There will be swagger and a confident air. There will be talk of puck possession, and the Edmonton Oilers will be a more disciplined team under Mike Babcock. That will be the story from the organization when Babcock takes charge of the team in the coming days.As we get closer to training camp, expect Leon Draisaitl’s name to become more prominent as the new coach gets comfortable with the idea of playing him as the team’s No. 1 centre. If Babcock’s first Oilers team is anything like his final Toronto Maple Leafs team, prepare for a mammoth season from the big man. If the book on Babcock remains as it was last time he coached an NHL regular-season game, Draisaitl will be asked to play even more against the opposition’s best players than he’s done in the past.Oilers should be careful what they wish forSean Gentille and Sean McIndoeEmbrace the challenge Draisaitl has the range of skills to deliver a 200-foot game in a style reminiscent of Florida Panthers pivot Aleksander Barkov. That should be Babcock’s first major tweak. Playing on a line with Kasperi Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin last year, Draisaitl was already doing heavy lifting against elites. Here’s a look at Draisaitl’s numbers, without captain Connor McDavid on the ice, over the past three seasons versus elite competition.Category2023-242024-252025-26Minutes205187260DFF Pct565850DFF%Rel-1.33.61.24Goal Pct405050Shooting Pct8.33.910.5Save Pct0.8570.9410.879Off. Zone Start43 pct42 pct48 pctPDO940980985All numbers five-on-five against elite competition, via Puck IQPDO is the sum of on-ice shooting percentage and save percentage when a player is on the ice. Draisaitl has been living a tragedy in this area against elites over the past three seasons. The save percentage was an enormous drag, save for 2024-25, when the team’s shooting percentage cratered when Draisaitl was on the ice. An average PDO should land around 1.00, and a player of Draisaitl’s quality might see it run as high as 102. Luck hasn’t been on Draisaitl’s side.This obscures an exceptional player. Remember, these are numbers “away” from the captain, so Draisaitl was playing against elite competition while alongside wingers who were stretched to capacity during these minutes. Babcock can afford to push Draisaitl deeper into those tough minutes, especially if he can find top-end linemates for the tough minutes line.In Toronto during the 2018-19 season, Babcock deployed a tough minutes line that saw massive minutes versus elite competition. The trio of John Tavares, Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman played 817 minutes together, delivering a goal share of 61 percent, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick. Puck IQ had Hyman playing 50 percent of his five-on-five minutes versus elites, Marner 48 percent and Tavares 47 percent. That’s a tough minutes line, and the trio’s success meant the Auston Matthews line saw less time versus top-level competition.