News and Blog Report: Babcock

[guymez]

Appe

Told you the players wanted Babcock

It appears you were right - kudos to you.

These days though its hard to tell whats legit and what isnt so I'm going to continue trying to be somewhat cautious.

I found this interesting....

 

[guymez]

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.

Completely agree.
I would sum all of this up by suggesting that their window to win is rapidly closing and the organization isnt exactly reacting to the reality of that with calm composure. Things like this (organizational reactions to pressure) do in fact filter down.
Not unreasonable to suggest that lack of calm composure influences the identity of the team.

 

[Cloned]

Seems like everybody in the organization was going to go for Cassidy until they interviewed Babcock and he pulled a Rasputin act (on the players especially).

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Completely agree.
I would sum all of this up by suggesting that their window to win is rapidly closing and the organization isnt exactly reacting to the reality of that with calm composure. Things like this (organizational reactions to pressure) do in fact filter down.
Not unreasonable to suggest that lack of calm composure influences the identity of the team.

Ownership stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of prospective lost revenue and moreso with brand devaluation if McDavid moves on. The players are fighting for a slim winning window that's evaporated quickly under Jackson Bowman.

Squeeze is on for largely ineffective management group from on high and the breadwinners below to fix all the problems that have been largely self-induced. Very valid that those with greatest at stake have fired up the urgency.

 

[guymez]

Ownership stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of prospective lost revenue and moreso with brand devaluation if McDavid moves on. The players are fighting for a slim winning window that's evaporated quickly under Jackson Bowman.

Squeeze is on for largely ineffective management group from on high and the breadwinners below to fix all the problems that have been largely self-induced. Very valid that those with greatest at stake have fired up the urgency.

A sense of urgency is totally appropriate considering the situation.
What we are witnessing is more akin to panic.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Seems like everybody in the organization was going to go for Cassidy until they interviewed Babcock and he pulled a Rasputin act (on the players especially).

When Bettman and Dailey endorsed Vegas's contract legitimacy with Cassidy it forced a pivot beyond wishes and hopes a smarter managed organization would just give up their asset. The Oilers painted themselves into a corner to this point where Babcock is seen as a saviour.

Through this process (and I love the guy) one can't underestimate the credibility and trust in Zach Hyman who is the Chief Executive Stumper for Babcock. A bit of a wrinkle is the last falling Leaf Zach recommended was Nice Guy Jack Campbell.

But this job search has been bungled from the start.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

A sense of urgency is totally appropriate considering the situation.
What we are witnessing is more akin to panic.

yup. I should have used panic.

 

[McFlash97]

Darryl Katz needs to get of his high horse and fire these clowns. Then step the f*** back from hockey decisions. Let a legit management team make the calls. Hes hired clowns and then he has to make stupid decisions like interviewing Babcock for a fn job.

The worst front office in pro sports. Not just hockey.

Then have bootlickers like Stauffer justify the moves. Every single one of these guys are Pr mouthpiece for this disaster. Fans who follow them like a blind squirrel then jump on board. McDavid wont be around long enough to sign a 7 year contract once Babcock is in charge 4 months into the season.

This is an absolute horseshit roster. Trying to turn piss poor roster players into a championship team is like winning a lottery.

Fire all the clowns in charge of putting together this roster. Thats the easiest way to say , this was a mistake and we fxxx up. Lets get this right.

 

[McAsuno]

Darryl Katz needs to get of his high horse and fire these clowns. Then step the f*** back from hockey decisions. Let a legit management team make the calls. Hes hired clowns and then he has to make stupid decisions like interviewing Babcock for a fn job.

The worst front office in pro sports. Not just hockey.

Katz shouldn't be sticking his nose in any Oiler decision-making to begin with IMO.

 

[Echodek]

Darryl Katz needs to get of his high horse and fire these clowns. Then step the f*** back from hockey decisions. Let a legit management team make the calls. Hes hired clowns and then he has to make stupid decisions like interviewing Babcock for a fn job.

