Eklund: Does the Babcock Situation Mean the End of “Old School Coaching?”

A quote from Shanahan from an ESPN article today.


"After Babcock was fired, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said his coaching tactics were not "appropriate or acceptable," given how times had changed in the NHL.

"We have to evolve," Shanahan said in 2019. "We all came from a certain generation where things occurred to us as players that we just sort of accepted. We all have to do a better job of just creating that [better] kind of work environment on the ice and off the ice.""

Second to the party....

Based on things he did....he should never have been given an NHL team again
Tragic that he couldn't learn from mistakes
Hey Mike Galileo called the (frank)ing world does not revolve around you
#dumbass

No, it’s the end of Babs. Torts will carry the torch. The NHL is stuck in the past as they continue to recycle the likes of Boudreau, Bowness, DeBoer, McLellan and Tocchet.

Maybe you can define old school coaching. Benching players. Challenging them to be better. Bag skates. Naming someone in the media for poor results. Cursing. That sounds old school. Nothing wrong with that. Usually those who say this is wrong too have never actually played competitive sports.

His mistake was the minute he touched someone's phone. That's an intrusion of privacy and a power position in which a young player would be intimidated to say no. Pretty simple.

He simply had to give the players notice and permission to opt out. Hey cooleus. For our meeting on Friday I was hoping you could share some photos just to get to know you better. You can email them to Lucy sometime this week who will coordinate. I've attached a photo of my family, my fishing boat, and the rink that I learned to skate. If you'd rather not share photos we can just talk over coffee too. Chat soon.

If he did that, zero problems. But sure, let's somehow tarnish all past coaching methods...

Yes, the ERA of coddling and babysitting is here! In all aspects of society! LMAO!

Yes, the ERA of coddling and babysitting is here! In all aspects of society! LMAO!
- Maczmum

yeah, people who don't want to share their phone's content are just big babies, asking to scroll through it to get to know someone is a perfectly normal thing to do, not creepy at all whatsoever. LOLZ!

Eklund: Does the Babcock Situation Mean the End of “Old School Coaching?”
- Eklund

learning about his new players and their families gets a guy fired

I am not a Babcock fan but this hit job is up there with Sonny Corleone at the toll booth

Bob Dylan once said times are a changing and you need to change with those times.
Babs did not change with those times.
Take the money the Leafs gave you and live comfortably watching hockey somewhere warm.

Maybe you can define old school coaching. Benching players. Challenging them to be better. Bag skates. Naming someone in the media for poor results. Cursing. That sounds old school. Nothing wrong with that. Usually those who say this is wrong too have never actually played competitive sports.

His mistake was the minute he touched someone's phone. That's an intrusion of privacy and a power position in which a young player would be intimidated to say no. Pretty simple.

He simply had to give the players notice and permission to opt out. Hey cooleus. For our meeting on Friday I was hoping you could share some photos just to get to know you better. You can email them to Lucy sometime this week who will coordinate. I've attached a photo of my family, my fishing boat, and the rink that I learned to skate. If you'd rather not share photos we can just talk over coffee too. Chat soon.

If he did that, zero problems. But sure, let's somehow tarnish all past coaching methods... :thumbsup:
- Cooleus

I concur

And yet some around the NHL are calling it “just the way we used to do things.”

I wonder if guys like Bobby Orr and Larry Robinson used to be upset when Harry Sinden and Scotty Bowman scrolled through their cell phones.

learning about his new players and their families gets a guy fired

I am not a Babcock fan but this hit job is up there with Sonny Corleone at the toll booth
- homiedclown

a "hit job"... aw, poor Babs

Did anyone say 'no'? They said 'sure. coach' and then went home and curled up in the foetal position and cried and cried.

I wonder if guys like Bobby Orr and Larry Robinson used to be upset when Harry Sinden and Scotty Bowman scrolled through their cell phones.
- ddMoose

"Yeah, that's my Richard, Harry and I think you're looking too long"

Babcock picked up his paycheck and went home awfully fast.

learning about his new players and their families gets a guy fired

I am not a Babcock fan but this hit job is up there with Sonny Corleone at the toll booth
- homiedclown

and like Sonny he was an impulsive idiot

If by saying he's old school you mean he's totally out of touch with players today, and technology for that matter (cell phones are an intimate thing these days!), then yes that has to come to an end.

