Babcock would bring a mixed history
The Blue Jackets appear to have chosen Mike Babcock to replace Brad Larsen as head coach.
Babcock, 60, hasn’t worked in the NHL since 2019 with the Toronto Maple Leafs and will bring two things to Columbus — success at the highest levels of the sport and a load of ugly baggage.
He’s a Stanley Cup champion, a world champion, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Canada and, according to former players, is a maniacal, manipulative bully. He’s also “old school” in many regards and will inherit a team that, as currently constructed, remains one of the NHL’S youngest groups.
Here are three things to know about Babcock:
One of hockey’s most accomplished coaches
Babcock’s resume is jaw-dropping. He’s guided teams to the Stanley Cup Final three times, hoisting the Cup in 2008 with the Red Wings, and has coached Canadian national teams to gold medal glory an astounding five times — including Winter Olympics in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014).
Babcock also guided Canada to gold medals at the world junior championship (1997), world championship (2004) and World Cup of Hockey championship (2017).
He ranks 12th all-time among NHL coaches in wins (700) and has coached three teams in a 17-year career — the Anaheim Ducks, Red Wings and Maple Leafs. Among coaches who’ve logged at least 1,000 NHL games, Babcock’s .608 winning percentage is fourth all-time behind Scotty Bowman (.657), Bruce Boudreau (.626) and Joel Quenneville (.612).
He went 69-62-14 with 19 ties in two seasons with the Ducks (2002-04), had his most success at 458-223-105 in 10 seasons with Detroit (2005-15) and went 173-133-45 in five seasons with the Maple Leafs (2015-19).
Toronto fired him in November 2019 amid a lackluster 9-10-4 start.
Described as a ‘bully’
It didn’t take long after Babcock’s dismissal in Toronto for reports about his verbally abusive demeanor and manipulative behavior with the Maple Leafs and Red Wings to surface.
A couple of weeks after Babcock’s firing in Toronto, former Red Wings forward Johan Franzen spoke with Expressen, a Swedish media outlet, and said his former coach was a ‘bully’ who went after people with regularity.
After calling Babcock a great coach for his success on the ice, Franzen said, “he’s a terrible person, the worst I ever met. He’s a bully who was attacking people. It could be a cleaner at the arena in Detroit or anybody. He would lay into people without any reason.”
Franzen confirmed to Expressen a story first told on the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast by former Red Wings star Chris Chelios, who described an incident during a playoff game in Nashville when Babcock verbally abused Franzen. Chelios said Franzen had a “nervous breakdown” on both the bench and inside room at Bridgestone Arena following the game.
we’d do our thing, have a dance party and play some music,” UA midfielder Kampbell Stone said. “We stayed energized. This was probably the longest game we’ve ever played … but this is what we expected from ourselves. We couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
Stone, an Ohio State signee, led the way with six goals and combined with fellow seniors Brennan Campbell and Audrey Schoemer to win 19 of 26 draws. Lilly Stelzer added four goals and two assists for the Bears (21-3), and Abby Black made three saves.
“I think I bring speed and an ability to cut off (opponents),” said Schoemer, another Buckeyes signee who began taking draws near midseason. “Usually in games we’re trying to get the ball to Kampbell anyway, but this was my turn to step up. The opportunity just came to me.
“We really had a relaxed and focused mentality the whole time with everything going on. This is literally a dream come true.”
Stone scored three of her team’s first four goals and four of its first five before play was halted with 10:52 left in the first half because of lightning in the area. Heavy rain followed soon after, and the first delay lasted 1:20.
Stone and Stelzer scored after the resumption, and Isabelle Pohmer scored for the Patriots to make it 8-5 at halftime.
The teams were moments from coming back on to the field when the second delay began. It lasted 1:36.
Lexi Bird got Liberty (21-3) within 8-6 three minutes into the second half, but the Patriots who were appearing in their first state tournament, drew no closer.
Florida signee Makena Harrington’s three goals and one assist and two goals from Corinna Hilmas, a sophomore who played for UA as a freshman, paced Liberty. Alayna Bogner made four saves.
The fifth consecutive all-central Ohio Division I final was a rematch of UA’S 1412 league win on April 6.