I had a chance to listen to the interview. Overall it does nothing to diminish my respect for Babcock. Listening to him and Holland is night and day, Holland says nothing even remotely worth listening to, just bland platitudes that mean nothing. Babcock is largely willing to be frank and say what is true and he will also use these opportunities to motivate. He is a coach and motivation is a huge part of coaching.
Babs said all the right things:
- The Wings went after 2 free agent d-men and struck out.
- There are some big puck movers in Grand Rapids who they like alot.
- Youth movement is huge, we need puck moving d-men who can get the puck out of our zone and get it into the offensive zone.
- The prospects will be given every chance.
- Cleary is working with Mike Barwis, who healed Pavel Datsyuk last year and took Elliot Mealer - a guy who was told he'd never walk again after a horrific car accident - and now has him walking.
I think it is in Babcock's best interest to push for the youth movement on defense. If he has any interest at all in continuing to coach in Detroit it's blatantly obvious Kindl, Quincey and Lashoff have no long term value to the team. It is debatable how much value Smith has going forward. So I can see him pushing to get Backman, Marchenko, Ouellet and Sproul ice time.
We all know what Holland will do: he'll bury guys who can get buried. He's not going to waive guys who will be forced onto the waiver wire, even if they are worth nothing. No takers for Kindl last year boys. Now does Babcock holding off on signing an extension make Holland more willing to do what Mike Babcock wants? Does he say "aw the hell with it, let me waive Kindl and Lashoff because Babcock tells me Ouellet and Marchenko or Backman and Sproul are better and beat them out"? Or does he says some idiocy like "We'd prefer to have the prospects play 25 minutes a night in Grand Rapids rather than 20 minutes a night Detroit"?
That right there is one of the main reasons why I want Holland "promoted" out of the general manager spot. If the best coach in hockey needs to pull these kind of antics to get the best roster possible it's clear Holland is no longer on top of his game.
Overall I am very interested to see how this season plays out. If Babcock can burn enough waiver wire exemptions for d-men - just like what happened last year with many of our top forward prospects - then he can decide whether he thinks the future is bright enough to stick around. If Holland sits around with his pud in his hands and sticks with the status quo I can see Babcock moving on to work with a GM who isn't past his sell-by date.
So make Kenneh dance, Babs!
Regardless, Holland has fanned so badly on trades and signing free agents and incorporating youth into the roster that the writing is clearly on the wall for anyone who can bother to pay attention.
