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Mike Babcock is such a funster. He dropped this gem during his presser on Friday.
"Everyone thinks Ken Holland is the boss. Actually, my wife is the boss"
Happy wife, happy life.
Mrs. Babcock should ask Gaye Ruff, Lindy's lovely wife what Buffalo means to she and her husband and children. Its a wonderful community made up of genuine, real people who want to be great neighbors to one another. Buffalo is unlike any other city in North America. People from other places come here for college or their jibs and end up staying for the rest of their lives.
Babs and his wife should ask Scotty Bowman about his love for Buffalo. Scotty was fired by the Sabres 30 years ago and he and his family still live here.
**
Cue the Rihanna.
Ken Holland doesn't want Mike Babcock to fly the coop out of Detroit.
"I want Mike to stay. Money isn't going to be an object" Ken Holland on Mike Babcock via Wings.
Holland also slyly added that no NHL owner steps up like Mike Ilitch steps up. Meaning, money will be no object for "Mr. I" if Babcock wishes to remain in Detroit.
Will Holland allow Babcock to test the free agency market right now?
"Right now, No chance." Holland said.
Does Holland have a {Plan B if Babcock leaves?
"I'm hoping to fulfill Plan A."
***
Thanks, @wingsfrontman
Its locker clean out day in Detroit and Mike Babcock was surrounded by 50 or so media members who want the answer to the same question:
"Are you staying in Detroit or leaving?"
Babcock's answer:
"I'm not trying to snow you. I don't know."
Babs is being inundated by people asking the same question.
"Every time I speak right now, someone tries to read into what I said." He said don't do it. "I don't have any idea."
Next question:
Does Babcock want to be an NHL GM?
"I have no skill set to be a general manager. I'm a coach. I have no interest in sitting where Kenny sits at all. None."I'm a coach, I love to coach."
And coach he will.
So, how long will it take Babcock to arrive at his final decision?
"My bride and I are going thru a process and Kenny and I are going to go thru a process and in 10 days we'll have a plan and go from there", Babcock said today.
Wherever he lands, Babcock is going to want to have a say in player personnel decisions. On Friday, he said that he has a loud voice inside teh Red Wings organization.
"Do I want to have input? Yes. Do I have input here? Lots."
Yesterday, Wings GM Ken Holland said that Babcock is in total control of his own future. Be it with the Red Wings or another NHL team like the Buffalo Sabres.
“He’s in the driver’s seat,… Holland said. “He’s one of the top coaches in the game, if not the top coach and he’s in the prime of his career.
“Our hope is that Mike wants to stay,… Holland said.
“He (Babcock) is positioned himself to have the option to explore.…
Babcock is earning roughly $2 million this season. He is seeking and will receive north of $5 million per season in his next contract. My sources tell me that the Red Wings will not pay Babcock in his desired stratosphere. Hello unrestricted free agency, Babs.
Grand Rapids Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill should be getting ready for a promotion to the Red Wings bench next season.
Babcock just put the wraps on his 11th season in Detroit. He has won a Stanley Cup and has made the playoffs in all of his seasons behind the Detroit bench.
However, the Red Wings have not made it out of the second round of the playoffs since losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final in the 2008-09 season, the year after Babcock won his only Cup in Detroit.
They’ve also been eliminated in the first round three of the last four seasons.
“We want him back, I’ve expressed that,… Holland said. “He’ll have a lot of say in how it all plays out.…
Babcock wants to win. He turned 52 the other day. He doesn't want to be sign up to be the head coach of a rebuilding team. He wants to win now, not five years from now.
***
Welcome to pro hockey, Jack Eichel.
Team USA whipped Finland 5-1 in its IIHF World Championships opener today.
Eichel skated 14:47 TOI. He skated aon a line with Harvard's Jimmy Vesey and LA Kings two-time Stanley Cup winner Trevor Lewis . Eichel had zero points, two shots, and a two-minute high-stick penalty. He was -1 rating. The Sabres will select Eichel with the #2 pick in June NHL Draft.
