By Mark Wilson
October 13, 2014

Why is there a game going on about Mike Babcock’s future with the Red Wings? It’s totally silly and totally making BOTH the head hockey coach and the general manager look foolish.

And… it takes a LOT for Ken Holland to look foolish.

We’ve gotten so used to this run of success on the ice in this city that sometimes it’s tough to sniff when things start to smell rotten.

The way it stands right now, Babcock refuses to sign an extension to coach the Wings. He is working on the final year of a contract. Holland says he would like to keep “Babs” but laughs off any question of problems in the organization.

Ha Ha.

It seems obvious that Babcock wants to test the waters in 2015. He’s not holding Detroit for ransom, but awfully close to it.

One of the reasons Wings’ fans aren’t more up in arms about this situation is that damn streak.

Oh… THE STREAK.

Not to diminish 23 straight years making the playoffs which began when Bryan Murray was leading the charge but, allow me to diminish it.

More than half the National Hockey League makes the post-season.

MORE… than half.

30 teams comprise the NHL and 16 get to play hockey past April tax day.

Last year, the Wings eked their way in as a “wildcard” their first season back in the Eastern Conference.

Not sure why they even call it “wildcard” because, unlike baseball where you play ONE game for advancement, you still get to play an entire best of seven first round series.

No doubt it was Detroit’s closest call to NOT making the playoffs since 1990. The 93 points; tied for the lowest total in that same time span in a full campaign.

It had been 15 years since the Wings didn’t register 100 or more points in a single slate.

Oh goodie! The Wings weren’t the Islanders, Sabres, Oilers or Jets.

What an accomplishment!

Maybe we should have given Babcock a parade into Hart Plaza just to show how appreciative we all were that they earned the honor of getting dumped in the first round by the Boston Bruins.

But, for Wings fans… it sure beats being… the Islanders, Sabres, Oilers or Jets.

Like the nerds on the couch in the classic movie, “Animal House.”

“Great! Then you’ll have lots to talk about!” says Niedermeyer when he learns the nerds have already met during the rush week party.

Truth is, it’s NOT been a great run for Babcock since the last appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals 2009.

After winning it all in 2008 over Pittsburgh, the same two met in ’09. This time, Sidney Crosby and his buddies prevailed.

Five playoff “runs” later, the best the Wings have done is the second round.

FIVE of them.

Two of those previously got Dave Lewis fired. Just two.

Granted, Lewey was only an assistant during the THREE Cup victories under Scotty Bowman so he didn’t have his own Cup championship ring to flash buying him more time.

No one is taking away the Cup from Babcock in 2008 but, he’s had his parade.

What have you done for me lately?

Its how pro sports works. You decide how much time a championship earns a head coach.

For example, Michigan’s Lloyd Carr got about a decade for that final mythical NCAA football crown in 1997. Ozzie Guillen secured six more years in Chicago after the White Sox won their long-awaited World Series.

Mike Scoscia is still going strong in Anaheim and they haven’t won anything since 2002.

Heck, Larry Brown left the YEAR AFTER going to back to back NBA Finals series with the Pistons; winning the one in 2004.

So, it varies.

In golf terms, Babcock is “laying five; working six.”

As the Wings’ Hall of Fame veterans have slowly departed through the first 15 years of this 21st Century, the team’s talent level has fallen with it.
You simply don’t replace Steve Yzerman, Nick Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, Brendan Shanahan and others very easily.

Not in this man’s salary capped NHL.

Holland has found the going tough signing top notch free agents and making deals. No one in the league wants to be the team to give Holland the next pieces to another long Cup run. It has been evident the past few trade deadlines.

No matter how much they LOVE Minnesota, the snub by both Ryan Suter and Zach Parise a couple of years ago was startling.

I mean, c’mon! This is Hockeytown, right?

What have you done for me, lately.

There’s that line again.

Chicago and Los Angeles have won multiple Cups since the Wings skated with the thing back in ‘08. Those two cities have more of a claim on “Hockeytown” than Detroit does.

And yeah, I know. Hockeytown isn’t just a moniker… it’s a mindset. Blah, Blah.

Well, say goodnight to that one too, Gracie.

When I received a brochure outlining how I could get playoff tickets last season, I knew any “mindset” towards hockey was out the window.

