GDT: Around the League 2023-2024 "Off Season??!! What off season??!!"

[bellagiobob]

Can I look at your phone - No
Can I come over for supper - No
Can I borrow your car - No
How hard is any of that? Its a big SO WHAT. Must be an age difference thing. When have people become so soft.

I don’t have anything crazy on my phone, but no way I’m handing it over to some whack job for his jollies. Young people have lots of interesting pics on their phones. Read one comment today about what if a player was gay, but didn’t want to come out, and Babs saw some pics that could destroy the kids career. It’s not soft, it’s a basic invasion of privacy.

 

[Yuke]

I don’t have anything crazy on my phone, but no way I’m handing it over to some whack job for his jollies. Young people have lots of interesting pics on their phones. Read one comment today about what if a player was gay, but didn’t want to come out, and Babs saw some pics that could destroy the kids career. It’s not soft, it’s a basic invasion of privacy.

Note the NO

 

[bellagiobob]

If anyone wants to watch textbook business crisis management communication, here's the link to the BJ's media conference:

But most specifically, here's an opportunity to listen to a modern era hockey coach with strong communications skills, ability to articulate himself clearly in a human, authentic way. I'm impressed by Pascal Vincent. It is so different from old schooler Babcock who talked about many of the same things in terms of how to effectively work with 20+ different personality types when taking the C-Bus job but it sounded forced and artificial talking of individualized communication plans and such. Vincent said that he and Babcock have a shared vision of how the game should be played, the systems will largely be the same, process involved, and expectations. But the way in which they lead that 'hard work' is night and day.

Ultimately C-Bus failed with its high risk hiring decision of Babcock. Probably most bizarrely I don't think Babcock and the team management should have let him do anything one-on-one with players before even getting on ice with their group. Ultimately Babcock exposed himself as a guy incapable of reading the room and normalized expectations around coaching modern athletes or any workplace (as the excuses that a locker room standards are different).

But again, purpose of my post is an invitation to listen to Vincent.

I thought the coach was well spoken, and seemed to be competent, so hopefully he works out for them. But of course most of these initial pressers the coach sounds pretty good, I think even Dally did. As for the management part of it, was it professional sounding? Sure. Was it basically two guys who appeared clueless as to what just happened? Yes. Lots of the usual we have to be better, more due diligence , the usual word salad. But both seemed shocked that it didn’t work out, and really had no idea why. And that their plan to try it make it go away by trotting out some fluff pieces by their leadership group didn’t work (almost did, they fooled the league, who would have gladly buried it, but thank goodness for Marty Walsh, who cut thru the crap pretty quickly. Imagine being one of the young players in
Cbus and you know that your management cares so little for you that they either didn’t even bother to reach out to them, or even worse, did reach out, and still wanted to bury it and keep Babs. I can’t see either of those two lasting past this year in
Cbus.

Note the NO

An 18 year old coach isn’t going to say no to his coach. That would be ideal, but unrealistic.

 

[Yuke]

An 18 year old coach isn’t going to say no to his coach. That would be ideal, but unrealistic.

I call BS.
Anyone that is hiding something knows how to avoid an uncomfortable situation.

 

[bellagiobob]

I call BS.
Anyone that is hiding something knows how to avoid an uncomfortable situation.

You aren’t necessarily hiding something, but it’s personal. Out of the blue, away from the team facilities, your coach, who you just met, and controls your future, says let me see your phone. Pretty much no 18 year old is going to say no to that request. You don’t think he’s going to spend several minutes going thru your phone.

 

[bellagiobob]

 

[Stoneman89]

Can I look at your phone - No
Can I come over for supper - No
Can I borrow your car - No
How hard is any of that? Its a big SO WHAT. Must be an age difference thing. When have people become so soft.

Now substitute "your new employer" in there instead of "I" and see if that feels any different for #1. Has NOTHING to do with being soft.

And then new employer gets to that text you sent to the other rookie on the team that says, "wow, our coach is sure an asshole. He can go f*** himself if he wants me to put in that extra work. How about you?"

 

[Yuke]

You aren’t necessarily hiding something, but it’s personal. Out of the blue, away from the team facilities, your coach, who you just met, and controls your future, says let me see your phone. Pretty much no 18 year old is going to say no to that request. You don’t think he’s going to spend several minutes going thru your phone.