Eichel was long, strong and very composed. He rolled off checks and skated like a beast. He didn't look out of place playing eyeball to eyeball with NHLers on the Finn squad.
I grad him out as a solid B. He will get better as the tourney grinds on. I think he will score and collect points in USA's second game versus Norway on Saturday.
***
Detroit Red Wing GM Ken Holland said Thursday that he would like Mike Babcock to return as coach.
Of course he would. Babcock is widely regarded as the best coach in the NHL and has been for nearly six years. Coaches like Babcock don't grown on trees at the hockey farm.
According to NHL.com, the Red Wings would like to sign Babcock to a long-term contract before his current one expires on June 30, however, Holland said there is no timetable for when Babcock will make his decision.
This just in:
10-12 other NHL teams would like to sign Babcock in May as well. Hell, the Buffalo Sabres want to take him off Holland's hands today. Ditto the Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks, and Philadelphia Flyers.
Holland said that he is targeting the month of May to get his deal done.
"There's an element of urgency, but not hours or days," Holland said. "Probably in the month of May."
*Flips calendar to Friday May 1st*
No hurry, eh Kenny?
Holland will meet with Babcock this morning to review the disappointing end to the Red Wings' otherwise good season. There's no doubt in my mind that Holland will be asking Babock what his heart is telling him to do. My guess is that Holland and the Ilitch's don't want to be played in the free agency process with Babcock. They don't strike me as the type of people who would tell Babcock to go interview with five other NHL teams only to bring the highest offer back to Detroit so that Ilitch can meet or beat it.
Holland isn't about to get in a high stakes biding war to retain Babcock.
"We got a great relationship," Holland said. "I think he's done a fabulous job with the team. We want him back. I expressed that.
"Mike has been here 10 years. He knows our players, he knows how we operate, knows the owner, knows how passionate the fan base is, knows we got a new rink coming. I think those are all advantages."
There's no denying the synergy that Holland and Babcock have have in his ten seasons as the head man in Detroit. The two men have won a Stanley Cup together and have qualified for the playoffs together the past ten seasons.
In my opinion, Holland should be selling Babcock on the young kids in the pipeline, not the new arena that will be built in the future. New arenas don't win Stanley Cup championships. Young, skilled, transcendent players like Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid do.
Holland has nice player prospects like Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha, however he doesn't have the top prospects in the like Buffalo and Edmonton do. The reason for it is that Holland and the Wings have made it to the playoffs the past 24 seasons. They have never bottomed out like Buffalo and Edmonton have in recent years. Consequently, Holland usually steps to the podium at the NHL Draft in the final stages of round one. Gone are the days when Holland can pull a gem like Zetterberg in the seventh round of the NHL draft. The rest of the NHL have caught up to Holland and the Wings. They too have built up their scouting departments and deploy scouts to the outermost reaches of the globe to find new and interesting players. Holland makes smart, economical draft choices in the 20s, however, he can never pick the best kids at the top of the draft. The 2015 NHL Draft will be no different. Holland will be picking in the 20s again and won't have access to difference makers like Eichel, McDavid, Strome, Marner, Hanifin, Crouse, Pracha, et al.
Holland has assembled a solid young core featuring Mrzaek, Abdelkader, Tatar, Jurco, Nyquist, Andresson, Larkin, Mantha, Athanasiou, and Marchenko. Where's the next Pav? The next Hank?
Were he to choose Buffalo, Babcock will have an embarrassment of riches at his disposal in the form of young, skilled, tough, dynamic, high achieving prospects like Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Mark Pysyk, Jake McCabe, Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart, Zemgus Girgensons, Marcus Foligno, Nic Deslauriers, Hudson Fasching, Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey, J.T. Compher, Linus Ullmark, Jhonas Johansson, and Connor Hurley.
In Edmonton, he'll have Connor McDavid, Taylor Hall, Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, and Jordan Eberle.
