Mike Babcock Resigns as Blue Jackets Coach Amid Investigation Involving Players’ Photos

[Phil]

28 minutes ago, The Dude said:

Mike Babcock just got fired for trying to be the opposite of Mike Babcock.  He tried adapting and changing his ways. Trying to bond with his players is NOT Mike Babcock of old. This would be ZERO issue if it were another coach. 

 

Are the Rangers going to get in trouble for requesting all the players mothers to show up for mothers week or whatever it's called?

These things don't relate. If Laviolette started rifling through players' personal phones, yes, he'd undeniably get in hot water for it. He may not get fired over it right away like Babcock did, but that's only because he has no history of doing invasive shit like this — Babock does. It spans 20 years.

 

Quote

Where's the line?  I find it odd that only certain players and coaches get 2nd chances.  This very board was hopeful the Rangers could get Quennville here despite his connection to sexual abuse.  Mike Babcock doesn't play a limp Mike Modano to achieve some games played milestone  and he's the biggest piece of shit coming down the block?

 

Also, "this very board" is a forum filled with dissenting voices on everything from whether a hot dog is a sandwich to who should play the left side or the right. You are building a strawman every time you attribute some kind of group think to "the board." The only thing is shares in common is Rangers fandom, and even that is open to scrutiny.

 

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It's funny that Chelios has issues with Babcock for things he said, but never recites them.  Chelly himself talks like a drunken sailor., but won't repeat the awful things a hockey coach said? 

 

Bissonnette talks more shit than anyone. You think he said anything nice on the ice before he fought guys as a goon? HE has issues with Babcock being the way he was? These guys are clowns and god damn hypocrites 

 

If you are looking for more detailed documentation on Babcock's wrongdoings, however, it's not difficult to find at all:

 

• Johan Franzen called him "the worst person I have ever met."
   
• Carlo Coliacovo said the players hated in him in Detroit and tried to get him fired every year.
   
• Tony Martensson called him a bully and that Babcock made him feel like he did not matter as a player or a person
   
• The entire Leafs team were publicly elated when he was fired in Toronto.
   
• Mark Fraser said that 95% of Babcock's players “can’t say a good thing about” and that Babcock “used his power to turn teammates against each other.”
   
• He drove a 19-year-old Mitch Marner to tears.

 

I can keep going, but exactly how much smoke do I have to show you before you accept the premise of fire?

 

But, nah, I'm sure you guys are right. Hockey players, including Johan Franzen and Mark fuckin' Fraser, are just soft, Millenial/GenZ pussies who can't handle criticism. Totally.

[The Dude]

11 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

 

What's the acceptable amount of time your boss should spend rifling through your phone? 

See, there's a discretion in what actually happened here. 

 

Some players said they were ASKED to show Babcock pictures. 

 

Some were said to be aired to a TV.

 

Some were done away from team facilities. I read that part as the player and coach met at a non team location and Babcock asked for pictures.  People are here acting like Babcock took the phone away and went to a remote location to go through it.  That's not what was reported.  

 

This has snowballed into something that likely is very exaggerated.  

 

My boss isn't a hockey coach trying to build team chemistry.  My boss wouldn't need to try such an exercise.

 

My boss would have came to my wedding if he wasn't in the hospital.  I had only worked for him for 2 years at that time.  I've probably only actually spoken to him a total of 20 times in 4 1/2 years. Players see and talk to their coach every day of the season.. 

 

A hockey coach bonding with his new team and trying to turn a new leaf, is nothing like real world employment. 

[LindG1000]

3 minutes ago, The Dude said:

See, there's a discretion in what actually happened here. 

 

Some players said they were ASKED to show Babcock pictures. 

 

Some were said to be aired to a TV.

 

Some were done away from team facilities. I read that part as the player and coach met at a non team location and Babcock asked for pictures.  People are here acting like Babcock took the phone away and went to a remote location to go through it.  That's not what was reported.  

 

This has snowballed into something that likely is very exaggerated.  

 

My boss isn't a hockey coach trying to build team chemistry.  My boss wouldn't need to try such an exercise.

