Babcock resigning as CBJ Head Coach *Mod note, post #687*

[Beau Knows]

I don't know if this is really Voracek but he doesn't think Jarmo should be canned lol

Weird response by Voracek. Asking why there aren't consequences for the man responsible for hiring Babcock is a valid question. The team had to settle with Babcock, meaning they likely had to pay at least a portion of his 2 year contract to make him go away. That's a costly mistake, and one that could easily warrant a firing.

 

[Tripledeke333]

I don't think anybody would have had a problem with the latter scenario. That seems reasonable lol.

Exactly. If Babcock wanted to bond over photos, there are easy ways to do it without getting you on a Podcast and fired after an investigation.

 

[Magicman]

Coaches will inevitably look to exploit players for their means. And it doesn't have to be anything bad or illegal. And they will no doubt discuss this with the boss, hey GM I am going to go tough on XX for a few days to see if I can get a bit more out of him.

GM to his boss, hey we might get a call from an agent, coach is going to give XX a bit of tough love to see if he can get him motivated/engaged.

Happens everyday across sports, now where is the line you don't cross. It seems over the years to be a moving target. I had a coach who bought beer for 19 and 20 year old's on the team, it was not a secret. Today, well probably not a good idea.

Though the line is constantly shifting as to what was acceptable behavior then vs what is acceptable now, one thing remains a constant.

Rarely does a professional coach do any sort of team building without discussing it with the GM and GM with his boss. I find it hard to believe that Babcock, with whatever he did with the players phone, did this in a vacuum.

I think eventually as the story shifts, ownership's lawyers will advise that they need to cut ties with the top of the hockey operations management and start over with a new leader. This is one of those things that will linger, unless you get real lucky and it just goes away.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

in a lot of these episodes of an "old school guy" getting destroyed by a former player, the millennial entitlement factor has to be part of the equation.

Yeah, because as it turns out the "Most Worthless Generation" the Boomers did pretty much everything completely bassackwards, including fielding these cultural and intellectual dinosaurs like Babcock, and my generation X and others following are now having to clean up their messes not just in hockey but in society generally. One has to wonder how many players would have had good careers but for them getting crossways with one of these "It's all about me" narcissists.

Kudos to these kids for leading another tyrannosaurus into the tar pit.

 

[BlazingBlueAnt]

That is exactly what I suggested they should do. "Can you show me your phone?" "Nope, sorry that's my personal phone and I'd rather not." According to most folks here it's impossible to expect any employee ever to say No to any request from a supervisor ever however. The only solution is to comply and then later on gossip about it.

In a normal job if you're boss retaliates you just quit and get another job. NHL players are "owned" by their team for years. The head coach holds a crapton more power over them than a traditional boss. Saying no could ruin their career.

 

[Tripledeke333]

I feel like this may have started innocent enough, when younger playoffs were apprehensive about giving over their phone, Babs went on full power trip mode, instead of laughing it off (“well I don’t wanna see you or the girl you are dating posing without clothes so please email a photo of you on your summer cottage vacation” and asking to be emailed/texted a pic they think represents them.

 

[cheech70]

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Because (1) I suspect many arguing for player privacy in this thread would have no regard for it at all in that scenario

For argument's sake, if Babcock had uncovered pictures of a sexual assault in the event of checking a player's phone

"Hockey officials in positions of authority, like hockey coaches and front office, shouldn't go through players' personal phones, it's unethical and an abuse of power"

"Heh. What if that players' phone has evidence confirming American Senator Ted Cruz *is* the Zodiac Killer? Checkmate, idiot"

 

[Kranix]

Davidson just said Blue Jackets management still doesn't know the specific details of what happened.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Davidson just said Blue Jackets management still doesn't know the specific details of what happened.

That’s a sure fire way to seem competent to the public when dealing a firestorm lmao

 

[Kranix]

That’s a sure fire way to seem competent to the public when dealing a firestorm lmao

He probably does know more, but the way he construed it was Gary Bettman and the NHLPA told CBJ management Babs is done.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Davidson just said Blue Jackets management still doesn't know the specific details of what happened.

HOW?

 

[Kranix]

HOW?

He said the incidents were discussed behind closed doors with NHLPA and Columbus players, and he and Jarmo were simply told the situation cannot be reconciled.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

He said the incidents were discussed behind closed doors with NHLPA and Columbus players, and he and Jarmo were simply told the situation cannot be reconciled.

