More Babcock Shenanigans

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
99,180
65,512
Ottawa, ON
Former Leaf Nazem Kadri recently revealed more Mike Babcock shenanigans in his new book: "Dreamer: My Life on the Edge".

The Mitch Marner story about being asked by Babcock to rank his teammates is already well-known and is referenced in the book (and in the article below). I didn't know that it took place during the "Dad's roadtrip" to NJ.

Here's a new twist on the same formula:

Still, it wasn't the last time Babcock would share information we considered private. Another incident that rubbed some of the guys the wrong way happened when Babcock called a meeting with the team and the entire training staff in the same room. He'd ask all the trainers to rank players on the level of effort they put into their gym routines.
There was an assumption that the information would be kept confidential, but Babcock brought up each assessment, one by one, in front of the entire team. The whole point was to embarrass guys, and it made for some awkward conversations between the the players and the training staff. Once you break that trust it's hard to come back, so it was all a bit of a sh*tshow.

 
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Leafs87

Mr. Steal Your Job
Aug 10, 2010
15,217
5,359
Toronto
This was made public a few years ago. Story continues as well. Martin stood up to Babcock and essentially he later became a regular healthy scratch. It was an interesting choice as we really needed a guy like Martin around, and his play did not degrade to the point where his on ice abilities were the reason for his benching. It was personal
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
99,180
65,512
Ottawa, ON
I think a key lesson is to never rank anything for Mike Babcock.

“How would you rank the Star Wars films?”

“Well, obviously Empire Strikes Back first…then maybe…..wait a sec, are those the directors of all of the movies behind that curtain?”

“…..maybe?”

This was made public a few years ago.

I heard the Marner thing but not the training staff thing.
 

Quinning

Registered User
Mar 18, 2008
26,992
14,555
This goes beyond sports - people like this routinely end up in positions of power in the workplace.

There are some seriously sick individuals out there that get off on having total control over the well being of others. Management loves them because on paper they get results and they say all the right things, but save the mind games for when nobody is looking.

I worked under a guy like this for years and to this day, I still can't trust authority figures in the workplace without serious mental gymnastics on my end.
 
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HighNote

Just one more Cup
Jul 1, 2014
3,430
4,343
St. Louis
Very crazy how people with a proven track record of success in their professions keep being elevated
It's the method in which some of those people achieve that success that is worrisome. Often times the only thing that matters to higher ups when it comes to promotions are the final results. They don't care how those results are achieved, and so this gives an inside track to those who are willing to play dirty and hurt/manipulate those around them for the purposes of advancing themselves.
 

HockeyVirus

Woll stan.
Nov 15, 2020
19,566
29,963
He's essentially having the teammates and trainers rip into each other rather than doing it directly himself.

I don't know why he went about it that way.

One of those guys who think the ends justify the means. Wants to break the awkwardness of calling each other out and make it so everyone feels comfortable holding each other accountable because shit has already been said. He knows winning teams hold each other accountable even if it pisses each other off.

Babcock was absolutely a great coach who understood what winning hockey looked like and which guys generally had what it takes. Problem was a complete lack of empathy and lack of common sense. He was all in on getting people to where he thought they needed to be even if he had to be a greasy scumbag to do it.

And probably as well he got off on having power over people, another shitty quality.
 

NotAVacuumSalesman

The Guide And Record Book™
Jun 19, 2017
4,266
7,756
“Let’s see how much more crap I can get away with..” -Mike Babcock

homelander-based.gif
 

JianYang

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
19,564
18,969
One of those guys who think the ends justify the means. Wants to break the awkwardness of calling each other out and make it so everyone feels comfortable holding each other accountable because shit has already been said. He knows winning teams hold each other accountable even if it pisses each other off.

Babcock was absolutely a great coach who understood what winning hockey looked like and which guys generally had what it takes. Problem was a complete lack of empathy and lack of common sense. He was all in on getting people to where he thought they needed to be even if he had to be a greasy scumbag to do it.

And probably as well he got off on having power over people, another shitty quality.

Yeah, it appears to be an attempt at 4D chess, but I struggled with that theory as well simply because it shows a complete disconnect with what makes current hockey player tick.
 

Barrie22

Shark fan in hiding
Aug 11, 2009
25,659
7,202
ontario
I would guess that he wasn't as toxic early on his career with ANA and DRW, then his ego got out of control, and caused him to think he could do no wrong.
Except these stories do not start with toronto, they were there back when modano was reaching 1500 games. And Babcock decided to bench him with only 4 games left that made modano miss the milestone by 1 game.
 
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Mattilaus

Registered User
Sep 12, 2014
7,816
6,563
Beyond the Wall
It's the method in which some of those people achieve that success that is worrisome. Often times the only thing that matters to higher ups when it comes to promotions are the final results. They don't care how those results are achieved, and so this gives an inside track to those who are willing to play dirty and hurt/manipulate those around them for the purposes of advancing themselves.
The higher ups also don't care if the results are sustainable because they will be long gone before it all comes crashing down. Managers like this are short sighted.
 
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Golden_Jet

Registered User
Sep 21, 2005
26,358
13,662
Former Leaf Nazem Kadri recently revealed more Mike Babcock shenanigans in his new book: "Dreamer: My Life on the Edge".

The Mitch Marner story about being asked by Babcock to rank his teammates is already well-known and is referenced in the book (and in the article below). I didn't know that it took place during the "Dad's roadtrip" to NJ.

Here's a new twist on the same formula:




This news is a few years old, pretty sure most here are aware of that.
 

surixon

Registered User
Jul 12, 2003
50,946
75,224
Winnipeg
I would guess that he wasn't as toxic early on his career with ANA and DRW, then his ego got out of control, and caused him to think he could do no wrong.

One of the talking heads on TV when the Blue Jacket thing came out said something along the lines of Paul Kariya had things to say about him so my guess is his behavior goes all the way back.
 
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FunkySeeFunkyDoo

Registered User
Feb 3, 2009
5,206
2,875
Ottawa
I’m pretty sure all the successful coaches have a bunch of little mind games they play with their group. I seem to remember that in Ken Dryden’s “The Game” he touched on some of the stuff Bowman would do.

This seems really low character though.
 

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