Babcock thread: Decision Expected 5/20/15 (SEE MOD WARNING IN OP AND POST 568)

[DanZ]

caleb ‏@WingedOctopus 6m6 minutes ago
Mike Babcock: "basically I insist I am paid more money than Stephen Weiss"

If that's an actual quote than he's easily gone.

 

[Fugu]

If that's an actual quote than he's easily gone.

I doubt it. I think it's sarcasm by the tweeter.

 

[InjuredChoker]

If that's an actual quote than he's easily gone.

it's a joke.

 

[Bench]

So 50 million... What will that work out to per year? Good gravy. Yeah, can't be real.

 

[DanZ]

I doubt it. I think it's sarcasm by the tweeter.

it's a joke.

Ahh my bad then. He has a point though.

 

[InjuredChoker]

If true, and Babs turns it down, I'd question his sanity.

yeah, smart GM, owner who is willing to spend what it takes, young talented group of players that he can shape into what he wants in addition to that money..

i'm not sure if i want him back if he declines it, lol.

 

[ap3x]

caleb ‏@WingedOctopus 6m6 minutes ago
Mike Babcock: "basically I insist I am paid more money than Stephen Weiss"

Finally we got to the root of why Weiss is misused.

 

[Flowah]

If true, and Babs turns it down, I'd question his sanity.

He's going to be making millions a year no matter where he goes. That's plenty to live a very comfortable lifestyle. Beyond that the concerns are the team he gets and will have for the foreseeable future, and stability of the family.

 

[Chex LeMeneux]

That's incredibly encouraging to Sabres fans - I think the perception from the outside was always that Babcock was a hard-nosed, driven coach who hated to lose and only trusted his susperstar vets like Lidstrom, Yzerman, Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Kronwall - but I guess the willingness to go with the rookie Mrazek over the veteran Howard in this year's playoffs really gave a hint to Babcock willing to go with kids if they deserve the ice time.

He's always been willing to play the kids. He inserted a rookie Helm into the lineup in the 08 playoffs, he did the same with a rookie Abdelkader in 09.

He's willing to play kids. He's not willing to tolerate them if they don't play his style. His developmental methods have been questionable at best. He single-handedly drove the two best forwards we drafted after Z/D and prior to Nyquist et al, out of town. He's ticked off countless others. If you have guys that are skilled players that don't have agreeable personalities, I'd say it's a 50/50 chance he drives them into the ground. There's a reason Edmonton didn't even try to go after him, and I don't think it had anything to do with wanting to lock someone up instead of waiting around (notice they still haven't signed McLellan.) I honestly think they didn't want him anywhere near their kids.

 

[Reality Check]

Good for Babcock on cashing in.

But no thanks...

 

[SoupNazi]

Like I said above, he'd be a fool not to take that kind of money. Even if he gets fired before the contract is up, he still gets paid the entire sum.

He shouldn't feel badly about it either. He put in a good ten years, which is fairly long by coaching standards. It's fine. Amicable departure.

Yeah, goodbye Babs. And I don't blame him. If it's $50 million, then he's gone. And frankly, I'm not going to be horribly surprised if he doesn't last the entire contract in Buffalo.

For that kind of money, I'm sure they expect a Cup in the first couple of years.

And enjoy Jack Eichel, the new 3rd line checking center.

 

[Heaton]

Yeah, goodbye Babs. And I don't blame him. If it's $50 million, then he's gone. And frankly, I'm not going to be horribly surprised if he doesn't last the entire contract in Buffalo.

For that kind of money, I'm sure they expect a Cup in the first couple of years.

That would be quite amazing, barely 50 points this year without any true developed young talent. I think they're at least 5 years away from being good, but I didn't expect them to get Babcock either...

And enjoy Jack Eichel, the new 3rd line checking center.

Oh please.

 

[golffuul]

I'm fine with Blashill as the new Coach. The more this goes on, the more I'd rather see Babcock leave. I thought he would stay all along, but the longer I think on it, the more I see the wisdom in letting him move on and getting Detroit in the mode of getting ready to move on, as an organization, from Datsyuk and Zetterberg. The inevitable Father Time is fast approaching and seeing how we handled the Lidstrom retirement so well (/sarcasm), we could stand to have a better approach to the future and not be beholden to giving just enough for the coach to work with to get into the playoffs. It's time to make some hard decisions about the future of the organization and if that means not making the playoffs for a year, than that's what it means. We should have missed the playoffs at least twice, since Lidstrom retired, to gain back assets necessary to help the team moving forward.

