Mike Babcock personally pushed the Edmonton Oilers to bring in Misha Donskov as a consultant.
The hire raised eyebrows last week, mostly because of the odd setup: a coaching consultant on staff for only a handful of days each month.
GM Stan Bowman explained the reasoning directly to Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now.
"He's well respected, but I didn't have a personal connection with him," Bowman said.
"Mike did from his time with the Olympics in the past, and he raved about his insight and his value," Bowman added.
Babcock and Donskov go back further than that. The two worked together on Canada's staff during the gold-medal 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
"Babs and I have stayed in touch over the course of the last 10 years, and became good friends," Donskov said. "He was always a mentor of mine."
Why Donskov can only work a few days a month
Donskov's resume since 2016 reads like a tour through the league's best benches. He coached under Bruce Cassidy during Vegas' 2023 Cup run.
He joined Peter DeBoer's staff in Dallas the following year, then worked Team Canada's Olympic bench under Jon Cooper earlier this year.
His coaching philosophy leans aggressive. "I'm a big believer in killing plays early, in numbers over puck battles, in winning races," Donskov said.
That kind of pedigree explains why Babcock wanted him around, even in a limited role. Some voices are worth having part-time.
Does a few days a month really move the needle on a staff already built around McDavid and Draisaitl? Depends entirely on which few days those are.
Here's the catch. Donskov still serves as Hockey Canada's vice-president of Hockey Operations and is set to coach Canada at both the World Juniors and Worlds this season.
Those commitments limit him to a handful of days with Edmonton whenever the team is actually home.
Bowman sounds fine with the tradeoff. "He's still going to be playing an important role with our group. I'm excited about it," he said.
It's a bit like hiring a part-time consultant for their Rolodex as much as their expertise, a small piece of a much bigger coaching brain trust.
Edmonton enters this season looking to build on a 41-30-11 finish that landed them 14th overall last year.
Small additions like this rarely make headlines on their own, but staffs get built one relationship at a time, not through splashy hires alone.
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Does a part-time consultant like Misha Donskov actually make a difference for the Oilers?
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