When asked bout his team in his post game presser after losing Game 7 in Tampa, Babcock characterized the Wings as an aging team with a glaring lack of young, skilled depth at center ice.
"We are what we are," Babcock said. "[The Lightning] have a young team; they were bad here for long enough that they were able to rebuild and get good young players, and young players at key positions.
"Three of our best players are 34 [Niklas Kronwall], 35 [Henrik Zetterberg] and 37 [Pavel Datsyuk]. So any way you look at it, we're a team that's changed a ton of players, we're a team that's added a lot of youth to our lineup, and right now on the outside they don't pick us as a Stanley Cup contender."
Datsyuk will turn 37 this summer. Zetterberg will turn 35 in October. How and when will Holland replace two aging future Hall of Fames?
"We have lots of good, young players, no question about it, and we've got some good ones coming," Babcock said. "But who's going to replace Pav? I don't think Pav is going anywhere right away, but that's what you've got to do. You've got to have big-time players up the middle and on the back to be successful. So those are questions that our organization works towards, we've been drafting good, we've been developing good, but we've been winning too much (to get high draft picks). That's the facts."
I'm convinced that Babcock will be leaving the Wings and will gravitate to the team with the best young, great players.
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Babcock Better Off In Buffalo http://t.co/yvRkWJWFAZ pic.twitter.com/4nvSUFpR5C
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) May 1, 2015
TSN Insider Bob McKenzie speaks with many influential people inside the NHL.
On Thursday afternoon, he tod Dave Naylor on TSN Drive in Toronto that he thinks that if Detroit Red Wings head man Mike Babcock becomes an unrestricted free agent, then he believes that the Edmonton Oilers stand the best chance of snagging the most in-demand bench boss in the NHL.
“If I were ranking the possibilities for Mike Babcock outside of Detroit, take Detroit out of the equation, I would put Edmonton at Number 1, no question.
“The number one criteria, I think for Mike Babcock would be who he is working for. I think it always is to some degree for a head coach to want to know who is general manager or owner is. Who is he reporting to?…
Good point. Why would Babcock go to work for a manager and owner that he doesn't get along with?
“I think the (Oilers newly minted CEO) Bob Nicholson factor, with (new GM Peter) Chiarelli there, and obviously there’s some connection between Chiarelli and Babock vis-a-vis the Olympics, but it’s more probably Bob Nicholson then anybody else, I think that is huge.
“Also the fact, and it’s not just Connor McDavid, but for all the jokes we make about the Edmonton Oilers, and rightfully so because they’ve been a tire fire for eight or nine years now, the reality is as you look at that team, while they still have significant pieces to put together, goaltending, defence, this thing is a lot closer to coming together than falling apart. That is for sure.…
More good points. Babcock has worked closely with Nicholson and Chiarelli in short, two week Olympic hockey tournaments. They have won gold medals together. They like one another.
All good.
Here's my take:
I understand that Babcock has clanked champagne flutes and ice gold IPA pints with Nicholson and Chiarelli. The men have forged memories together having won gold medals in successive Olympics in Vancouver and Sochi.
I'm not so sure that this relationship is a deal closer to get Babcock to sign on the dotted line in Edmonton. The Olympic tournament is a fast paced event where Babcock and his staff of assistants were coaching an All Star team comprised of the best players in the world like Crosby, Toews, Price, Doughty, Keith, Weber, and many more. Coaching the 2014 Team Canada Olympic squad was a helluva lot easier than coaching up the 2014-15 Edmonton Oilers squad, don't you think? NHL coaches and their managers don't always get along during the grueling 82 game NHL season. Things get more intense in the playoffs, if you qualify for them. NHL coaches like Babcock want players to play and they want their managers to manage. Never the tween shall meet. I'm not downplaying Babcock's affinity for Nicholson and Chiarelli, however, I question how the three men will behave towards one another when the Oilers are mired in a miserable 15 game losing streak where they have been shutout 5 times during that streak. What then? It's all good at the Olympics, but what about when the crap hits the fan during a miserable stretch of losing games while rebuilding an NHL hockey club not named the Detroit Red Wings?
