News and Blog Report: Babcock

[Stoneman89]

Sorry for the tangent but still want to appreciate this legend before we might go on another crazy coaching ride

I can still remember Terry Jones ranting about the donuts being replaced. All 350 lbs of him.

 

[redgrant]

The culture was built by Woody. See Derek Ryan comments.
The most noticeable difference was Coffey. It was brought up ad nauseum at the time. It was also evident again this year.
The pp was a monster.

We saw exactly what Knob was all on his own this year. Worst on ice product in years. Called out several times by his own players.. They begged Coffey to come bail him out. Now the same players are asking for a coach who is the polar opposite

Dude walked into a great situation. Nothing more,

Even coffey was an embarassing hire. Just another guy "part of the network" with zero coaching experience. To keep an eye on the head coach with zero head coaching experience.

Its not that coffey was great. Its that historically this team did awful and Ekholm was a game changer.

This dumb org is once again fishing in the only two wells it knows fancy name from a long time ago/oilers old boy.

 

[bellagiobob]

Seeing some folks pine for the 2008 version of Babcock is the equivalent of seeing that the hot/crazy girl that you had a crush on in high school, is now single again, after being recently divorced for the 4th time, and you know all of her previous ex's, and they all tell the same story, that the hotness is long gone, but the crazy is still there, and to stay clear. But you ignore all of that, as the only image you have of her in your head is the one from high school, and you will let that thought guide you as you ask her out on a date.

 

[Tarus]

Sorry for the tangent but still want to appreciate this legend before we might go on another crazy coaching ride

He had a policy of sitting up with the reporters for at least one practice per week. He claimed it was because a bird's eye view gave him more information about the team, but in reality it was he just liked schmoozing with a captive audience of paid buttkissers.

The level of his overt narccissm was astonishing.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Seeing some folks pine for the 2008 version of Babcock is the equivalent of seeing that the hot/crazy girl that you had a crush on in high school, is now single again, after being recently divorced for the 4th time, and you know all of her previous ex's, and they all tell the same story, that the hotness is long gone, but the crazy is still there, and to stay clear. But you ignore all of that, as the only image you have of her in your head is the one from high school, and you will let that thought guide you as you ask her out on a date.

Well said! It's hard to believe this level of management is even possible at the NHL level

 

[rboomercat90]

You can't have this many parties involved in the same thing.

So McDavid interviews Babcock and loves him, but Bowman doesn't. Who's making the decision? There are so, so many dynamics wrapped up in this that open up pandora's box as it pertains to problems:

Will new coach hold the stars accountable? Or let them do what they want because they picked him. Even if he tried to, do they brush him off knowing that they hold the reins?

If it's Babcock, and Babcock does the normal routine of letting the stars walk on water as he shits on the bottom of the roster - with this now being public that the leadership endorsed Babcock, what kind of division is that going to create in the room as the 4th liner that hates showing up to the rink every day looks across at his teammates that picked his bully?

If Babcock fails, and needs to be fired, is Bowman allowed to do that? Does he need to consult 97/29 first? What if they say no, because they were the ones that picked him anyways?

This decision process has created an outcome where there will be nothing but uncertainty and conflict. If it's Babcock, and Babcock selectively picks on players that aren't 97/29 - there will be division in the room and above the room, and nobody will know who's responsibility it is to fix this.

The fact that we have our f***ing players interviewing coaches is more offensive to me than Babcock coming here to coach, although it shouldn't be surprising that this is the outcome when you have people that should never be in a position to make this decision making it, then this is what you get.

This might be your best post of the thread. You’ve perfectly illustrated why players should never be involved with anything above playing the game.

Something I haven’t seen mentioned yet that should have been is the team in the last couple of years has made a point of telling the fans that the players themselves have endorsed free agency signings, trade acquisitions and extensions. I don’t remember this happening with the frequency it does under this regime ever in the past. I can’t see this being done for any other reason than to absolve management from accountability if it doesn’t work out just like saying the players want a Babcock hire is. The same conditions and problems that you describe can develop in this scenario too.

 

[tiger_80]

People need to realize that the players approving this doesn’t mean shit. Babcock is a classic narcissist and those types are extremely adept at winning people over and convincing them they’re trustworthy.
Beyond that if the leadership group has played a part in approving all of these horrible decisions the org keeps making you need to cut them out of the decision making process.

What did he do?

 

[tiger_80]

Babs is a C word. No doubt.

Imo Woody really created a team culture. This was confirmed by Ryan who said even the 4th line guys feel like they are important. The remanence of this still seemed evident in Knobs first year as how important Brown, Janmark, Foegle were. Even when Brown struggled all year the team totally had his back. I recall a play he devised on paper, then it worked and the team all exploded on the bench mid season. This seemed to kinda slip away the following season, and this last year was a disaster.

It seems Knob stripped that culture away. This is evidenced by McDrai's remarks. Evidenced by what we saw with top players icetime and his sending out McDrai every 3rd shift. Evidenced by what Stauffer said yesterday about 40 different line changes and about sticking with certain lines no matter what

No doubt Babs ego will get the best of him, but Knob was equally as damaging imo.

The coach's job is not to be players' best friend. The fact remains is that Knob took the team to the SCF in two of his two and a half seasons here. if he won a cup, he'd be considered elite of the elite.

