The Edmonton Oilers are learning a new style of play under head coach Mike Babcock and associate coach D.J. Smith, and star centre Leon Draisaitl said it could take a couple of weeks for the system to feel instinctive. The team was preparing Friday for its final pre-season game, scheduled for Saturday night against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place, while coaches continued teaching new routines in training camp.

Defenceman Conor Murphy said some players felt nervous when Babcock arrived, given his reputation and the attention around his hiring. “Coming in right away, you see the nerves on guys,” Murphy told reporters at Edmonton’s Downtown Community Arena after practice Friday. “(Babcock) has an aura about him with his resume and how accomplished (he is) and all the storylines that everyone gets into when he’s coming in.”

Murphy said the new approach had already started to feel familiar. “(He’s) a coach that wants to come in and implement accountability, implement systems. It all feels like the same thing that way,” he said. “Some of the wording, messaging and drills are different, but at the end of the day, it’s hockey. It’s a coach trying to get the best out of us. We want that.”

Draisaitl said the players had used the same system for an extended period before the change. “We played the same system for a while, and this is completely new,” he said. “We have no choice but to be dialled in as much as we can early on. It’s the same for every team, but certainly I think it’s going to take a couple of weeks for it to become instinctual.”

Babcock and Smith were hired in June to replace Kris Knoblauch, who was fired in May after Edmonton was eliminated in six games by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the playoffs. Babcock, 63, has a Stanley Cup and two Olympic gold medals on his coaching resume. He has not coached in the NHL since 2019, apart from a brief pre-season stint with the Columbus Blue Jackets three years ago.

Babcock resigned before training camp amid allegations that he had infringed on players’ privacy. The NHL Players’ Association investigated those allegations, and the NHL conducted its own investigation before clearing him in early June. Babcock previously coached the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Oilers also reduced their camp roster Friday, reassigning 10 players to the American Hockey League’s Bakersfield Condors. The group included forwards Quinn Hutson, Viljami Marjala, William Nicholl, Aku Raty and Eduard Tralmaks; defencemen Josh Brown and Tomas Cibulka; and goaltender Connor Ungar.

Forward Connor Clattenburg will begin the 2026-27 season in the AHL, though Babcock indicated the rugged winger could return to Edmonton during the season. The six-foot-two, 219-pound Clattenburg drew attention for his physical play during a five-game stint with the Oilers last season. In his only pre-season appearance, Thursday’s 2-1 win in Vancouver, he recorded a team-high five hits and blocked one shot.

“I loved the way Claddie started the game and sent a message (by running) over somebody, and then we end up winning the game,” Babcock said Friday. He said Clattenburg needs “to work on his skill set” in Bakersfield and added, “He’s a part of the future for sure.”

Edmonton also returned prospects Rudolfs Berzkalns, Caden Harvey, David Lewandowski and Andrew Robinson to their junior teams Friday. Seth Griffith was released from his professional tryout.

Based on reporting by CTV News Edmonton.