 

My boss would have came to my wedding if he wasn't in the hospital.  I had only worked for him for 2 years at that time.  I've probably only actually spoken to him a total of 20 times in 4 1/2 years. Players see and talk to their coach every day of the season.. 

 

A hockey coach bonding with his new team and trying to turn a new leaf, is nothing like real world employment. 

 

 

The bold is quite literally reported. The only "discretion" here is how many what if hoops you want to pull the reporting through to get to plausible deniability and justify this as somehow acceptable behavior.

 

I return to - What is the appropriate amount of time for your boss to go rifling through your phone? You can also answer the question "what is the appropriate amount of time for your boss to airplay your phone on a TV?"

 

 

[The Dude]

17 minutes ago, Phil said:

These things don't relate. If Laviolette started rifling through players' personal phones, yes, he'd undeniably get in hot water for it. He may not get fired over it right away like Babcock did, but that's only because he has no history of doing invasive shit like this — Babock does. It spans 20 years.

 

 

Also, "this very board" is a forum filled with dissenting voices on everything from whether a hot dog is a sandwich to who should play the left side or the right. You are building a strawman every time you attribute some kind of group think to "the board." The only thing is shares in common is Rangers fandom, and even that is open to scrutiny.

 

 

If you are looking for more detailed documentation on Babcock's wrongdoings, however, it's not difficult to find at all:

 

• Johan Franzen called him "the worst person I have ever met."
   
• Carlo Coliacovo said the players hated in him in Detroit and tried to get him fired every year.
   
• Tony Martensson called him a bully and that Babcock made him feel like he did not matter as a player or a person
   
• The entire Leafs team were publicly elated when he was fired in Toronto.
   
• Mark Fraser said that 95% of Babcock's players “can’t say a good thing about” and that Babcock “used his power to turn teammates against each other.”
   
• He drove a 19-year-old Mitch Marner to tears.

 

I can keep going, but exactly how much smoke do I have to show you before you accept the premise of fire?

 

But, nah, I'm sure you guys are right. Hockey players, including Johan Franzen and Mark fuckin' Fraser, are just soft, Millenial/GenZ pussies who can't handle criticism. Totally.

Like I said. Reports on THIS matter are a little conflicting and I do believe have been taken out of context.  "Rifled through" wasn't said. These situations keep being brought up that weren't actually quoted by anyone. Much like the "remote location". It's taken out of context and is put into one's imagination of what they think happened. Babcock didn't run away with some kids phone. Just like several minutes could actually mean 30 seconds... 

 

I wasn't taking a shot at your board Phil. I was commenting on how forgiving some people are for one thing and not the other. Wasn't meant to be a shot, as that opinion stretched way past this place. 

 

You're giving me links as if I don't believe Babcock was/is a piece of shit. I was commenting on pieces of shit trying to bury other pieces of shit. Bissonnette is a world class piece of shit and really shouldn't have a word to say about a coach who said fucked up stuff to players, when Bissonnettes job was to do the same, then beat the crap out of anyone who had a problem with it.

 

I'm pretty sure we can find video of Chelly saying some brutal stuff on the ice or on the bench. 

 

Babcock was a piece of garbage. SOME of the people in the game that have issue with it are two faced jerk off who aren't much better at life skills while being employed as hockey players or analysts. That's all I'm saying. 

[phillyb]

So what you’re saying is that because Biz and Chelios might be hypocrites that Mike Babcock should be absolved from invading player’s privacy?
@The Dude

 

Edit to add - your opinion on these guys doesn’t matter when discussing the topic at hand: Babcock being forced to resign for invading player’s privacy. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by phillyb

[The Dude]

40 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

 

The bold is quite literally reported. The only "discretion" here is how many what if hoops you want to pull the reporting through to get to plausible deniability and justify this as somehow acceptable behavior.

 

I return to - What is the appropriate amount of time for your boss to go rifling through your phone? You can also answer the question "what is the appropriate amount of time for your boss to airplay your phone on a TV?"