 

[timekeep]

Seeing some folks pine for the 2008 version of Babcock is the equivalent of seeing that the hot/crazy girl that you had a crush on in high school, is now single again, after being recently divorced for the 4th time, and you know all of her previous ex's, and they all tell the same story, that the hotness is long gone, but the crazy is still there, and to stay clear. But you ignore all of that, as the only image you have of her in your head is the one from high school, and you will let that thought guide you as you ask her out on a date.

When you put it like that, I think you have give it a try for max 5 months

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Babs understands the game. He has great X's and O's like Cassidy, The only problem is he's full of himself and is a douchebag.

For 2 years he's better than every coach I'd say other than Cassidy. Both of these guys are what our group needs.

 

[oobga]

I can still remember Terry Jones ranting about the donuts being replaced. All 350 lbs of him.

He had a policy of sitting up with the reporters for at least one practice per week. He claimed it was because a bird's eye view gave him more information about the team, but in reality it was he just liked schmoozing with a captive audience of paid buttkissers.

The level of his overt narccissm was astonishing.

There must have been some awkward conversation at some point where Eakins told Jones that Jones was one of the main reasons he did the no donuts thing. For Terry's own good, lol.

 

[redgrant]

Seeing some folks pine for the 2008 version of Babcock is the equivalent of seeing that the hot/crazy girl that you had a crush on in high school, is now single again, after being recently divorced for the 4th time, and you know all of her previous ex's, and they all tell the same story, that the hotness is long gone, but the crazy is still there, and to stay clear. But you ignore all of that, as the only image you have of her in your head is the one from high school, and you will let that thought guide you as you ask her out on a date.

This organization and the obsession with overpaying fancy names from yesteryear. Cassidy isnt my ideal but how have we gone from a guy who won the Jack adams recently, on the record as wanting to coach here, to a guy who hasnt coached in years and career ended in shame?

 

[Echodek]

Being highly interested in the best coach available (Cassidy) to then going hot after a coach that isn’t even allowed to coach in the NHL is the most Oilers thing ever.

 

[redgrant]

I hope the players know if he tries any of his toxic behaviour for the umpteenth time everyone will be siding with the players when it goes public.

 

[Zguy370]

Don't know if this link from Friedman has been posted yet, but Elliot doesn't think the Oilers will follow through with this hire

 

[foshizzle]

Don't know if this link from Friedman has been posted yet, but Elliot doesn't think the Oilers will follow through with this hire

This is old and the Oilers have already said they are still hiring and to move forward with the investigation

 

[Soundwave]

Babs understands the game. He has great X's and O's like Cassidy, The only problem is he's full of himself and is a douchebag.

For 2 years he's better than every coach I'd say other than Cassidy. Both of these guys are what our group needs.

Sutter is better than both. Those Red Wings teams would’ve won two Cups if he was coach at least.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

This is how things are done with this younger more sensitive generation.

Seriously though I completely agree with you on this.
The complete lack of organizational leadership is embarrassing. It seems to be part of the Katz culture.

Told you the players wanted Babcock

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Sutter is better than both. Those Red Wings teams would’ve won two Cups if he was coach at least.

I feel like Sutter's successful teams have relied on very strong goaltending, but yes he's also a great coach you would put right there with Babs and Cassidy

 

[Echodek]

This is old and the Oilers have already said they are still hiring and to move forward with the investigation

Dammit! I had a small glimmer of hope that the Organization had seen sense and were walking away from this mess. Now that hope is gone!!

 

[Zguy370]

Dammit! I had a small glimmer of hope that the Organization had seen sense and were walking away from this mess. Now that hope is gone!!

tell me about it, he also crushed my hopes lol

 

[foshizzle]

tell me about it, he also crushed my hopes lol

Im sorry!!

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

This is how things are done with this younger more sensitive generation.

Seriously though I completely agree with you on this.
The complete lack of organizational leadership is embarrassing. It seems to be part of the Katz culture.

I don't think this reflects on a delicate, so called more sensitive generation. This is the culture and performance results driving overburdened super elites with leadership support hands interjecting an intervention on a management group that has them sliding backwards with talent erosion, poor decision making, and a bungled coaching situation from instant they didn't fire Knoblauch and inexplicably knocked on their arch rival's door to beg to lend them a championship level leader. They're unwitting Charlie Brown as Lucy pulls the football away when teed up to kick it.

Draisaitl and McDavid's public comments have been sounding the alarm of urgency that this team's fleeting time at the mountaintop has significantly slipped backwards to 'average' just one year from a second Cup Final participation ribbon. They know the talent isn't as good and they certainly know statistic wise their quality of team performance with process analytics (X-Stats) and performance results have been steadily declining from their peak Cup Final 1 and prior year.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The urgency of this season's off-season which might set this organization's direction either way - continual slippage into a pack of good teams or with a whole bunch of good decisions required with coaching hire and significant personnel holes - a potential reset into this league's short list of elite Cup contenders. This reality has landed on the owner's desk and with his golden geese elite moneymakers have been forced to action due to reactive, largely ineffective management who have started this critical off-season by bungling the necessary culture change with hiring a championship proven veteran taskmaster as coach.

McDavid, Draisaitl, and Hyman are fighting for this team's relevance as this organization's decision makers have them all dancing on the head of a pin with significant issues and limited resources to patch the personnel side of things.

 

[Zguy370]

Im sorry!!

It's ok, hopefully I'll have a better weekend by next wk!

 

[Echodek]

Im sorry!!

We can only hope that whatever comes out from this investigation is enough to make the Oilers back off and we haven’t already lost out on Cassidy. I mean, this organization would be smart enough to walk away right?