You get to choose and you can only choose one: Mike Babcock or Ken Holland.

[FlashyG]

alfie/his agent contacted us first. not the other way around.

edit. holland actually called his agent, j.p. barry. but not about alfie. he asked him who of his clients were UFA and he said alfie is thinking about moving on, are you interested?

According to Alfie himself on HBO's 24/7 he was fully intent on going back to Ottawa but a discussion with Holland and Babcock changed his mind.

Maybe, maybe not. Really no way to know that.

The list of coaches who've been successful GM's is not a long one.

There's no way to know for sure one way or the other, but the odds aren't in Babcock's favor. I doubt he'd even want to be a GM, its a much harder job than coaching.

 

[Fugu]

Because Babcock would be the GM.

Nothing like on the job training though.

 

[Soft Rock Renegade]

wish there was a neither option. blash and bring back nill

 

[LeighDx59]

Honestly, if Nill or Yzerman was available I would say I'd let Holland go no problem. But its alot harder to replace Holland right now than Babcock so i'd say Babcock, we can bring up Blashill.

 

[jkutswings]

Babcock. In a landslide. And I don't even like some of the decisions he makes.

Several times, particularly recently, Babcock has managed to take lemons (whether due to injuries and/or talent) and make lemonade, in terms of holding the room together and achieving some level of success.

Holland has a stretch of 5 years and counting where he has:
* Struck out on every "big name" he has gone after
* Completely dismissed the possibility of any RFA offer sheets
* Brought in and/or re-signed players that simply aren't any good
* Been completely unsuccessful in using trades to strengthen the roster
* Failed to prevent a decline in team defense

The guy desperately clings to the mantra of, "If we stay healthy, we'll compete." NEWS FLASH: You won't stay healthy, and 'competing' isn't nearly good enough.

I grow very tired of Ken Holland and Martin Mayhew competing for who can have the longest streak of years of using the same backwards philosophy, watching it fail yet again, and then repeat, expecting different results.

As fun as it is to watch some of these kids...without a major trade or free agent acquisition, Datsyuk and Zetterberg will retire before they ever see the Conference Finals again.