 

 

Except that's NOT what is literally reported man. Seriously.  It wasn't.  It was said they met at a non team location.  Not that he took the phone to a non team location.  That could equate to. "Hey man, let's have some lunch at the diner and we'll talk like I did with everyone else." 

 

I will return to your question has no bearing on the reality of what happened,  but since you really need to push this needless exercise....

 

If my boss were my hockey coach?  3 minutes before I'm like, ugh ok man.   

 

I'll return to.  Babcock didn't rifle through a phone.  

 

I'll return to. If my hockey coach wanted to airplay my phone? 10 minutes. I got some funny memes saved. A few videos from the Metallica concert. 5 year internal pipe inspection pictures from 4 buildings in my recent history.  Some labels on food I couldn't read..  oh the horror.  

 

My WORK phone? All day. It's his. It's for work.  It has work stuff on it. Nothing else. Is this helpful? 

 

How about you?  Ever think that not everyone has something to hide?  There's nothing earth shattering on my phone. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by The Dude

[The Dude]

9 minutes ago, phillyb said:

So what you’re saying is that because Biz and Chelios might be hypocrites that Mike Babcock should be absolved from invading player’s privacy?
@The Dude

 

Edit to add - your opinion on these guys doesn’t matter when discussing the topic at hand: Babcock being forced to resign for invading player’s privacy. 

If Babcock said show me your phone or you're off the team. Sure. That's invading privacy and he should be fired.

 

If he asks "hey man , I'm doing this with everyone on the team, so I can kinda get to know each of you in anycapacity. So, what I want to do is I would like to see pictures of your family and what not and hear about your life" Player hands Babcock phone and says here's my aunt Dottie, if you scroll left you'll come across a picture of my dog Bronson...... and like any natural conversation goes, Babcock asks about other pictures. 

 

But this has snowballed into Babcock taking the phone and running away with it to a secret closet to beat off.....   @LindG1000believes that that is what is reported  (sans the beating off--- or maybe not). It's not. 

[Keirik]

I still don’t understand why we are all trying to equate this to real world jobs and environments,  These are pro athletes in a world we might have brushed along side here and there but don’t exactly live in. There’s a fuck ton of things that just don’t fly in our world but kinda sorta do in their world. 
 

This is seriously all because of his reputation. We still have no idea if he was looking for family pics or was going to try to make a point of looking through the last 24 hours or 48 hours or whatever.  Maybe he gave some assignment to some players that he felt would take hours or days and he wanted to see if there was anything in the last 24 hours that would show they fucked around instead. Who the hell knows. He got fired for something most other coaches probably don’t. Now, the flip is that most other coaches don’t ask those kinds of things but still. Yes he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, but there is very little to go on outside of veterans saying one thing, younger guys saying another, and an organization wants to end a relationship and save face just in case it goes nuclear. 
 

Again, I go back to curfew on the road. There are tons of stories of coaches giving mandatory curfews and players breaking them only to be caught by a coach that got a key to their room. How many bosses would do that on a 3 day work conference in wherever? That player could come back with another players wife, gf, another dude, have dildos all over his bed, blow, whatever. But the intent wasn’t to do anything more than bust a blown curfew. 
 

 

Again, it really strikes me as some players really didn’t want to play for this guy long before this happened and likely used this to get upset that their love for their truck, dog, mom and dad, or the hottie at the bar was violated. 
 

 

Regardless, Babcock is an idiot for making it this easy. It’s 2023 dude. He should have known at least one person would use that against him no matter what his intentions were. 

[BrooksBurner]

It seems more plausible there were guys around the game of hockey who probably never wanted Babcock to get another chance, than it is that Babcock got a second chance to coach the game he loves, and risked it all by apprehending players’ phones to look for dick pics.

[The Dude]

37 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

It seems more plausible there were guys around the game of hockey who probably never wanted Babcock to get another chance, than it is that Babcock got a second chance to coach the game he loves, and risked it all by apprehending players’ phones to look for dick pics.

Yes. The grandstanding by some of the names already mentioned lends me to think this is very likely. Possibly even pushing an agenda as popular media/hockey culture  figures to suggest to players to be uncooperative and exterminate the guy they hate. If that hate is with merit has no bearing on the outcome here.