Now you are assuming it is an 18 year old

Now substitute "your new employer" in there instead of "I" and see if that feels any different for #1. Has NOTHING to do with being soft.

And then new employer gets to that text you sent to the other rookie on the team that says, "wow, our coach is sure an asshole. He can go f*** himself if he wants me to put in that extra work. How about you?"

It was pictures, now its text.
You guys just keeping adding and adding to a minor issue

 

[Stoneman89]

invasion of privacy isn't abuse it's invasion of privacy

Searching through someone's phone is abuse of position and power. Try to follow.

Now you are assuming it is an 18 year old

It was pictures, now its text.
You guys just keeping adding and adding to a minor issue

Lol, what difference does it make whether the guy(s) was 18, 19, 20, 21. It was younger guys. He just used that age as an example. Are you able to comprehend that?

Newsflash, when you have a phone you can access several things on it. I just used that as an example of things you may want to keep private.

A guy got fired for it, so apparently the GM and Manager thought it was a pretty big deal. And the rest of the hockey world agrees.

 

[Yuke]

Searching through someone's phone is abuse of position and power. Try to follow.


Lol, what difference does it make whether the guy(s) was 18, 19, 20, 21. It was younger guys. He just used that age as an example. Are you able to comprehend that?

Newsflash, when you have a phone you can access several things on it. I just used that as an example of things you may want to keep private.

A guy got fired for it, so apparently the GM and Manager thought it was a pretty big deal. And the rest of the hockey world agrees.

It was suggested a 18 year would fold under the pressure of a coach. I doubt that. These "kids" have been away from home billeting for years.
The guy was a distraction, no doubt. The softies of today's world are winning. Soon, if you fart you will be shamed on the internet.
If, this coach DID broadcast any harmful info openly there would be a reason to complain. I see no proof of that.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I thought the coach was well spoken, and seemed to be competent, so hopefully he works out for them. But of course most of these initial pressers the coach sounds pretty good, I think even Dally did. As for the management part of it, was it professional sounding? Sure. Was it basically two guys who appeared clueless as to what just happened? Yes. Lots of the usual we have to be better, more due diligence , the usual word salad. But both seemed shocked that it didn’t work out, and really had no idea why. And that their plan to try it make it go away by trotting out some fluff pieces by their leadership group didn’t work (almost did, they fooled the league, who would have gladly buried it, but thank goodness for Marty Walsh, who cut thru the crap pretty quickly. Imagine being one of the young players in
Cbus and you know that your management cares so little for you that they either didn’t even bother to reach out to them, or even worse, did reach out, and still wanted to bury it and keep Babs. I can’t see either of those two lasting past this year in
Cbus.

We'll see how the coach works out. In extraordinary circumstances I thought he handled himself extremely well. He has time in with the organization and some runway with the players so that will help. He's working with scorched earth so we'll see how this team with a lot of new pieces gels.

My (cynical) point about crisis management was more about that is reflects a pretty standard template/format used across the corporate world. First principles of taking responsibility which is the first thing out of Davidson and Jarmo's mouths in their prepared statements. They then talked about apologizing to the team etc. etc. Both referenced their pasts as players themselves. Talked about some of the hockey people they spoke with during the hiring process and that it spanned leagues, included ex-players and so on. Ultimately their high risk gamble blew up in their face. Time will tell if it will end their jobs in C-Bus which seems tied to on-ice performance of this team. We don't know either of their relationships with the players and how/if it is effected. Some media peeps are up in arms about the Club and Babcock's statements within the team media release but I imagine this is likely written by lawyers or team's comm executive.

I was very intrigued by the Players Association's hiring of Marty Walsh. A big step out of the usual retreads in that position that extends back to the shameful collusion days of Eagleson and the NHL. He's won a significant win for the players early in his role.

 

[Fourier]

Rumors have Chia joining the Sens.

 

[joestevens29]

I think the worst part about the Babcock situation is there was known issues and CBJ really didn't seem to do their due diligence.

Did Jarmo or Davidson not reach out to the brotherhood and find out more? Did they not ask the players that have brought up issues with Babcock if he has ever reached out? Did they not ask Babcock himself what has he done to rectify these issues with players?

All the guy really ever said about learning from his past is he talked to his daughter and she was telling him to be a better communicator.

