Two Problems on the Ice, One Problem in the Stands

Babcock is two weeks into camp and still working around a five-player hole. Andersen remains out, which matters most — the veteran goaltender was signed specifically to bring stability to a team that went 13-22 in one-goal games last season, and right now he isn't practicing. Henrique, Janmark, Regula, and Savoie are also sidelined, leaving Babcock to build habits and test line combinations with an incomplete group. The opener against Vancouver is September 29. That's not a lot of runway.

The Formenton situation hasn't quieted. The petition is still out there, Mama Stanley hasn't come back, and the questions about why the organization chose this signing over alternatives — veteran goaltending depth was the one most people pointed to — haven't been answered to anyone's satisfaction. Bowman defended the move publicly, but the noise around it is real and it's sitting in the background of every practice day.

What makes this stretch genuinely difficult for Babcock is that the two problems don't have the same solution. The injury absences are a scheduling issue — players come back, you integrate them, you move on. The cultural friction around the Formenton signing is slower to resolve, if it resolves at all. A coach hired to install defensive discipline and change the team's identity in close games needs the room pulling in one direction. Right now it isn't clear it is.