 

If people really are ok with sabotaging a guys livelihood because of their own vitriol,  just admit it straight out.  Don't exagerate on the very little that has been reported. 

 

"A meeting that occurred away from team facilities", has somehow become "Babcock ran away with a players phone to a remote location. "

 

"Several minutes of looking through a phone" has become, "rifling through a phone"  

 

Columbus did damage control before there was actual damage and look pretty weak and stupid for taking the risk on Babcock and not sticking with it. The first sign of discontent and its over. JD has no balls. Neither does the GM. Owner is a coward for caving to the slightest bit of chatter. NHLPA too. 

[phillyb]

Hockey culture has had many red flags repeatedly raised around it over the past decade with sex scandals, hazing, racism, etc. If it takes going to a podcast to start changing and dismantling that culture, so be it. 
 

From the details that have emerged over the past few days about what happened with CBJ, it really seems like history will only be on one side here, and it’s not Mike Babcock’s. 

[RangersIn7]

4 hours ago, Phil said:

These things don't relate. If Laviolette started rifling through players' personal phones, yes, he'd undeniably get in hot water for it. He may not get fired over it right away like Babcock did, but that's only because he has no history of doing invasive shit like this — Babock does. It spans 20 years.

 

 

Also, "this very board" is a forum filled with dissenting voices on everything from whether a hot dog is a sandwich to who should play the left side or the right. You are building a strawman every time you attribute some kind of group think to "the board." The only thing is shares in common is Rangers fandom, and even that is open to scrutiny.

 

 

If you are looking for more detailed documentation on Babcock's wrongdoings, however, it's not difficult to find at all:

 

• Johan Franzen called him "the worst person I have ever met."
   
• Carlo Coliacovo said the players hated in him in Detroit and tried to get him fired every year.
   
• Tony Martensson called him a bully and that Babcock made him feel like he did not matter as a player or a person
   
• The entire Leafs team were publicly elated when he was fired in Toronto.
   
• Mark Fraser said that 95% of Babcock's players “can’t say a good thing about” and that Babcock “used his power to turn teammates against each other.”
   
• He drove a 19-year-old Mitch Marner to tears.

 

I can keep going, but exactly how much smoke do I have to show you before you accept the premise of fire?

 

But, nah, I'm sure you guys are right. Hockey players, including Johan Franzen and Mark fuckin' Fraser, are just soft, Millenial/GenZ pussies who can't handle criticism. Totally.

Yeah

 

They knew who he was.

They shouldn’t have hired him.

It was going to happen eventually no matter what.

Only a matter of time.

If it wasn’t this, it would have been something else.

 

Nor am I surprised that this happened to a second rate organization like Columbus.

JD is a dinosaur too. 
 

Whatever prompted it. It was coming no matter what. 
 

But don’t think for a second that there were not other factors at play. They introduced them all into the equation the moment they hired him.

 

Weve known for 5 years he didn’t belong in coaching anymore. 
They ignored it.

Players don’t want to play for him.

Then he did this thing. Stupid to do. And it became this. And he’s gone.

 

Columbus was stupid. 
Babcock was just being his old self, which everyone knew didn’t belong behind the bench anymore.

You put the Fox in the henhouse and he ate the hens.

Not exactly surprising. 
If it wasn’t this, it would have been something else in a few months, or a year, or whenever. 

The guy is prick. They ignored that. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by RangersIn7

[Pete]

9 hours ago, Phil said:

 

I could say the same about you. If your boss was accused of sexually harassing a co-worker at a party, would you be going out of your way to defend his honor like you are Babcock's? Especially if your boss had been accused of harassment on numerous occasions over the last 20 years? Would you be rushing to tell the co-worker they're not the victim here? That others enjoyed being harassed by him? That they were "put in a tough spot," that was somehow their fault for not just telling your boss "nah I don't want to fuck you?"

There's nothing left to say when you're comparing this to rape. Talk about sensationalist. 