Seems like a red flag when your daughter is telling you that.

I get that guys like Babcock can spin things and make it sound like everything is all good. Just don't know that CBJ did their job and did some background checks to see what has transpired since being fired in Toronto

Really curious what impact if any this will have going forward with guys like Quennville and Bowman.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

I think the worst part about the Babcock situation is there was known issues and CBJ really didn't seem to do their due diligence.

Did Jarmo or Davidson not reach out to the brotherhood and find out more? Did they not ask the players that have brought up issues with Babcock if he has ever reached out? Did they not ask Babcock himself what has he done to rectify these issues with players?

All the guy really ever said about learning from his past is he talked to his daughter and she was telling him to be a better communicator.

Seems like a red flag when your daughter is telling you that.

I get that guys like Babcock can spin things and make it sound like everything is all good. Just don't know that CBJ did their job and did some background checks to see what has transpired since being fired in Toronto

Really curious what impact if any this will have going forward with guys like Quennville and Bowman.

I literally do not know how the GM and the President of hockey ops are still employed.

This is what Kekalainen said in the press conference announcing the signing of Babcock as head coach.

"This was a lengthy process," Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "We wanted to do our due diligence and wanted to do our work to make sure that we get the best coach available for our team, even though I’ve known Mike on a personal level since the late ‘90s, when he was growing up coaching the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs. ... we’re convinced we got the best coach for the job."

Obviously they failed. Seems like their due diligence was making a phone call to Hitchcock and King.

According to president of hockey operations John Davidson, Babcock arrives pre-approved by former Blue Jackets coaches Ken Hitchcock and Dave King. Hitchcock, who was recently voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, reached out to Davidson to suggest Babcock and King, the first coach in franchise history and Babcock's former college coach, did the same

Columbus Blue Jackets make it official: Mike Babcock's the new coach

 

[joestevens29]

I literally do not know how the GM and the President of hockey ops are still employed.

This is what Kekalainen said in the press conference announcing the signing of Babcock as head coach.



Obviously they failed. Seems like their due diligence was making a phone call to Hitchcock and King.



Columbus Blue Jackets make it official: Mike Babcock's the new coach

I can see pre-approved for the style they want to play on the ice, but they shouldn't have been using those guys as a character reference.

 

[Jumptheshark]

 

[bellagiobob]

I think the worst part about the Babcock situation is there was known issues and CBJ really didn't seem to do their due diligence.

Did Jarmo or Davidson not reach out to the brotherhood and find out more? Did they not ask the players that have brought up issues with Babcock if he has ever reached out? Did they not ask Babcock himself what has he done to rectify these issues with players?

All the guy really ever said about learning from his past is he talked to his daughter and she was telling him to be a better communicator.

Seems like a red flag when your daughter is telling you that.

I get that guys like Babcock can spin things and make it sound like everything is all good. Just don't know that CBJ did their job and did some background checks to see what has transpired since being fired in Toronto

Really curious what impact if any this will have going forward with guys like Quennville and Bowman.

I'm only on very limited social media, and you can find a couple dozen players without even trying that have posted negative reviews on Babs. Maybe should have tried talking to a view of them. Watching the presser yesterday it was clear that both of them were dumbfounded that this blew up in their face. Just oblivious. Hard to fathom how two guys running a pro hockey team could miss just about every signal out there to not hire the guy.

 

[FlameChampion]

Dunno, I’d be pretty pissed if my boss spent a minutes looking thru my phone. Sounds like the vets got the ‘show me some family pics’ while one or more young players had to hand over their phones for Babs to puruse.

I think the whole thing is probably overblown to a certain extent.

But lets be honest, Babcock is an idiot and never should of been hired in the first place. Hes been in trouble in the past for the same types of things. He probably cant coach the way he wants without the intimidation part of it. Columbus's fault for hiring him the first place.

Have to give Seravalli some credit. Least the guy has some balls.

 

[K1984]

I think the whole thing is probably overblown to a certain extent.

But lets be honest, Babcock is an idiot and never should of been hired in the first place. Hes been in trouble in the past for the same types of things. He probably cant coach the way he wants without the intimidation part of it. Columbus's fault for hiring him the first place.



Have to give Seravalli some credit. Least the guy has some balls.

