Piling on Babcock improper
Even as hockey is rapidly evolving, writes Postmedia News columnist
It is forever complicated, the relationship between athlete and coach, and in this time of whistle-blowing, finger-pointing and screaming, there is a lot of noise but not nearly enough context in the hockey world.
Since Mike Babcock was let go by the Maple Leafs and his firing was almost immediately followed by the Bill Peters scandal, the two coaching changes have somehow been linked together when they couldn’t have been more different.
The Peters firing or resignation — take your pick — was inappropriate behavior by the coach. The Babcock firing, which has been followed by a festival of piling on, was about hockey.
There is a difference in the two.
Both deserved to lose their jobs, but for very different reasons. And now, too much of Babcock’s dismissal is being lumped in with Peters’ use of racist language and physical assault.
The other day, after a Chris Chelios podcast interview, former Red Wings forward Johan Franzen confirmed what Chelios had said — that Franzen called Babcock “a terrible person, the worst I have ever met.”
What Franzen didn’t say was that on the two Stanley Cup runs early in his career, one win by the Red Wings, one a seven-game defeat in the final, Franzen scored 25 goals in 39 playoff games — absolute superstar playoff totals for a player who was never close to a superstar.
That was more goals than Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin scored in those back-toback Pittsburgh-detroit playoff years.
You remember the worst. You don’t always remember the best. But somehow both are important.
What is a coach’s job? First and foremost, in professional sports, it is to win. It’s not to make friends. Nobody cared much for Scotty Bowman. He barely talked to his players.
How does a coach win? You prepare your team. You put your players in positions to succeed. You match up against your opponent.
What you don’t hear from Franzen today: The greatest the Mule ever played, the most dynamic he ever was, came in his early years playing for Babcock.
When Babcock left Detroit for Toronto, the story going around at the time was that Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, the star forwards on the Red Wings, were more than pleased with Babcock’s departure.
Word was Datsyuk would have returned to Russia had Babcock stayed in Detroit. He had had enough of the coach, which is understandable.
So fast forward to this past summer, when free agent Ilya Mikheyev was being pursued by at least 20 NHL teams. He could have signed anywhere. His agent is Dan Milstein is also Datsyuk’s agent. When Mikheyev made the Leafs his choice, one of the reasons he picked Toronto was because Datsyuk convinced him of it.
The man who couldn’t stand Babcock advised Mikheyev to come to the Leafs.
There is a lot about Babcock to dislike. He can be a bully, relentless and doesn’t necessarily treat people very well, especially lessers around the arena. He can be stubborn, beyond stubborn. He is a non-stop 24/7 coach. He doesn’t turn it off and even Franzen admitted that much.
“As a coach he is extremely meticulous and well prepared. He is very good at putting a team together and getting everyone to buy in. That’s his strong side.”
The way he treated people, though – – sitting out Jason Spezza for a season opener in which he had purchased a large block of tickets, sitting out Mike Modano approaching his 1,500th game — he finished his career at 1,499 — that was him being small and selfish. Those kind of decisions came back to haunt him.
Those kind of decisions will hurt him from getting future employment in a changing hockey world. Sometimes he can’t help being Mike Babcock. That he has to get over to move on.
The NHL is evolving and he was not.
Around the Leafs, the team was failing for a coach with a great history. But not everybody wound up hating Babcock the way Franzen claims to.
How could Zach Hyman, for example, speak badly of Babcock? The coach was the president of the Hyman fan club. When no one saw much in Hyman, Babcock saw everything and kept insisting everyone was wrong.
Babcock played a large role in the improvement and development of Morgan Rielly and Nazem Kadri, as young players developed into important players. And oddly, one of his best relationships was with Mitch Marner, after he apologized for the embarrassing list he asked the player to provide. The matter of that incident went from dressing room to then GM Lou Lamoriello to president Brendan Shanahan and Babcock was told to apologize.
Marner went on to lead the Leafs in scoring the next two seasons and become a prominent penalty killer under Babcock. The relationship at the end, I’m told, was very good.
Babcock played a large role in convincing John Tavares to come home. He can, at times, still be a compelling figure. But Babcock needs to change. This isn’t a Bill Peters ending. This shouldn’t be a likely lifetime ban.
What Babcock needs to do now is what the best coaches do after being fired. He has to take stock as to why. He has to realize there are areas in need of improvement, areas he has to change to get back in the NHL.
The game is evolving rapidly. It’s time for Mike Babcock to do the same.
What is a coach’s job? First and foremost, in professional sports, it is to win. It’s not to make friends. Nobody cared much for Scotty Bowman. He barely talked to his players.