[Pete]

8 hours ago, Phil said:

These things don't relate. If Laviolette started rifling through players' personal phones, yes, he'd undeniably get in hot water for it. He may not get fired over it right away like Babcock did, but that's only because he has no history of doing invasive shit like this — Babock does. It spans 20 years.

 

 

Also, "this very board" is a forum filled with dissenting voices on everything from whether a hot dog is a sandwich to who should play the left side or the right. You are building a strawman every time you attribute some kind of group think to "the board." The only thing is shares in common is Rangers fandom, and even that is open to scrutiny.

 

 

If you are looking for more detailed documentation on Babcock's wrongdoings, however, it's not difficult to find at all:

 

• Johan Franzen called him "the worst person I have ever met."
   
• Carlo Coliacovo said the players hated in him in Detroit and tried to get him fired every year.
   
• Tony Martensson called him a bully and that Babcock made him feel like he did not matter as a player or a person
   
• The entire Leafs team were publicly elated when he was fired in Toronto.
   
• Mark Fraser said that 95% of Babcock's players “can’t say a good thing about” and that Babcock “used his power to turn teammates against each other.”
   
• He drove a 19-year-old Mitch Marner to tears.

 

I can keep going, but exactly how much smoke do I have to show you before you accept the premise of fire?

 

But, nah, I'm sure you guys are right. Hockey players, including Johan Franzen and Mark fuckin' Fraser, are just soft, Millenial/GenZ pussies who can't handle criticism. Totally.

The problem here is you (and others) had your mind made up before you had all the facts. Facts are now slowly leaking and it sounds pretty bad. But you didn't wait before facts and neither did anyone else. Cancel culture at its finest. "You did this 5 years ago, so that must be true today." Babcock apparently gonna Babcock but that isn't always the case. People do change. It's important that we wait for facts and y'all did not. Plain and simple. 

 

The second problem is that yes players whining to a podcast instead of just standing up for themselves or going to the NHLPA does make them immature pussies. 

 

So like I said before, both things are true. 

[Ozzy]

15 hours ago, Keirik said:

Also for the record, I love all of you and the only persons phone I’d be genuinely scared to see would be @Ozzy

 

...a couple of pics of my guitars, and a few shameless selfies??  LOL

 

At least there's no weenie pics...it's tough for me to be a "show-er" when I'm hung like a Tic-Tac! 

[jsm7302]

They went after the wrong excommunicated coach. Should've tried to free Quenneville from the pits instead of Babcock. They got what they paid for.

 

There was really no reason to pursue him other than a favor from someone connected (my conspiracy theory). There were so many young up and comers on the market this off season and older seasoned coaches. It was kind of a bizarre choice from the jump.

[Phil]

11 hours ago, The Dude said:

If Babcock said show me your phone or you're off the team. Sure. That's invading privacy and he should be fired.

 

If he asks "hey man , I'm doing this with everyone on the team, so I can kinda get to know each of you in anycapacity. So, what I want to do is I would like to see pictures of your family and what not and hear about your life" Player hands Babcock phone and says here's my aunt Dottie, if you scroll left you'll come across a picture of my dog Bronson...... and like any natural conversation goes, Babcock asks about other pictures. 

 

But this has snowballed into Babcock taking the phone and running away with it to a secret closet to beat off.....   @LindG1000believes that that is what is reported  (sans the beating off--- or maybe not). It's not. 

 

Wrong. That's extortion. The invasion of privacy occurs the moment he starts rooting through your personal device.

 

If he wanted to do this with everyone on the team, the way to do it is to ask everyone on the team to come to camp with photos they can share with him and the team so that everyone can get to know each other better. Not to go through your personal device himself, and especially not away from team facilities (where there's no cameras recording to document any potential wrong-doing).

 

Lastly, it doesn't matter what he was looking for, or why. It doesn't matter if he genuinely wanted to only see photos of his players' families. What he did was invade the privacy of his players to the point that multiple players felt "very uncomfortable" about it. If this were anyone else, you're right, this is probably just apologized over and moved on from, but it's not anyone else — it was a guy with a two decades long rap sheet filled with incidents similar to this, who has earned his reputation as someone who rubs players the wrong way. Ergo benefit of doubt evaporates, ergo firing is justified. And he should have known this better than anyone. He, more than anyone, should have recognized that his record would work against him no matter how slight the transgression. He, more than anyone, needed to be squeaky clean, and he wasn't.

