HOLLAND DOWNPLAYS BABCOCK COMPLAINTS
Oilers GM was controversial coach’s boss for most of his decade behind Detroit bench
With allegations from Johan Franzen about Mike Babcock’s excessively hard coaching style in Detroit, some in the court of public opinion may find Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland guilty by association because he was the longtime Red Wings general manager.
So what did Holland know? What did he see? Did players come to him with their concerns? Was he aware of the inappropriate way Babcock was treating some people?
“No,” said Holland.
“I can’t speak for Johan Franzen, but he was very clear (recently) that he thought Mike Babcock was a tremendous coach, but he doesn’t like him as a person. With our 23-man roster in Detroit with Mike Babcock, some players in that locker-room didn’t like the coach, some players didn’t have feelings either way and I know there were some players who thought he was the best coach they ever played for.”
Franzen, who said he was verbally assaulted by Babcock during Game 5 of a playoff series against Nashville in 2012, had a number of concussions. He said after he finished playing he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as depression and anxiety problems. He told a Swedish newspaper Babcock was a “bully.” He said the incident on the Wings’ bench was “coarse, nasty, shocking.” He also said it was “the tip of the iceberg.”
Holland said he wasn’t in a vacuum in Detroit.
“Was I aware there was some unhappiness? Yeah. But there’s always going to be that, no matter what the coaching style is,” said Holland.
“I’m aware of everything, that’s my job as general manager … either first-hand or the trainers come to me or the team doctors or the coach. I’m not aware of every detail or conversation, though.
“When the coach talks to the team, I’m not in the room every day. I want the players to know the coach is the boss. There’s one-on-one meetings with the coach and I’m not privy to every word, but certainly I’m aware of the message that’s coming from the coach every day. I’m in the room every day before practice and after practice.”
There was a report that Swedish players on the Wings had come to Holland to voice their displeasure after the Babcock/ Franzen incident, but Holland denied that.
“That was the game we were eliminated,” Holland said. “I had a number of people tell me after the game there was a heated exchange on the bench … but we had a day off (after the elimination), then there were exit interviews with players. Did I have instances in my 22 years there where players weren’t happy? Yeah.”
Former Red Wings defenceman Chris Chelios backed up Franzen’s accusations concerning the in-game altercation on a podcast saying, “It was one of the worst things I’d ever seen.”
Chelios, however, got his timelines mixed up when recounting the incident. Chelios wasn’t on the team in 2012.
He was retired by then. There was another incident years earlier when Chelios was still playing where a San Jose broadcaster said the Wings players had little time for Babcock. Holland said the players could come and see him after that if they had concerns. Nobody did.
“That’s true, but the incidents were five or six years apart,” Holland said.
“I hold Chelly in the highest regard. He played 10 years for us in Detroit, the ultimate warrior and we brought him onto our staff as an adviser and was an assistant coach with Jeff (Blashill) in Detroit. We have a long relationship, but I told him when we talked that the timeline he laid out was wrong.”
Holland won a Stanley Cup with Babcock in 2008 and the Wings lost in the final to Pittsburgh the following spring.