The worst front office in pro sports. Not just hockey.

Then have bootlickers like Stauffer justify the moves. Every single one of these guys are Pr mouthpiece for this disaster. Fans who follow them like a blind squirrel then jump on board. McDavid wont be around long enough to sign a 7 year contract once Babcock is in charge 4 months into the season.

This is an absolute horseshit roster. Trying to turn piss poor roster players into a championship team is like winning a lottery.

Fire all the clowns in charge of putting together this roster. Thats the easiest way to say , this was a mistake and we fxxx up. Lets get this right.

This is one of the things that irks me the most about this. How the organization and Stauffer in particular are trying to make it seem like WE are the ones with the problem of them sticking with their guy. Not that the problem is their guy being a scumbag or anything.

 

[Soundwave]

Stauffer is paid to be a mouthpiece for the org, end of story. He's not going to ruin what puts food on his table and pays the bills to make some fans happy, he knows the job. I wouldn't do any differently in his situation either.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

This is one of the things that irks me the most about this. How the organization and Stauffer in particular are trying to make it seem like WE are the ones with the problem of them sticking with their guy. Not that the problem is their guy being a scumbag or anything.

They'll never accept that the primary reason the team hasn't won a Cup yet is Katz and his cronies.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Didn’t see this posted:

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Decent interview with Frankie Corrado about Babcock. He paints the picture of the duality of a great technical coach and poor human being:

Not a defense of Babcock. I do think alot of the Leafs junk was an internal power struggle between an inexperienced young GM and a veteran obsessively focused coach and their fundamental different philosophy about building a Cup championship team. Dubas adored finesse skill and moved on players like Tyson Barrie and pick up like Corrado. Babcock had high skill in Detroit but also high character grinding support players essential to heavy marathon playoff series hockey. He loved Kadri and saw the loss (even with costly playoff judgement mistakes) and nurtured the potential within Hyman who we've seen thrive with opportunity and in the playoffs.

Would seem alot of stupid passive aggressive behaviour taking it out on Barrie, Corrado and perceived GM guys. Dubas won the power struggle but ultimately his model was proven lacking when regular season play changed over to playoff grinding series style.

Inexcusable for Babcock to allegedly treat everyone poorly including team support staff and even office and building workers.

Such is this moment of desperation where Babcock gets the call from his own self induced Chernobyl as a perceived magic bullet to fix a diminishing team hurt by reactive mediocre management.

 

[Echodek]

Didn’t see this posted:

Gross. I’d sooner have Knoblauch. And I don’t like Knoblauch. Realistically we have one year to win the cup before we have to entertain the real possibility of trading away Mcdavid. And this is their guy? And all of the bad baggage he brings? We seriously aren’t going to wait half a week to see if Cassidy shakes loose? When supposedly he was our #1 choice to begin with? This organization deserves the next decade of darkness.

 

[guymez]

Decent interview with Frankie Corrado about Babcock. He paints the picture of the duality of a great technical coach and poor human being:

Not a defense of Babcock. I do think alot of the Leafs junk was an internal power struggle between an inexperienced young GM and a veteran obsessively focused coach and their fundamental different philosophy about building a Cup championship team. Dubas adored finesse skill and moved on players like Tyson Barrie and pick up like Corrado. Babcock had high skill in Detroit but also high character grinding support players essential to heavy marathon playoff series hockey. He loved Kadri and saw the loss (even with costly playoff judgement mistakes) and nurtured the potential within Hyman who we've seen thrive with opportunity and in the playoffs.

Would seem alot of stupid passive aggressive behaviour taking it out on Barrie, Corrado and perceived GM guys. Dubas won the power struggle but ultimately his model was proven lacking when regular season play changed over to playoff grinding series style.

Inexcusable for Babcock to allegedly treat everyone poorly including team support staff and even office and building workers.