[Phil]

  

4 hours ago, Pete said:

There's nothing left to say when you're comparing this to rape. Talk about sensationalist. 

 

I said sexually harassing, not rape. Specifically because rape is super-charged. But I'm sure that won't make a lick of difference to you, because you're not going to accept any comparison at all. But I'm the one with my mind made up before all facts are in?

 

4 hours ago, Pete said:

The problem here is you (and others) had your mind made up before you had all the facts. Facts are now slowly leaking and it sounds pretty bad. But you didn't wait before facts and neither did anyone else. Cancel culture at its finest. "You did this 5 years ago, so that must be true today." Babcock apparently gonna Babcock but that isn't always the case. People do change. It's important that we wait for facts and y'all did not. Plain and simple. 

 

The second problem is that yes players whining to a podcast instead of just standing up for themselves or going to the NHLPA does make them immature pussies. 

 

So like I said before, both things are true. 

 

What are you talking about? Go back and follow this thread. Follow what I've said. Compare it to the records at the time. My very first comment was "This guy is such an insane control freak. There's no way he lasts the year at this rate." Yours, in response to someone saying it doesn't sound like Jenner speaks for the room — something that turned out to be true — was to openly question that assertion and Bissonette's report, saying "I'm not so sure about that. I'd imagine Biz is on thin ice with TNT right now too." TNT stood behind him, for the record.

 

So which is it, really? Are we actually waiting for facts, or are we cool with continuing to accuse CBJ players of "whining to a podcast instead of just standing up for themselves or going to the NHLPA," before we know facts?

[phillyb]

For what it’s worth, it definitely reads like there are posters who are indeed still waiting for more “facts,” as if these reporters are gonna out their sources and we’re going to get exact details about who’s phone, what pics, etc. 

[Phil]

Quote

“I do not believe there were any ill intentions on Mike’s part in the way he conducted interviews with our players to get to know them, however, whether there was intent or not, some of our players weren’t comfortable with his methods and that was concerning,” Kekalainen said. “As we gathered information and had numerous discussions both internally and externally it became very clear that the distractions caused by this were too great and were having a negative impact on our players.”

 

Quote

Davidson, who like Kekalainen is a former NHL player, was vague on certain details but did add: “What’s fair to say is (Babcock) made players feel very uncomfortable” and that “we have to understand our players and it just wasn’t going to work with our players.”

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/blue-jackets-apologize-for-way-babcock-era-unfolded-we-made-a-mistake/

 

--

 

If nothing else, these quotes directly from JD and Jarmo highlight what a monumental mistake it was to ever hire Babcock in the first place. Babcock's reputation  — whether you agree with it or not — is that he bullies young players and takes advantage of the least protected players on the roster. Even if you truly believed he'd changed, there's absolutely no margin of error on this considering they were hiring the guy to head up what's going to be one of the youngest rosters in the entire NHL.

[Keirik]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

 

Wrong. That's extortion. The invasion of privacy occurs the moment he starts rooting through your personal device.

 

If he wanted to do this with everyone on the team, the way to do it is to ask everyone on the team to come to camp with photos they can share with him and the team so that everyone can get to know each other better. Not to go through your personal device himself, and especially not away from team facilities (where there's no cameras recording to document any potential wrong-doing).

 

Lastly, it doesn't matter what he was looking for, or why. It doesn't matter if he genuinely wanted to only see photos of his players' families. What he did was invade the privacy of his players to the point that multiple players felt "very uncomfortable" about it. If this were anyone else, you're right, this is probably just apologized over and moved on from, but it's not anyone else — it was a guy with a two decades long rap sheet filled with incidents similar to this, who has earned his reputation as someone who rubs players the wrong way. Ergo benefit of doubt evaporates, ergo firing is justified. And he should have known this better than anyone. He, more than anyone, should have recognized that his record would work against him no matter how slight the transgression. He, more than anyone, needed to be squeaky clean, and he wasn't.

