Speculation: Mike Babcock fired by the Leafs, should we take him back?

[Unfriendly Ghost]

I don't think it'll happen. One of the things that supposedly got Yzerman to retire was playing that year under Babcock. Maybe he's changed his mind since, but he was not a Babcock enthusiast then. Neither was Shanny, for that matter.

Besides, I don't think Detroit is the kind of team Babcock wants to coach right now. Still not enough talent. He wants to find a St Louis type underachieving but established team to coach. Until that opening comes, he'll dab his tears with the 30 mil he's still owed.

 

[Ricelund]

I don't think it'll happen. One of the things that supposedly got Yzerman to retire was playing that year under Babcock. Maybe he's changed his mind since, but he was not a Babcock enthusiast then. Neither was Shanny, for that matter.

Yzerman hired Babcock to coach Team Canada twice.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

On the second go round Holland traded him and told him he wasn't getting a fair shake. You can believe him on that one or not.

Really not here to debate if it was pathetic. I was surprised he signed, it wasn't smart. Players don't really exit Babcock's doghouse that I remember, he has a similar narrow focus from watching him over the years. Like I said I am not championing how Commodore goes about it, far from it. But, there is a personal relationship there and a lot of history that a bunch of folks don't know a ton about.

Why is it that the ex-teammates and Spittin Chicklets don't slap him down on this either???

I think he should move on, it is pathetic. But Babs should probably start treating his players a little better too, that seems to be a theme throughout his career even if Commodore behaves like an absolute idiot about it.

Whats the source on Holland saying he wasn't getting a fair shake?

Commodore didn't play another season in the NHL after that and it wasn't because of Babcock. The dude just wasn't good. People probably don't slap Commie down because it's entertaining to hear a lunatic rant about someone who's a well known coach.

Look, I'm assuming Babcock is a dick to his players. Who cares? Bowman was an asshole too. Plenty of NHL coaches are. There's an argument to be made that maybe that doesn't work with the kids in Toronto, but if it's between Babcock and Commodore as to who's the bigger asshole, I'm going with the guy blaming everyone else for his problems and obsessing about the same things for years.

Did you have as big of a problem with Blashill sitting Cholowski for his first game in his hometown? And he sat someone else in a similar situation, just can't think of it at the moment.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Why are you taking Commodore's words as fact?

Whether or not Babcock wanted Commie in Detroit, it was pretty clear Commodore was no longer an NHL caliber defenseman.

There are several players that have had bad relationships with him. Franzen goes full celly on everything Babcock related. Filppula wouldn't stay here and wouldn't accept a trade to Toronto. Matthews relationship with him was strained. The later years in Detroit seemingly every off-season hockey insiders would report serious friction with Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Carlo Collaiacvo has told stories of the big guns willingly messing up drills in practice under him on his radio show in Toronto.

You can see it as trust... Point is Babcock has a checkered past of having a dressing room turn on him, seems it just cost him his job. Not real torn up about it, he will collect 20+ million to sit at home.

People can reference guys hating Bowman, well he was a hell of a lot more successful, Babcock can live of team Canada, he will be a HHOF and is a good coach. His my way or the highway might not be what he should do if he comes back in 3 years.

 

[Dotter]

Blashill has officially held his job longer than Mike Babcock.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Whats the source on Holland saying he wasn't getting a fair shake?

Commodore didn't play another season in the NHL after that and it wasn't because of Babcock. The dude just wasn't good. People probably don't slap Commie down because it's entertaining to hear a lunatic rant about someone who's a well known coach.

Look, I'm assuming Babcock is a dick to his players. Who cares? Bowman was an ******* too. Plenty of NHL coaches are. There's an argument to be made that maybe that doesn't work with the kids in Toronto, but if it's between Babcock and Commodore as to who's the bigger *******, I'm going with the guy blaming everyone else for his problems and obsessing about the same things for years.

Did you have as big of a problem with Blashill sitting Cholowski for his first game in his hometown? And he sat someone else in a similar situation, just can't think of it at the moment.

