The Official Fire Babcock Thread

[RedWingsNow*]

3) Blame Holland, sure. But it's Babcock's decision to play Lashoff on the top pairing that cost us all those points.

You had me until you made this completely idiotic statement....

What's idiotic about it?
Do you not remember the daily -2s posted by Kronwall and Lashoff?

 

[Frk It]

Any team with Datsyuk and Zetterberg as centers 1 and 2 is going to be somewhat competitive.

And that's exactly what the wings are "somewhat competitive."

And let's stop crying about injuries. Helm. Flip. Colaiacovo. We're not hurting that bad anymore.

At this point, supporting Babcock is supporting the continual slide of the franchise.

I think the problem is Holland hasn't been doing his job. I think Babcock is doing his job well, even though he doesn't have a lot to work with.

 

[Heaton]

What's idiotic about it?
Do you not remember the daily -2s posted by Kronwall and Lashoff?

And he fixed it, and Lashoff has been really good the last 3 games.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

This trumps the long list of terrible ideas this board has come up with.


They have allowed 4 goals in the last 3 games against Chi, SJ, and LA after thumping the Canucks and Preds.

This team is making strides and getting better. Compare how awful the defense looked at the beginning of the year to where they are now, and look at what he's working with. How is firing Babcock going to make a difference?

And "Dave Lewis level of incompetence" is simply a ridiculous statement.

Ridiculous only because you're too biased to see reality for what it is.

 

[Reds4Life]

Agreed with OP. Babcock is just not cutting it anymore.

 

[Bench]

Captain Bob for head coach!

Introducing your new head coach, general manager, and owner...

CAPTAIN BOOOOOOOBBBBB

 

[RedWingsNow*]

And he fixed it, and Lashoff has been really good the last 3 games.

He never should have done it in the first place.

And he never should have waited so long to fix it.

And he never should have put together the Abdelkader-Datsyuk-Cleary line. A line that's costing us points in the standings.

And yet game-after-game, despite its proven ineffectiveness, he keeps it together.

Points in the standings. In a 50 game season, every point is even more valuable -- and Babcock is giving them away STICKING to decisions that any layman could tell you is stupid.

Defend it if you want. I'm tired of it. He needs to go.

 

[Heaton]

He never should have done it in the first place.

And he never should have waited so long to fix it.

And he never should have put together the Abdelkader-Datsyuk-Cleary line. A line that's costing us points in the standings.

And yet game-after-game, despite its proven ineffectiveness, he keeps it together.

Points in the standings. In a 50 game season, every point is even more valuable -- and Babcock is giving them away STICKING to decisions that any layman could tell you is stupid.

Defend it if you want. I'm tired of it. He needs to go.

Heh. It's a super extremist point of view and reeks of knee-jerk reaction with zero patience. This is a transition year, you're expecting too much and not seeing the forest for the trees.

 

[SoupGuru]

Ridiculous only because you're too biased to see reality for what it is.

We really have no business being #6 in the west due to the injuries and attrition we've had. In my opinion, we've been overperforming this year. It's easy to look at specific games, or lines, or even plays and play armchair coach. Hindsight is 20/20, after all. But looking at the whole picture, we've been doing better than we had any right to expect.

 

[Frk It]

He has changed his ways a bit as of late. He is playing Kindl and Lashoff over a healthy Ian white and his 3 million dollar contract and 500 NHL games. He has kept up Tatar and Andersson because they've been playing well.

Only thing I don't like is his man-crush for Cleary.

 

[Heaton]

He has changed his ways a bit as of late. He is playing Kindl and Lashoff over a healthy Ian white and his 3 million dollar contract and 500 NHL games. He has kept up Tatar and Andersson because they've been playing well.

Only thing I don't like is his man-crush for Cleary.

Which has only been the result of having so many injuries.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

Heh. It's a super extremist point of view and reeks of knee-jerk reaction with zero patience. This is a transition year, you're expecting too much and not seeing the forest before the trees.

I've been patient.

Exactly when is enough for you?

Cup Final
2nd Round Loss
2nd Round Loss
First round loss
Right now we're in 6th - two points ahead of five teams, all but one of them have a game in hand

If we don't make the playoffs, do you still want Babcock?
What is Babcock doing over these last 3.5 years that makes you think he's still the right man for the job and capable of righting the ship?

 

[Frk It]

Any team with Datsyuk and Zetterberg as centers 1 and 2 is going to be somewhat competitive.

And that's exactly what the wings are "somewhat competitive."

And let's stop crying about injuries. Helm. Flip. Colaiacovo. We're not hurting that bad anymore.

At this point, supporting Babcock is supporting the continual slide of the franchise.

2 players don't make a team, no matter how good they are.

I like at this roster we've had so far this year, and think we should not be #6 in the West. I think Babcock is getting the most out of what he has moreso than 90% of the coaches in the league would.

Seems we're just going to disgaree on this one.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

We really have no business being #6 in the west due to the injuries and attrition we've had. In my opinion, we've been overperforming this year. It's easy to look at specific games, or lines, or even plays and play armchair coach. Hindsight is 20/20, after all. But looking at the whole picture, we've been doing better than we had any right to expect.

We're 2 points from being 12th in the west.
We've played 13 home games and 9 road games.

Don't kid yourself.

We're exactly we belong.

 

[SoupGuru]

Just looking at the West, I need two hands to count the number of head coaches that should be fired before I ever get to Babcock.

 

[Frk It]

Which has only been the result of having so many injuries.