I've been very much on his side when he was the only person from any media outlet anywhere that publicly and loudly called for Parros' resignation after the Nurse/Pietrangelo suspension fiasco in last year's playoffs.

 

[Stoneman89]

It was suggested a 18 year would fold under the pressure of a coach. I doubt that. These "kids" have been away from home billeting for years.
The guy was a distraction, no doubt. The softies of today's world are winning. Soon, if you fart you will be shamed on the internet.
If, this coach DID broadcast any harmful info openly there would be a reason to complain. I see no proof of that.

Look, I'm old school and can't stand what's been happening to the world in general with the softies, snowflakes and wokesters of the world turning things upside down. But this isn't one of those things, in my opinion, so we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[joestevens29]

I'm only on very limited social media, and you can find a couple dozen players without even trying that have posted negative reviews on Babs. Maybe should have tried talking to a view of them. Watching the presser yesterday it was clear that both of them were dumbfounded that this blew up in their face. Just oblivious. Hard to fathom how two guys running a pro hockey team could miss just about every signal out there to not hire the guy.

I'd be very curious who pushed for Babcock.

Was it Davidson or Jarmo or did both really think it was a good idea.

Davidson was obviously involved, but was he trying to get a guy in that might outlast the GM? Did Jarmo not push back too hard as he was afraid of being fired?

 

[Drivesaitl]

I thought the coach was well spoken, and seemed to be competent, so hopefully he works out for them. But of course most of these initial pressers the coach sounds pretty good, I think even Dally did. As for the management part of it, was it professional sounding? Sure. Was it basically two guys who appeared clueless as to what just happened? Yes. Lots of the usual we have to be better, more due diligence , the usual word salad. But both seemed shocked that it didn’t work out, and really had no idea why. And that their plan to try it make it go away by trotting out some fluff pieces by their leadership group didn’t work (almost did, they fooled the league, who would have gladly buried it, but thank goodness for Marty Walsh, who cut thru the crap pretty quickly. Imagine being one of the young players in
Cbus and you know that your management cares so little for you that they either didn’t even bother to reach out to them, or even worse, did reach out, and still wanted to bury it and keep Babs. I can’t see either of those two lasting past this year in
Cbus.


An 18 year old coach isn’t going to say no to his coach. That would be ideal, but unrealistic.

I don't know an 18yr old anywhere that hands over their phone willingly, even to their parents if asked. One would have to yank it from their hands with a crowbar.

You'd have less chance getting somebody to hand over their smartphone than a wallet and basically mugging or threat there of involved.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I think the whole thing is probably overblown to a certain extent.

But lets be honest, Babcock is an idiot and never should of been hired in the first place. Hes been in trouble in the past for the same types of things. He probably cant coach the way he wants without the intimidation part of it. Columbus's fault for hiring him the first place.



Have to give Seravalli some credit. Least the guy has some balls.

Gonna clarify again that different media pretend to be something they are not. "NHL News" that even have a logo designed to be somewhat confusing, as if they are some kind of authorized source, are not that at all. They could be saying martians are landing. Would people believe that? I just say this because people are quoting these third parties as if they are insiders. They are not. NHL news is "Puckpedia". About as connected as I am, lol.

 

[mcdingdong]

Can I look at your phone - No
Can I come over for supper - No
Can I borrow your car - No
How hard is any of that? Its a big SO WHAT. Must be an age difference thing. When have people become so soft.

First "no" answer given from a young player = major career roadblock. This is the guy who has your job in his hands. 18-20 year old kids would have a hard time saying no, conditioned as they are from a young age to be respectful and obedient to their coaches. I absolutely cannot believe how many people do not understand this.

 

[Stoneman89]

First "no" answer given from a young player = major career roadblock. This is the guy who has your job in his hands. 18-20 year old kids would have a hard time saying no, conditioned as they are from a young age to be respectful and obedient to their coaches. I absolutely cannot believe how many people do not understand this.

Great post. Again, this guy literally holds your future in his hands. He has a resume longer than 3 times your age, and is not someone you say no to. He says jump, you ask how high. You trust him, because he is who he is. You've been conditioned to trust and listen to older people throughout your short career. This is similar, but in a different context to the Graham James and Brian Shaw situations. "You want to get a head in this world, you do as I say. I'm asking, but it's not really an ask." Like you, I can't believe there are actually a few people out there are so naive to actually believe it doesn't work this way.