Such is this moment of desperation where Babcock gets the call from his own self induced Chernobyl as a perceived magic bullet to fix a diminishing team hurt by reactive mediocre management.

This is pretty much in line with everything I am hearing including what Mike Commodore is saying.
There is way way too much here to just overlook and if the Oilers leadership group did in fact sign off on the team getting Babcock (the inherent issues with that from a Management perspective aside) then that IMO is cause for concern in and of itself.
I mean WTF is going on? This is a circus.

I know that some on here dont like Gregor but this interview with Commodore is completely consistent with the overall player narrative on Babcock...

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

This is pretty much in line with everything I am hearing including what Mike Commodore is saying.
There is way way too much here to just overlook and if the Oilers leadership group did in fact sign off on the team getting Babcock (the inherent issues with that from a Management perspective aside) then that IMO is cause for concern in and of itself.
I mean WTF is going on? This is a circus.

I know that some on here dont like Gregor but this interview with Commodore is completely consistent with the overall player narrative on Babcock...

I can't stand Commodore. Never have. And have to say I think Gregor's virtue signalling stance is fatiguing. Though my own reactive biases I agree with the point you make about this chaos organization. Very poor start to their most critical off-season.

 

[brentashton]

This is pretty much in line with everything I am hearing including what Mike Commodore is saying.
There is way way too much here to just overlook and if the Oilers leadership group did in fact sign off on the team getting Babcock (the inherent issues with that from a Management perspective aside) then that IMO is cause for concern in and of itself.
I mean WTF is going on? This is a circus.

I know that some on here dont like Gregor but this interview with Commodore is completely consistent with the overall player narrative on Babcock...

Everything he says may be true but it also should be pointed out that Mike Commodore has made a cottage industry out of being the official spokesperson about all that is horribad about Mike Babcock. For 20 years ongoing now.

I’m not suggesting other players don’t have an axe to grind but it’s clear that Commodore, ironically, has vindictiveness running in his veins too otherwise he would move on living like many others have.

 

[guymez]

Everything he says may be true but it also should be pointed out that Mike Commodore has made a cottage industry out of being the official spokesperson about all that is horribad about Mike Babcock. For 20 years ongoing now.

I’m not suggesting other players don’t have an axe to grind but it’s clear that Commodore, ironically, has vindictiveness running in his veins too otherwise he would move on living like many others have.

I guess this is fair although if half of what Commodore says is true then I dont blame him for being a dog on a bone for making sure that Babcock doesnt slip past being held accountable.

Its pretty clear (based on multiple reports now) that Babcock is a good technical coach but from a people perspective he is a sad excuse for a man.
Serious question - why is he even on the radar for Head Coach?

I just dont understand why this team would overlook everything with Babcock (and the potential damage he could cause internally) as if this history doesnt matter at all.

I do understand that this Katz culture is dysfunctional (I accepted that reality years ago) but this potential hiring (and the way it is being handled) is taking dysfunction to another level altogether.

 

[brentashton]

I guess this is fair although if half of what Commodore says is true then I dont blame him for being a dog on a bone for making sure that Babcock doesnt slip past being held accountable.

Its pretty clear (based on multiple reports now) that Babcock is a good technical coach but from a people perspective he is a sad excuse for a man.

I just dont understand why this team would overlook all that (and the potential damage it could cause internally) as if this history doesnt matter at all.

I understand that this Katz culture is dysfunctional but this potential hiring (and the way it is being handled) is taking dysfunction to another level altogether.

I don’t think we’ve seen the full crazy of this organization yet. If Babcock is hired it ratchets up on the dial, if he isn’t allowed to be hired, it really ratchets up (I’m also curious how the NHL will finesse that he is unemployable - I smell winnable civil litigation for MB all over that. Moreso I expect a short suspension at the start of the season for whatever transgression will come of this incident review and then he is instated ).

Buckle up.