Do we actually know this is true or we speculating ? Do we know if there are cameras specifically around the facility in offices where he conducts interviews and do we know if he went to a place without cameras?

  

   I'm just asking because it seems like speculation and coaches routinely meet with players in many different places for a variety of reasons, no? 

[Pete]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

  

I said sexually harassing, not rape. Specifically because rape is super-charged. But I'm sure that won't make a lick of difference to you, because you're not going to accept any comparison at all. But I'm the one with my mind made up before all facts are in?

I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about, what facts? You're comparing 2 things that aren't comparable. Just let it go.

 

Quote

 

 

What are you talking about? Go back and follow this thread. Follow what I've said. Compare it to the records at the time. My very first comment was "This guy is such an insane control freak. There's no way he lasts the year at this rate." Yours, in response to someone saying it doesn't sound like Jenner speaks for the room — something that turned out to be true — was to openly question that assertion and Bissonette's report, saying "I'm not so sure about that. I'd imagine Biz is on thin ice with TNT right now too." TNT stood behind him, for the record.

 

So which is it, really? Are we actually waiting for facts, or are we cool with continuing to accuse CBJ players of "whining to a podcast instead of just standing up for themselves or going to the NHLPA," before we know facts?

Well, that's exactly what happened so there's nothing to dispute. Daly confirmed on 32 Thoughts that Chiclets broke the story then the NHLPA got involved afterward.

 

You just can't admit that multiple things are wrong here...Whatever Babcock did was poor behavior (and by the way, we still don't know exactly what he did or why — What motive do you think he had to go through someone's phone? Why was the behavior different with the vets vs the kids?)...a rush to judgment is poor behavior, not going to the PA is poor behavior.

 

But yea, because Gen Z had feels, the world must stop and coddle them.

[Cash or Czech]

If players aren't comfortable working for Babcock off the ice, how is he going to get the best out of them on the ice anyway? It's probably for the best for the upcoming season they move to someone a bit more accepted across the entire locker room. 

 

They're building a team around Fantilli (18), Johnson (20), Sillinger (20), Jiricek (19), and have a deep prospect pool to go with guys like Werenski, Gaudreau, and Laine. Babcock was an awful pick from the start. This just settles it.

[Pete]

Just now, Cash or Czech said:

If players aren't comfortable working for Babcock off the ice, how is he going to get the best out of them on the ice anyway? It's probably for the best for the upcoming season they move to someone a bit more accepted across the entire locker room. 

 

They're building a team around Fantilli (18), Johnson (20), Sillinger (20), Jiricek (19), and have a deep prospect pool to go with guys like Werenski, Gaudreau, and Laine. Babcock was an awful pick from the start. This just settles it.

Nobody disputed any of this. It doesn't change the fact that multiple sides (the coach, the players, the fans) acted inapporpriately.

[RangersIn7]

48 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/blue-jackets-apologize-for-way-babcock-era-unfolded-we-made-a-mistake/

 

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If nothing else, these quotes directly from JD and Jarmo highlight what a monumental mistake it was to ever hire Babcock in the first place. Babcock's reputation  — whether you agree with it or not — is that he bullies young players and takes advantage of the least protected players on the roster. Even if you truly believed he'd changed, there's absolutely no margin of error on this considering they were hiring the guy to head up what's going to be one of the youngest rosters in the entire NHL.

Ding ding ding.

 

And that’s the thing.

 

Im no fan of Babcock. I think he’s a good coach who has clearly had success. But I’ve always felt him overrated. And that’s before his tactics came to light 5 years ago, particularly as to how it relates to young players. 
 

What he did, very stupid.

Malicious or evil. No.

 

It’s not to me an egregious crime. Just poorly conceived and potentially dangerous, given his history. Again, really stupid considering everything.
 

Before this happened, it’s very likely there were guys in that room that had reservations about playing for him, at the least.

Any incident that occurred was going to cause backlash like this. 
They were already uncomfortable with him. 

Then he does this and it’s like giving Dillinger the bullets.