilers assistant) DJ Smith. Him and I have a long history and relationship. He’s probably thinking about how many times I beat him in pickleball.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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