class act!

Posted by yzer19man from Chicago on 07/28/08 at 11:13 AM ET

what a great guy.  thank god the powers to be decided to bring Babs to Detroit. 

repeat in 2009!!

Posted by rocketman from detroit on 07/28/08 at 11:51 AM ET

I remember thinking after ‘02, “My god, who in the heck is going to replace Bowman?” We’re real lucky to have such a great coach and a classy guy on our side.

Posted by Hippy Dave from San Francisco by way of Detroit on 07/28/08 at 12:55 PM ET

Jack Adams for Babs next year.

And another reminder why hockey players are the best in all pro sports.

Posted by Osrt on 07/28/08 at 01:34 PM ET

Well done, Babs!

I remember watching him on the bench as Anaheim took out the Red Wings in the first round (03?), and thinking:  “I wish he was our coach.  But there is no way we could be that fortunate.”

Posted by w2j2 on 07/28/08 at 02:01 PM ET

The more ya hear from him, the more ya like him.
And double ditto the sentiments about ‘03. Lewie was and is as nice of a guy as you’ll come across.... but an NHL Bench Boss he’s not.

Posted by MoWingsfan19 on 07/28/08 at 02:17 PM ET

Every time I hear Babs talk about what’s important in life, it actually chokes me up. The city of Detroit, the Red Wings players and his family are lucky to have this guy in their lives. I loved Scotty Bowman to death...but there’s something about Uncle Mike that transcends sports. As others have said, he’s truly a class act.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/28/08 at 05:30 PM ET

Since you guys bring up Lewis, I wonder why NHL teams aren’t recruiting Barry Smith. He would be a wonderful coach, and even has Scotty’s stamp of approval.

Posted by Osrt on 07/28/08 at 06:01 PM ET

Maybe he really likes coaching in St. Petersburg.  I remember that during the lockout year he spent time traveling all over Europe seeing how the hockey programs in the different countries were run, what each emphasized, how they differed in styles - maybe he became so interested in what he saw that he isn’t interested in coaching in the NHL again for a while.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/28/08 at 06:08 PM ET

Maybe he really likes coaching in St. Petersburg.

Um, I’m gonna have to say nyet on that idea, Ms. B. I think if the Islanders or any other NHL team had offered him a chance, he would have jumped at it. I have no idea why teams haven’t offered him an opportunity, but I very much doubt that it’s because Barry doesn’t want to come back to the NHL.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/28/08 at 10:19 PM ET

This is a coach for whom I will spend an entire week doing windsprints if it means getting us closer to the Cup.

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 07/28/08 at 10:48 PM ET

Oh, I didn’t say it was neccesarily likely - although St. Petersburg is hardly a podunk town in the backwoods somewhere, and maybe the only NHL teams that expressed interest in him coaching for them were so dysfunctional it would be like being named captain of the Titanic two minutes after it hit the iceberg.  The jobs most likely to be open are generally those with bad teams, sometimes unstable management situations, and thus not as interesting to someone who has a decent job already (I can’t see him being comfortable with the possible circus in Tampa, for example).

I can think of worse places to bide my time until I get an offer that is more appealing.  And maybe he has a lot of trust from the management and is given more say in the team than he would elsewhere - that level of power can be very appealing, especially if the sense he gets is that he would likely be just another disposable coach in the NHL, whereas he might see a chance for building a solid organizational philosophy in Russia.

If his options were an unstable franchise in the NHL or a stable situation in Russia, stability counts for a lot.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/29/08 at 04:14 AM ET

This video is probably a blessing to all 40 people that went to their games last year.

Posted by Comedy Blog from Brooklyn, NY on 07/31/08 at 12:09 PM ET