Red Wings looking for a Head Coach

[Jason_R]

Everybody called it. 

[buddha]

we hired gru.

[sagnam]

4 hours ago, Jason_R said:

Everybody called it. 

First week of May?  Shinzaki was the first to name him in this thread.

[Jason_R]

7 hours ago, sagnam said:

First week of May?  Shinzaki was the first to name him in this thread.

It was obvious from Yzerman's press conference that he was going to hire someone he had worked with. Unless someone thought he meant Babcock, it was pretty clear he was going to Tampa. Of Tampa's three assistants, Lalonde has by far the most impressive resume. Halpern has never been a head coach and Zettler was just above .500 as a head coach in the AHL. 

[slothfacekilla]

15 hours ago, buddha said:

we hired gru.

I thought it was Joe Pesci in Penguin cosplay with the picture they used in their tweet.  We keep the bald coach streak alive.

I probably got asked about the hire 15 times yesterday and all I can say is it makes sense and hopefully it works out!  You can never tell with these coaches.

[Cruzer1]

Great interview with Mike Commodore, blasting Mike Babcock...

 

[Motor City Sonics]

On 1/15/2023 at 2:38 AM, Cruzer1 said:

Great interview with Mike Commodore, blasting Mike Babcock...

 

I have been coming across a lot of Babcock videos recently (probably from watching this one).   Wow, he is really, really hated.  Players saying he's a hard working coach but one of the worst human beings.   I don't see him getting another gig. 

[lordstanley]

Babcock might be a jerk, but Commodore is hardly a reliable source. Nothing I heard in that interview is that incriminating. Maybe he did show up to camp in 2004 not in the best of shape, even if Commodore won’t admit it. In 2011-2012 Commodore got into 17 games, 0G 2A, then got picked up by Tampa for 13 games, 0G 0A. Nit bad treatment for a fringe #7. Next year he was in the AHL. Commode has been unhinged about Babcock for 15 years. 

[slothfacekilla]

To me, both sides suck in that situation.  Babcock really did not like Commodore and definitely did not help his career.  Commodore also seems wayyyyyyyyy bitter over a lot of things and has had some wild drunken twitter rants about Babcock that have not made Commodore look good.  I think LS has it right.

[buddha]

i think the stuff against babcock is overrated and says more about the world we live in now than babcock.  he certainly wasnt the perfect person, but i dont necessarily need a touchy feely coach.

although being a people manager now i can see how that is the norm in corporate america these days.

i thought sports would be different, but maybe not anymore.

[slothfacekilla]

I get what you're saying on one hand, but on the other the hardass approach doesn't work for every player....and no one deserves to be mentally abused at their place of employment.  When Chris Chelios thinks you've gone too far...you've probably gone too far.  I know it is the thing to label younger generations as woke and too soft but I think that just says more about the old days and the people who pine for them.

[buddha]

25 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

I get what you're saying on one hand, but on the other the hardass approach doesn't work for every player....and no one deserves to be mentally abused at their place of employment.  When Chris Chelios thinks you've gone too far...you've probably gone too far.  I know it is the thing to label younger generations as woke and too soft but I think that just says more about the old days and the people who pine for them.

1) he may have gone too far.  i dont really know.  so you may be right there.

2) i think sports are different than a corporate workspace.  different people are motivated differently.  things you can say to a professional athlete are different than things you can say to a middle manager.  imo.

3) i think this generation is different because we have different priorities  now.  there is less deference to authority, people are more aware of and concerned with mental issues, people are more individualistic and concerned with "their own brand."

there is good in that, and (i think) bad in that.  but mostly i think there is DIFFERENT in that.  you need to treat younger people differently now than you used to and it appears mike babcock is incapable of changing to adapt to the new generation.

so he doesnt get hired.  and likely shouldnt.

but i dont think because of that he was a "monster" as he is being portrayed in social media and on red wings sites run by milenials.  i think he was a really good hockey coach who coached a certain way that is no longer acceptable.

[lordstanley]

Babcock, like Mike Keenan before him, could probably find a KHL head coaching job if he wanted one. His style might be a better fit there.

[lordstanley]

Speaking of generation gap, as a 55 year old, I wouldn't be thrilled about wearing jerseys for military day, Pride day, cancer month, Greek-American night, whatever. I'd be fine with Jackie Robinson because that is directly related to the sport and many owe him a debt for the path he trod and hurdles/abuse he overcame. I'd also like to think that if I was a pro athlete I'd take my own initiatives on own time and do stuff like visit kids in the hospital, arrange and equip a street hockey tournament for immigrant or inner-city kids, host LGBT youth groups in a corporate suite I purchase, quietly donate money without fanfare, etc. I thought the sanctimonious Canadian hockey media reaction to Provorov was over the top, I guess they don't have Bertuzzi or Djokovic or Aaron Rodgers to flip out about anymore. Focus wrath, if they wish, on people who have actually done bad things, even criminal. God knows we have plenty of felons and sexual assaulters and wife-beaters and deadbeat dads and adulterers and slur-speakers in the NHL and other sports leagues.

Edited January 21, 2023 by lordstanley