The good peeps at Olympia Sports and Entertainment even printed my name like FIVE times on the pamphlet including a creepy photo of Babcock pointing to it on a chalkboard.

Like I was an actual Red Wing!

Well, the Wings and I had something in common last year. NONE of us had a 50 point scoring season.

Not 50 GOALS… 50 POINTS.

You have to go back to the freakin’ 1940’s to find a non-strike/lockout season when the Wings’ leading scorer had less than 50 points.

Daniel Alfredsson and Niklas Kronwall tallied 49.

49 led the team.

In fairness, Captain Hank Zetterberg would have gotten well past 50 but he was limited to 45 regular season tilts; putting up 48 points. Pavel Datsyuk played the same 45 with 37 points.

Only ONE player scored more than 20 goals and that was Gustav Nyquist with that second half surge getting him to 28.

Dude, those numbers look like… the Islanders, Sabres, Oilers and Jets.

The days of Yzerman putting up 155 points in a single schedule (1988-89) are LONG gone. It’s a different NHL now and outside of Crosby or Ovechkin, huge individual numbers seem to be a thing of the past.

Your records are pretty much safe forever, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe.

Or, at least until hockey changes again.

It’s all part of the reason why tickets are available at Joe Louis Arena.

Remember all those consecutive sellouts?

You couldn’t beg, borrow or steal a ticket to a Wings’ game; regular season or playoffs.

Now, they send out brochures? They advertise DURING games? The website is loaded with deals?

Huh?

Hockeytown? More like “Please buy tickets-town.”

Babcock has to realize the landscape has changed since he arrived in Michigan from California after the season-canceling lockout of 2004-05. Lewis was fired and Babs left a good situation in Anaheim to high-tail it to the Midwest and replace Dave.

In fact, this looks eerily familiar to HOW he left the Ducks.

Following a surprise run to the Cup Finals in 2003, where Anaheim lost to New Jersey, Babs’ Mighty Quacks took a “mighty dump” in ’04 and didn’t even get back to the crowded post-season.

Yep, they were the Islanders, Sabres, Oilers and Jets that season.

He “declined an offer” to remain in Disneyland for a third go-round. Rumors of a rift between Babcock and management were pegged as reasons why.

Hmmm.

Admitting that he and Holland have different kinds of agendas, those rumors persist NOW.

“I’m more of a win today kind of guy,” he has said to the media. “He (Holland) is a manager and he has a longer term look at the future”

Babcock concedes that it’s “nothing different” than his entire tenure in Detroit.
Ok, but he at least had a contract going forward.

No such contract seems to be in the offing.

I made a case on the radio that if Babs had no interest in looking at a crystal ball for his near future, then his future is NOT with the Red Wings.

Jeff Blashill was brought on board as an “heir apparent” to Babs behind the Wings’ bench.

Blashill coached college hockey at Western Michigan in 2010-11 and led the Broncos to the CCHA title game and a spot in the NCAA Tournament; something WMU hadn’t done in 15 years. He was named Coach of the Year by numerous publications.

Knowing a good thing when they saw it, the Wings hired Blashill as a Babcock assistant in 2011-12. To get him some quality professional head coaching experience, he left after one season to coach the team’s top minor league affiliate in Grand Rapids.

Anyone with half a brain can see Blashill is being groomed to run the show at Joe Louis and beyond. Meaning… the new “District Detroit” rink about to be built.

Jeff Blashill is the future of Wings’ coaching.

However, the future is now.

Babcock likes that “now” idea so much; he should apply it to himself.

I would have parted ways with Babs BEFORE this campaign began. Blashill would be the guy leading the winged wheel at this time if I had it my way.

Not having a deal in place is bothersome.

And, I repeat… it does look an awful like his final rodeo in Anaheim.

Look, Babcock has been terrific for the Wings and the city of Detroit. He conducts himself in a pro manner, is fairly well liked and has had success. Whether Lewis would have had the same success had he been left alone to coach more than just two seasons, is an imponderable.

As it turns out, Lewey got another chance in Boston even if that was short-lived as well.

No contract doesn’t mean it’s a rudderless ship but it sure LOOKS like it.

And, looks mean everything to potential free agents and current Wings that you’d like to keep here.

Sorry Ken, but you are NOT Joe Dumars. People don’t come to play hockey for the GM like they might have come to play basketball for Joe D.