Commodore talked about it on Spittin Chicklets and nobody had refuted it either, like a lot of the this guy doesn't like him stuff.

I said I did on Cholo.

People need to stop talking about Babcock like he is Bowman, he can't hold his jock.

Sometimes an ******* is calling another ******* an ******* and they are right.

Commodore is a lot of things, uninformed and belligerent were/are some of them. But people don't really call him a liar either and he is popular with ex-players. Most of us have all had bad bosses, while I wouldn't run to twitter, my heart doesn't exactly bleed/weep either when I hear negative things befalling them either.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

There are several players that have had bad relationships with him. Franzen goes full celly on everything Babcock related. Filppula wouldn't stay here and wouldn't accept a trade to Toronto. Matthews relationship with him was strained. The later years in Detroit seemingly every off-season hockey insiders would report serious friction with Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Carlo Collaiacvo has told stories of the big guns willingly messing up drills in practice under him on his radio show in Toronto.

You can see it as trust... Point is Babcock has a checkered past of having a dressing room turn on him, seems it just cost him his job. Not real torn up about it, he will collect 20+ million to sit at home.

People can reference guys hating Bowman, well he was a hell of a lot more successful, Babcock can live of team Canada, he will be a HHOF and is a good coach. His my way or the highway might not be what he should do if he comes back in 3 years.

It's just been funny to watch the opinion of Babcock change here once he went to Toronto.

It's not to the point of what Commodore has but there definitely seems to be a weird obsession and anger with Babcock among Wings fans now that he's gone. He was here a long time but on most teams coaches come and go, and it used to be that way in Detroit. I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[MBH]

Babcock is a douche as a coach.
Winning the cup and gold only made him more arrogant.
And this was a guy who didn't need more arrogance.

A couple things here than anyone could have predicted.
1) Toronto would improve. Check. THey did. In fact, my money is on Toronto making the playoffs that first year if Babcock wanted to. Their improvement in year 2 and 3 was entirely predictable. The team overperformed early under Babcock.
2) The team got sick of his shit. And began under performing.

The only surprise, maybe, is that Babcock ran out of rope quicker than some expected.

From day one, I said he was the right man at the wrong time. They needed a guy to come in and coach for 3-4 years BEFORE bringing in Babcock to whip them into cup contenders for 3-4 years before they revolted.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Commodore talked about it on Spittin Chicklets and nobody had refuted it either, like a lot of the this guy doesn't like him stuff.

I said I did on Cholo.

People need to stop talking about Babcock like he is Bowman, he can't hold his jock.

Sometimes an ******** is calling another ******* an ******* and they are right.

Commodore is a lot of things, uninformed and belligerent were/are some of them. But people don't really call him a liar either and he is popular with ex-players. Most of us have all had bad bosses, while I wouldn't run to twitter, my heart doesn't exactly weep either when I hear negative things befalling them either.

Ok, to remove it from Babcock for a second, Commodore actually believes an NHL coach threw him off the team in Columbus because that coach was jealous of him being young and single and having money.

The guy is off his rocker. People believe him about Babcock because they want to.

EDIT: And I was only using Bowman as a comparison for being a total asshole, not in terms of coaching So your problem isn't that Babcock sounds like an asshole, just that he didn't win enough Cups while being an asshole?

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Babcock is a *****e as a coach.
Winning the cup and gold only made him more arrogant.
And this was a guy who didn't need more arrogance.

A couple things here than anyone could have predicted.
1) Toronto would improve. Check. THey did. In fact, my money is on Toronto making the playoffs that first year if Babcock wanted to. Their improvement in year 2 and 3 was entirely predictable. The team overperformed early under Babcock.
2) The team got sick of his ****. And began under performing.

The only surprise, maybe, is that Babcock ran out of rope quicker than some expected.

From day one, I said he was the right man at the wrong time. They needed a guy to come in and coach for 3-4 years BEFORE bringing in Babcock to whip them into cup contenders for 3-4 years before they revolted.