 

[guymez]

I don’t think we’ve seen the full crazy of this organization yet.

This literally made me LOL.

Its funny and sad at the same time.

If Babcock is hired it ratchets up on the dial, if he isn’t allowed to be hired, it really ratchets up (I’m also curious how the NHL will finesse that he is unemployable - I smell winnable civil litigation for MB all over that. Moreso I expect a short suspension at the start of the season for whatever transgression will come of this incident review and then he is instated ).

Buckle up.

I hear you and I would be interested to hear something coherent regarding why the team even decided to go down this road.

I have heard a few peripheral comments about the Oilers using this (potential hiring of Babcock) as a means of pressuring the NHL to intervene and force Vegas to let Cassidy talk to them.
As far fetched as that is - it is what I am hoping for at this point because hiring Babcock would IMO be an all time low for this sad sack version of the Oilers under Katz.

 

[Echodek]

I guess this is fair although if half of what Commodore says is true then I dont blame him for being a dog on a bone for making sure that Babcock doesnt slip past being held accountable.

Its pretty clear (based on multiple reports now) that Babcock is a good technical coach but from a people perspective he is a sad excuse for a man.
Serious question - why is he even on the radar for Head Coach?

I just dont understand why this team would overlook everything with Babcock (and the potential damage he could cause internally) as if this history doesnt matter at all.

I do understand that this Katz culture is dysfunctional (I accepted that reality years ago) but this potential hiring (and the way it is being handled) is taking dysfunction to another level altogether.

I also think it’s a bit of a bad look that the guy that just won the Ted Lindsay award, an award voted on by his peers, is now supposedly advocating for the hire of a disgraced former coach that the NHLPA have an issue with.

 

[BudBundy]

Everything he says may be true but it also should be pointed out that Mike Commodore has made a cottage industry out of being the official spokesperson about all that is horribad about Mike Babcock. For 20 years ongoing now.

I’m not suggesting other players don’t have an axe to grind but it’s clear that Commodore, ironically, has vindictiveness running in his veins too otherwise he would move on living like many others have.

Commodore has been living his life and, at least as far as I know, hasn’t said “boo” about Babcock since Columbus turfed him. As soon as this farce with the Oilers came to light, everyone with a microphone and air time to fill have been pounding on his door for a take on this. I personally don’t think he’s tried to make this a “cottage industry.”

 

[foshizzle]

I guess this is fair although if half of what Commodore says is true then I dont blame him for being a dog on a bone for making sure that Babcock doesnt slip past being held accountable.

Its pretty clear (based on multiple reports now) that Babcock is a good technical coach but from a people perspective he is a sad excuse for a man.
Serious question - why is he even on the radar for Head Coach?

I just dont understand why this team would overlook everything with Babcock (and the potential damage he could cause internally) as if this history doesnt matter at all.

I do understand that this Katz culture is dysfunctional (I accepted that reality years ago) but this potential hiring (and the way it is being handled) is taking dysfunction to another level altogether.

John Shannon was on Stauffer last week and said Babcock is a great man. Great with family and those around him in the community. When it flips is when he is given power, than he becomes a different person. Dictatorial was the word used

 

[brentashton]

Commodore has been living his life and, at least as far as I know, hasn’t said “boo” about Babcock since Columbus turfed him. As soon as this farce with the Oilers came to light, everyone with a microphone and air time to fill have been pounding on his door for a take on this. I personally don’t think he’s tried to make this a “cottage industry.”

Everytime a media outlet has wanted to talk about Babcock since his time Toronto, Commodore has been the go to guy. If you disagree you are being disengenuous. The evidence is out there.

This week alone I listened to him on 3 different media outlets talking about Babcock’s behaviour, yet Commodore hasn’t been in the league himself since 2012. He absolutely has a vendetta (and probably rightly so) but he ironically shows the very hatred that he rails against.

The next time Mike Commodore is on a show talking about Babcock’s behaviour yet again will be too soon.