Sure, money talks but so do the dudes tossing out those lines. People want to play for Babcock but if he isn’t going to be here then let him go.

Let him go NOW.

I realize it’s doubtful that Holland would do something so bold as to fire Babcock if this season starts to get out of hand. I believe he is holding out hope that Babs comes to his senses and re-ups here in Detroit but I’m not totally convinced of that.

I don’t think Ken would mind if Babcock walked away.

Babs has said he no longer will talk about his contract situation now that the season is cooking. Holland said the other day that he had “talked too much about it” when he didn’t want to say anything at all.

They BOTH know how ludicrous this is.

For a moment this off-season, Babcock and Pittsburgh seemed to be a good marriage. Mario Lemieux didn’t tip his hand before hiring un-tested Mike Johnston to replace Dan Bylsma.

Now that Shanahan is running the Maple Leafs, the prevailing thought is that he wants Babs to coach in Toronto. Randy Carlyle is there at this moment but he’s basically done nothing into his third full season.

Carlyle replaced Babcock in Anaheim and two years in, brought that Cup back for Mickey Mouse to drink from.

So, it would not be unheard of if Shanny was targeting a 2015 Canadian return for the former coach of Team Canada.

Short of Carlyle getting the Leafs to at least the conference finals, Shanahan wouldn’t have to do a lot of explaining in firing the current coach.

Since Toronto didn’t even GET to the playoffs last season; not much worry that they’re on the brink of greatness.

Hey! The Leafs were… the Islanders, Sabres, Oilers and Jets.

I could have added them to the couch!

After all, the proud franchise that is Toronto, home to the Hockey Hall of Fame, hasn’t won a Stanley Cup (and they HATE hearing this) since 1967.

Argh!

Lyndon Johnson was USA president and Lester Pearson was Canada’s prime minister.

Hey! There’s an NHL trophy named for that guy!

Pearson… not Johnson. And, actually it’s not named for Pearson anymore after they changed it to honor Wings’ legend Ted Lindsay. But, I digress.

Shanahan’s charge is simple.

Win a Cup in Toronto and do it quick.

Babcock might just be the fella to make that happen for Shanny and all the good people of Southern Ontario.

Its one thing to win hockey’s biggest prize in Detroit but it’s another thing to do it in his home nation.

Oh, Canada!

If he grabbed an extension with the Wings, that would saddle Babcock for probably another three to five years.

Still a young man at 51, I think he’s seen enough here. It has been ten long calendars and while I am sure he’s enjoyed it, Babcock likes challenges. There would be no greater hockey challenge than trying to build a Cup champion in Toronto with Shanahan.

TWENTY coaches have come and gone with the Leafs since Punch Imlach won the last Cup for Toronto. One of those 20 was Imlach himself… in 1980 as interim.

Carlyle is number 21.

Shanahan is bound and determined to not let that go past 22.

If Babs is number 22, then all he did was “play” Holland this season. Going though the motions with a Wings’ team that has pretty much ZERO chance of winning the fifth Cup in the last 17 years, is a waste.

And, if Holland knows he’s being “played” is he playing right back with Blashill just a short car ride away in Grand Rapids?

Still way more questions than answers in this bizarre tale of coach vs. GM.

Holland hasn’t had a lot of controversy in his 20 years at the helm.

Even the Lewis firing didn’t create the stir it probably should have considering Dave was such a loyal scout as player, assistant coach and then head man. Having it happen right after that nasty lockout made it easy.

Much praise has been lauded on Ken and, for the most part, deservedly so.

I mean… FOUR Stanley Cups. Nuff said there.

We’ll muddle through this 2014-15 hockey season and see if the Wings can make it 24 straight appearances in the playoffs. They might even win a series before being bounced in round two. Jimmy Howard could set records in goal and this team still not be playoff worthy due to a lack of serious scoring chops.
Then, at some point, Babcock will HAVE to address his contract situation because he won’t have one.

Tons of clubs, not just Toronto, would love to have Babs’ services. He’ll leave and Jeff Blashill will be the next head coach of the Red Wings. I’m just projecting forward.

If it’s not to the Leafs to hold hands with Shanahan, then some other squad.

Probably a team like, uh… the Islanders, Sabres, Oilers or Jets.

Good luck with that.