Edit: I am not saying that Zetterberg and Datsyuk are terrible for the team, but you still have to plan for a future without them. Something we didn't do very well when Lidstrom was in his final years.

 

[Chex LeMeneux]

Doing the math, if that $50 million figure as well as the initial approximate $6 million figure are accurate, I'm guessing it's 8 years @ 6.25 per.

 

[Electric Eric]

Doing the math, if that $50 million figure as well as the initial approximate $6 million figure are accurate, I'm guessing it's a 8 years @ 6.25 per.

50 Million is if he meets all goals and benchmarks. IE make playoffs, ECF, Cup. Salary is probably lower, around 5 to 6 Mil.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

I posted this elsewhere. I think it's a good description of how the Wings organization feels about free agency, and how it's failing them.

He (Ilitch) could easily match if he wanted to. But this is about Babcock refusing to do the Detroit thing and take a paycut in order to be with a first class organization. That's Detroit's perception of the situation, I mean. And it's easy to see this situation as yet another failure to woo a free agent out of sheer stubbornness. Detroit refuses to pay full price for anybody, and that strategy clearly isn't working anymore.

Not that I particularly want Babcock back, but this is a disturbing trend. I think the hockey world is done taking paycuts for the Detroit Red Wings, and the sooner they realize that, the better.

 

[SoupNazi]

I posted this elsewhere. I think it's a good description of how the Wings organization feels about free agency, and how it's failing them.

Maybe so, but after ten years I also think that knowing they had Blash waiting in the wings influenced the decision not to outbid Buffalo for Babcock.

 

[Chex LeMeneux]

I posted this elsewhere. I think it's a good description of how the Wings organization feels about free agency, and how it's failing them.

Is that something you wrote or something from the media? I think it has less to do with wanting free agents to take discounts and more to do with how Babcock has turned this thing into a circus, which many on this board feel he has done.

 

[Reality Check]

^

That description is probably somewhat true.

But in this case, I think they did the right thing if he moves on.

 

[InjuredChoker]

i lean on agreeing with Guru but we don't know that much about the situation so hard to say for sure.

 

[Run the Jewels]

I posted this elsewhere. I think it's a good description of how the Wings organization feels about free agency, and how it's failing them.

It has absolutely nothing to do with Ilitch. He spends stupid money on the Tigers, no one in that organization offers up insipid comments about playing or coaching for the Tigers for less money.

This is completely coming from Ken Holland and I'm well past whining about how he runs the organization. The bottom is about to fall out and soon enough we will be able to acquire elite talent near the top of the draft. Will the Dolla Bill Wirtz mentality leave as soon as Holland retires?

We can only hope.

 

[Brandel*]

Doing the math, if that $50 million figure as well as the initial approximate $6 million figure are accurate, I'm guessing it's 8 years @ 6.25 per.

I would assume there would be significant signing bonuses if it's that much

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Buffalo did offer 50mil you can bet on it, The owner isn't poor and he will spend as much as it takes for Babcock to come

Good on Illitch for not getting into a bidding war.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Is that something you wrote or something from the media? I think it has less to do with wanting free agents to take discounts and more to do with how Babcock has turned this thing into a circus, which many on this board feel he has done.

I wrote it.

 

[sepster]

He's willing to play kids. He's not willing to tolerate them if they don't play his style. His developmental methods have been questionable at best. He single-handedly drove the two best forwards we drafted after Z/D and prior to Nyquist et al, out of town. He's ticked off countless others. If you have guys that are skilled players that don't have agreeable personalities, I'd say it's a 50/50 chance he drives them into the ground. There's a reason Edmonton didn't even try to go after him, and I don't think it had anything to do with wanting to lock someone up instead of waiting around (notice they still haven't signed McLellan.) I honestly think they didn't want him anywhere near their kids.

This is spot on. If you're a Glendening, Andersson, Dekeyser or Helm (safe, low risk players) Babcock will play your legs off. If you're a Hudler, Smith or Tatar (high risk, high potential players) your leash is about as short as my arm.

Part of the reason I would love for Babcock to move on and Blashill come up is to see what type of player Smith could be with a coach that encourages him to reach his potential rather than ride his ass into mediocrity.