Totally agree with that last point.

Unless he changes strategy I think Babcock's shelf life will be short with this generation of young players.

 

[GreatGordie9]

Babcock will never end up back in Detroit. We need a coach like Barry Trotz.

 

[lomekian]

Commodore talked about it on Spittin Chicklets and nobody had refuted it either, like a lot of the this guy doesn't like him stuff.

I said I did on Cholo.

People need to stop talking about Babcock like he is Bowman, he can't hold his jock.

Sometimes an ******* is calling another ******* an ******* and they are right.

Commodore is a lot of things, uninformed and belligerent were/are some of them. But people don't really call him a liar either and he is popular with ex-players. Most of us have all had bad bosses, while I wouldn't run to twitter, my heart doesn't exactly bleed/weep either when I hear negative things befalling them either.

I think the evidence suggests Commodore is right about Babcock having a big ego and being prone to deflecting criticism as far away from himself as possible. But equally Commodore clearly has an agenda, because his interviews claiming Babcock wanted him purely for the purposes of ending his career are tinfoil hat nonsense. Babs has always been too concerned with his image and getting his guys to do anything like that.

I have no doubt that Babcock's management style would probably lead to calls from HR in a lot of industries, but equally NHL hockey isn't known for its coaches being specialists in 'softer' coaching methods.

Bottom line is, I think he underachieved when this team was at its best under him -06 to 11, but I think he over-achieved when the wheels started coming off. Either way, he had his time here, and his developmental coaching hasn't shown much to suggest he'd be better than Blash for where we are right now

 

[Kronwalled55]

Leafs fans are overjoyed by it. I can't say that I would be THAT excited.

I honestly think their record is an accurate representation of their team

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

Think the Leafs handing it over to Keefe is a huge gamble.

All us wings fans saw that it took Blashill some time to adjust from the AHL to the NHL. I understand there's a constituency of folks on this board that think he's still in over his head and should be fired yesterday, but I think even they'd agree he's better than when he took over initially. We'll see how this works out for them, but the Leafs have whole lot of room for error given how tough the Atlantic is.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Babcock isn't coming back and nor should the Wings want him back. Nothing good comes from living in the past.

 

[cjeagle]

I think Redwings fans tend to forget the animosity that players had for Bowman when he was coaching them. He didn't just bench them. He never bothered to explain his actions to them either. The difference is the proven success he has in the playoffs which allowed him a lot of leniency afterwards.

I think Blashill(just like Lewis) has been too soft on our players. Perhaps we need another coach to start demanding accountability from our players and Babcock can certainly do that. Our recent history of Stanley Cup runs were predicated on having those kind of hard nosed coaches.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Yzerman hired Babcock to coach Team Canada twice.

True, but I don't think it would have been acceptable to not hire Babcock at that point. Canadian hockey was in full Babcock-mania by that point.

 

[The Flying Octopus]

Who would have thought that Blashill would have lasted longer than Babcock!? I sure didn’t...

 

[DetroitRed]

Mike was great for where we were at when we had him. Although, there are some things about the way he operates that I'm glad we've turned the corner on, and which wouldn't be good for now. Like his overwhelming tendency to make young guys stay in the AHL until they are overripe in favor of playing old veterans.

 

[SoupNazi]

God no. Babcock can take his millions elsewhere.

 

[avssuc]

Toronto is an absolute dumpster fire. 2 regulation wins in the last 16 games? That's insane.

I know Babs is the kinda coach that gets more out of bad players, but the Wings are still 2 or 3 superstars short of Babcock being able to slightly lower the Wings chances in the lottery.

 

[Richard Gibson]

Winging It In Motown
@wingingitmotown
·
2h
I honestly don't know what Babcock would do with Detroit's roster nowadays because he's been front-running his whole career. Wings need development. Can he even do that?

 

[Tirekicker]

p u n i s h e d b a b c o c k

 

[TheMule93]

 

[FMichael]