I'll even give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he meant well and was truly trying to get to know his players. But regardless, invading someone's privacy is not the way to do it. And I don't buy that players that were uncomfortable with it should've said something. He's the head coach with all the power. Clearly, he hasn't learned how to use it.

This is so ridiculous….. a bunch of talking heads that had no chance of competing in a team sport in any capacity come together to trash a guy that has lead his teams to 3 cups and won it once. Whatever methods he wanted to use to win, build chemistry whatever it takes( besides physical punishment) is his business. An NHL coach is hired to win period . Babs wins (except in Toronto which the organization is a loser for 56 years straight, don’t think that’s on him) . The loser here is the Blue Jackets fans ! I hope little Mitch and his 11 mil salary somehow overcomes the harsh mental brutality that was imposed on him but such a mean beast . LMAO

Maybe you can define old school coaching. Benching players. Challenging them to be better. Bag skates. Naming someone in the media for poor results. Cursing. That sounds old school. Nothing wrong with that. Usually those who say this is wrong too have never actually played competitive sports.

His mistake was the minute he touched someone's phone. That's an intrusion of privacy and a power position in which a young player would be intimidated to say no. Pretty simple.

He simply had to give the players notice and permission to opt out. Hey cooleus. For our meeting on Friday I was hoping you could share some photos just to get to know you better. You can email them to Lucy sometime this week who will coordinate. I've attached a photo of my family, my fishing boat, and the rink that I learned to skate. If you'd rather not share photos we can just talk over coffee too. Chat soon.

If he did that, zero problems. But sure, let's somehow tarnish all past coaching methods...
- Cooleus

Perfectly said!

Babcock picked up his paycheck and went home awfully fast.
- Zezel

He forfeited his money 💰 with quitting by himself.

He forfeited his money 💰 with quitting by himself.
- THE EVIL WITHIN

There's a very good chance he made an agreement to qo quietly with a severance. He sure did fold lightning fast for a principled guy who didn't do anything wrong.

None of those guys are anywhere close to Babcock and it’s inappropriate to suggest they are. Babcock is a weirdo and straight up bad person. It’s clear in that not a single former player has ever spoken favorably about Babcock while all of the coaches you’ve mentioned have had players speak positively about them.

There’s a massive difference between being a tough coach who pushes players and a psycho who is abusive.

Maybe you can define old school coaching. Benching players. Challenging them to be better. Bag skates. Naming someone in the media for poor results. Cursing. That sounds old school. Nothing wrong with that. Usually those who say this is wrong too have never actually played competitive sports.

His mistake was the minute he touched someone's phone. That's an intrusion of privacy and a power position in which a young player would be intimidated to say no. Pretty simple.

He simply had to give the players notice and permission to opt out. Hey cooleus. For our meeting on Friday I was hoping you could share some photos just to get to know you better. You can email them to Lucy sometime this week who will coordinate. I've attached a photo of my family, my fishing boat, and the rink that I learned to skate. If you'd rather not share photos we can just talk over coffee too. Chat soon.

If he did that, zero problems. But sure, let's somehow tarnish all past coaching methods...
- Cooleus

No coach/manager should ask to see photos or know any private info. Even if you make it optional people will feel obligated to share and worry if punishment will follow if they opt out. People need to stop trying to make everything into “we’re a family!” No, we’re not, we’re coworkers here to do a job and anything outside of that is none of anyone else’s business.

Sonny Corleone probably would’ve been ok…a few pennys lighter (paid the toll)but a whole lotta lead lighter had he not been a mobster himself.

I don’t get how ppl supporting Babcock actions can’t see that a line was crossed. Even then he’d be ok and let off with some small tap on the knuckles if this was a first time thing. But he went about wasting no time engaging in the same tactics that saw him be vilified in the media and many hockey circles just 4 years ago. That’s too after going record only few weeks ago saying that he’s reflected and changed.

There's a very good chance he made an agreement to qo quietly with a severance. He sure did fold lightning fast for a principled guy who didn't do anything wrong.
- Zezel

CBJ isn't paying him a severance lol. They're not generating enough revenue to afford that. Babcock and the rest of the front office very likely realized what an egregious privacy violation it was to request access to personal phone data content.