Boy do they come across as guys who had zero pulse on their team

 

[I Hate Philadelphia]

Maybe this was all intentional, this is easily the most media coverage the Jackets franchise has gotten in their entire existence. "Any press is good press!"

 

[oXo Cube]

He said the incidents were discussed behind closed doors with NHLPA and Columbus players, and he and Jarmo were simply told the situation cannot be reconciled.

That Jarmo is going to somehow survive this saga is absolutely insane.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Davidson just said Blue Jackets management still doesn't know the specific details of what happened.

 

[gach]

I recall these established players didn't think much of it but the rumor was that the young players had issue. It could be that these younger players were the ones where Babcock actually went through the phones.

Younger players are desperate to make a good impression and establish themselves so they are less likely to say no to anything

It would show the coach they had a backbone

 

[Hanji]

Tortirella can be a pain the ass, but I think he's more a no nonsense and straight to the point guy.

Babcock seems to play some weird mind games, and oversteps his boundaries.

I don't think they are all that comparable.

But Torts is an old school retread coach with a known temper. So people are going to react badly when he is hired. He was never fired because of a scandal of manipulation and poor treatment of players.

I don't recall Torts having stories as bad as Babcock and Franzen, for example. Or Marner for that matter. He's often been referred to as a hardass but not abusive.

Torts can be a dirtbag. But AFAIK his methods are always hockey related; a means to an end to get players to play better.

Babcock come across as a coach whose methods are sometimes used to feed his own ego, or to show personal dominance over his players.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Jarmo’s comment about him being unapproachable for players problems is absurd. Doesn’t even see how that’s a big issue, not just phones, but what about another Chicago/Beach situation?

Dude has to go IMO. I am far from uber sensitive or wanting to cancel people but bosses that cannot get into the trenches with the guys that are on the front lines are the absolute worst. First boss was like that and it’s completely miserable feeling to be worried you’ll come across “needy” to ask permission to go to a doctors appointment.

 

[Guttersniped]

It is because these losers have created a narrative in their head that players are soft now a days and need to be handheld and can't handle a tough coach like Babcock.

They will not read or respond to the various stories from previous years and players, because it goes against their misconception that Babcock has been wronged by cancel culture or soft players who can't take toughness.

What they don't understand is there is nothing tough about Babcock. There is nothing tough about lying, there is nothing tough about sneakily scratching players, there is nothing tough about manipulating rookies and youth players, there is nothing tough about breaking a player mentally.

All this deflecting as if Paul Bissonnette is the problem too is weird. He did not wrong anyone in this story. Babcock did. Good riddance.

Babcock defenders/JAQ types can’t stop with the endless pages of pseudo-investigative breakdowns and cartoonish tough talk.

Columbus is not required to grant fans complete immediate access to all information so they can personally decide if they like what’s happening.

I’m sorry if your burning desire to know if Babcock “forcibly” took a player’s phone away before looking at it might go unquenched.

I personally don’t even care about the specifics of the incident, because I don’t know if I will ever know them, this is about player empowerment.

There’s a huge code of silence where players never talk about coaches’ shitty behavior. And they aren’t wrong to do not do it, because teams don’t support them, the NHL doesn’t support them, and we see here how some fans don’t support them either.

If someone brought this story to Driedger or LeBrun it dies on the vine when they get harsh pushback from Columbus before going public.

So, yes, SC publicly advocates for players and that’s important. (I don’t like Barstool even a little.)

 

[Caroline Says ll]

It would show the coach they had a backbone

Yeah that makes perfect sense.

I cannot believe these youth softies thought this anything but a backbone test that if they stood up for themselves they would be rewarded with ice time and the PK.

We all know Babcock is a man on integrity who has never held vendettas or played mental games or embarrassed players publically. He has never scratched players for an entire year, or been known to say one thing but blatently lie.

This should all be interpreted as a regular coaching technique to illicit moral character.

You are naive.

 

[CorgisPer60]

Imagine if you were an in-the-closet and not out to your employer/public gay person playing for Columbus. Your first meeting with the person who will make a decision on your dream wants to root through your phone.

Any company that demands to look at your social media and get your password for your social media does not deserve any employees.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

"Skulduggery" is a good word to describe what's going on in Columbus.

Although I'm only speculating.

 

[BlazingBlueAnt]

How do you hire this guy?