To further that point, Babcock won't have Norris Trophy candidate, future Hall of Fame D-men in his Edmonton lineup next season. He will have Andrew Ference, Darnell Nurse and four other guys who will be learning a new system and will be more prone to mistakes than they already are. Last time I checked, Nicholson and Chiarelli don't block shots, clear the crease, retrieve pucks, makes laser-like tape to tape passes to forwards on the breakout, join the rush, QB the PP, kill penalties, nor score goals.
Oh, and Carey Price and Mike Smith won't be the Edmonton goalies either.
Babcock is a pragmatist. He wants to coach the best players available to him at any given moment. He wants to coach the next Nik Lidtsrom, the next Brian Rafalski, the next Steve Yzerman, the next Pavel Datsyuk, and the next Henrik Zetterberg.
Babs is all about drilling the possession game and defense-first hockey into the hearts and minds of his players. There are no exceptions. Everybody buys in or else they get banished to hockey Siberia. Oops, Edmonton has been hockey Siberia for the past eight or nine seasons. Old habits die hard.
I submit to you that the Buffalo Sabres are the front-runner to land Babcock. Tim Murray hand selected Babcock to be his head coach of the Cincinnati Mighty Duck when both men worked in the Anaheim organization. They worked next to one another for a few years which allowed both men to get to know what makes the other tick and what makes his blood boil. Murray and Babcock are pretty much the same guy. They say what's on their mind and don't care who knows it. They shoot straight, don't pussyfoot around he subject and they solve problems. Both men LOVE to win and despise losing. They love the same brand of heavy, skilled hockey. Sources that I speak with tell me that Murray and Babcock have maintained their relationship over the years. The speak regularly and have interests away from the rink as well.
It's my opinion that the Sabres are on the pole position to lure Babcock away from the Red Wings.
Murray can guarantee upwards of $40 million -$45 million in Pegula dollars to Babcock.
Murray and Babcock can collaborate on personnel, draft, and roster matters in Buffalo as they had in their Cincinnati and Anaheim days. Its's like riding a bike. You never forget how to ride the bike in the NHL. The Sabres have the decided advantage over the Oilers in terms of the bhaving the best prospect pipeline in professional hockey. Babcock will have at his disposal young, skilled, tough, dynamic high achieving D like Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Mark Pysyk, Jake McCabe, Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart, Zemgus Girgensons, Marcus Foligno, Nic Deslauriers, Hudson Fasching, Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey, J.T. Compher, Linus Ullmark, Jhonas Johansson, and Connor Hurley. The Oilers are a top-heavy forward-based team. They lack D prospects, save Nurse. They need more D and ess skilled forwards. They need goaltending in the worst way.
What's more, the Oilers need to get out of the Western Conference. If they are to achieve Chiarelli's lofty goals, they are going to have to beat up on Chicago, LA, Anaheim, Minnesota, St. Louis, Nashville, San Jose, Winnipeg, Calgary, Dallas, Arizona, and other teams on the come.
Babcock will have an easier path to the playoffs by staying out in Buffalo in the Eastern time zone. A Babcock coaches team in the East makes the playoffs quicker than a Babcock coached Western team does.
ICYMI: @TSNBobMcKenzie on Babcock's future and his top Hart Trophy contenders. Listen: http://t.co/kWzxQNZnAa
— TSN Drive (@TSNDrive) April 30, 2015
He said Babcock is meeting with his family and with Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland. “I don’t think any doors have been closed. I don’t think it’s an absolute, 100 per cent slam dunk that he’s leaving the Detroit Red Wings.…
McKenzie said he had no inside information on this and was purely speculating, but he said it’s “slightly more likely… Babcock leaves Detroit than he stays there