Ehh, don't really buy that. Call up Nyquist and scratch Eaves. Put Cleary on line 3. Give Datsyuk someone legitimate to play with. There's ways to shuffle the roster so Cleary is not playing 20 minutes a night and out there with our best players.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Team defense and general work ethic and compete level has been very, very good the last 5-6 games. I definitely feel like Babcock & Co. have turned what looked like a joke of a team in the first 10-15 games into something much more cohesive and solid.
It was inspiring to watch them block shots like crazy and playing with so much heart tonight.

The special teams have also improved greatly, even if there is obviously still room for plenty of more improvement.

So no, I don't think there is any reason to fire Babcock.

However, there is something objectively, undeniably, unbelievably crazy going on with his personel decisions this season. From overplaying Howard even when Mrazek was looking good, to overplaying Lashoff when he came in and looked pretty good, to giving Nyquist about 2 shifts in the top 6 before demoting him to the 3rd line... to what is going on lately, the worst line combination in NHL history... the ADD line.. Abby, Dats, Danny... I have to believe everyone sees how completely outmatched both Cleary and Abdelkader are in those roles. How Datsyuk looks increasingly frustrated and tired of playing between two complete scrubs. How the only chances the line creates are the direct result of Datsyuk doing everything himself.

If there is one thing Holland needs to do, it's tell Babcock to end that line. Now. Do I think putting Tatar with Datsyuk would lead to us winning every game? No. But it certainly can't hurt to TRY when it's so obvious what we're seeing now isnt' working. Injuries are no excuse. Almost anyone in the lineup would be better suited to play with Datsyuk than Abdelkader is. And Cleary isn't far behind, but he atleast has put up a couple of goals/points.

Sigh. So frustrating to see what is possibly Datsyuk's 2nd to last season being wasted like this.

 

[Heaton]

I've been patient.

Exactly when is enough for you?

Cup Final
2nd Round Loss
2nd Round Loss
First round loss
Right now we're in 6th - two points ahead of five teams, all but one of them have a game in hand

If we don't make the playoffs, do you still want Babcock?
What is Babcock doing over these last 3.5 years that makes you think he's still the right man for the job and capable of righting the ship?

We've lost talent EVERY YEAR and gotten older EVERY YEAR. This season we're FIRST in man games lost, Lidstrom retired, Stuart left, Rafalksi has been gone for 2 years. We've replaced them with NOTHING and you want Babcock to pull some superman **** out of his ass and do what? People have been complaining about him even during our 3 conference finals runs in a row.

What is he doing? Keeping the Wings in the playoff hunt, which is what every team expects of their coach. What makes you think bringing in another coach won't put this team back YEARS while trying to implement a new system after this current one has been around for 8+?

 

[RedWingsNow*]

2 players don't make a team, no matter how good they are.

I like at this roster we've had so far this year, and think we should not be #6 in the West. I think Babcock is getting the most out of what he has moreso than 90% of the coaches in the league would.

Seems we're just going to disgaree on this one.

Two elite centers can make your team competitive.

6th in the west is misleading.
We've had a home-heavy schedule.
If we had a road-heavy schedule, we'd 13th or 14th

 

[Heaton]

Ehh, don't really buy that. Call up Nyquist and scratch Eaves. Put Cleary on line 3. Give Datsyuk someone legitimate to play with. There's ways to shuffle the roster so Cleary is not playing 20 minutes a night and out there with our best players.

It's not Babcock's call to get Nyquist up.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

We've lost talent EVERY YEAR and gotten older EVERY YEAR. This season we're FIRST in man games lost, Lidstrom retired, Stuart left, Rafalksi has been gone for 2 years. We've replaced them with NOTHING and you want Babcock to pull some superman **** out of his ass and do what? People have been complaining about him even during our 3 conference finals runs in a row.

What is he doing? Keeping the Wings in the playoff hunt, which is what every team expects of their coach. What makes you think bringing in another coach won't put this team back YEARS while trying to implement a new system after this current one has been around for 8+?

I don't care where YOU PUT ALL CAPS.

Babcock is losing ground every year. He consistently makes bad lineup decisions that HURT this team.

We're sliding. The longer we wait to address it, the worse the slide will be.

I'm done being patient. Babcock needs to be fired

 

[SoupGuru]

We've lost talent EVERY YEAR and gotten older EVERY YEAR. This season we're FIRST in man games lost, Lidstrom retired, Stuart left, Rafalksi has been gone for 2 years. We've replaced them with NOTHING and you want Babcock to pull some superman **** out of his ass and do what? People have been complaining about him even during our 3 conference finals runs in a row.

What is he doing? Keeping the Wings in the playoff hunt, which is what every team expects of their coach. What makes you think bringing in another coach won't put this team back YEARS while trying to implement a new system after this current one has been around for 8+?

We're such a spoiled fan base. If we don't make it to the Finals every year, it's time to fire the coach.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

It's not Babcock's call to get Nyquist up.

If Babcock wanted him, Holland would get him.

 

[Heaton]

I don't care where YOU PUT ALL CAPS.

Babcock is losing ground every year. He consistently makes bad lineup decisions that HURT this team.

We're sliding. The longer we wait to address it, the worse the slide will be.

I'm done being patient. Babcock needs to be fired

Nope. That's on Holland.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

We're such a spoiled fan base. If we don't make it to the Finals every year, it's time to fire the coach.

You probably defended Dave Lewis until the bitter end, eh?

Coaches don't last forever. Babcock's done.