Entries with the tag: mike+babcock

Babcock is the Difference

by Alanah McGinley on 06/17/08 at 10:39 AM
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From Paul Kukla at NHL.com,

You may think differently, but the talent level of the Wings, after Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom, can be matched by many of the teams in the NHL. You could change the names of players like Franzen, Filppula, Cleary, Samuelsson, Kronwall and others with players from other teams, and you would get the same talent level.

So what made the Wings tick this season? One answer—Mike Babcock. We may never know what kind of motivational tactics he used, we will only know that they worked and it appears they will have a long-lasting effect on the team.

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Babcock Press Conference Full of Zero Surprises

by Alanah McGinley on 06/11/08 at 11:33 AM
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The AP’s anonymous NHL source knew what he/she was talking about yesterday. This morning’s press conference in Detroit did indeed announce that Mike Babcock has been signed to 3 more years:

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland today announced the team has signed head coach Mike Babcock to a 3-year contract extension.

“Mike has been a huge part in the Red Wings’ success during his time in Detroit,” said Holland.  “We are fortunate to have secured a coach with his work ethic and leadership for another three seasons.”

Press conference can be seen here. Helene St. James of the Free Press states that the deal is believed to be worth $1.5 million per season.

Report: Babcock Staying in Hockeytown 3 More Years

by Alanah McGinley on 06/10/08 at 09:08 PM
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From the AP via KDKA.com:

A person in the NHL tells The Associated Press that Mike Babcock and the Detroit Red Wings have agreed to a 3-year contract for the Stanley Cup winning coach.

The person spoke Tuesday night on the condition of anonymity because the team planned an 11 a.m. Wednesday news conference to announce the deal.

The Wings said Tuesday night they would hold a news conference, but didn’t release details.

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Post-Game with Mike Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 06/05/08 at 12:00 AM
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Q. What was harder, the last 30 seconds or the long wait before the game began?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK: You know, even in the last game, the last minute and stuff like that wasn’t long or harder, it was just doing what you do.

The interesting thing is when you’re playing in the Stanley Cup Final like this and it’s a closeout game, the emotion on your bench is so much more than you’ve had to deal with. Getting guys on and off the ice is more difficult, and yet we have a real committed group.

Nicklas Lidstrom, in my opinion, is a phenomenal leader and captain. And with his poise and his skill. And then the support group in Chelios and Draper. And Datsyuk and Zetterberg, for their leadership. You know, we have a very special team, and we’re thrilled to be in this situation, obviously.

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Making Saskatoon Proud

by Alanah McGinley on 06/04/08 at 11:34 PM
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From Cory Wolfe at the Star Phoenix,

When Mike Babcock raised the Stanley Cup Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, he fulfilled a dream that took root in Saskatoon.

“If you don’t dream, you cap your potential,” the Detroit Red Wings’ head coach told The StarPhoenix. “I’ve always been a big dreamer. For a kid from Saskatoon to get to do what I get to do, I’m living proof that dreams do come true.”

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Babcock Enjoying Every Moment

by Alanah McGinley on 06/04/08 at 11:15 PM
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From Bob Duff at Canwest News via the National Post,

Wednesday was that day. The Red Wings’ day to lift the Stanley Cup. Finally, Babcock’s chance to embrace hockey’s ultimate reward.

He savoured every minute of it.

Not just Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena that sealed Detroit’s title with a 4-2 decision in the best-of-seven series, but every step along the way.

“I think what I’ve gained out of that experience and what I’ve tried to do through the whole playoffs is understand that it’s the best time you could ever be having in your life, besides family things,” Babcock said. “So enjoy every single minute you get to be in the playoffs and enjoy the process of preparing and working and going through match-ups and the highs and the lows and then come in here tomorrow and enjoy that again. And play the best we can possibly play, be as good as we can be, and ideally, that will be good enough.”

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Prove It Detroit

by Paul on 06/04/08 at 03:18 PM
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from Jim Kelley at Sportsnet,

A proper analysis of these Red Wings would indicate they are the better team, the deeper team, the more experienced team and the better coached team.

It’s time for them to prove it and Babcock will have to play his part.

He’s on record as saying he’s over the loss on Monday and that his focus is on winning the game tonight.

Of that there is no doubt. What he needs to do, however, is get his team to think and act the same way.

It’s the only way they’ll see the Cup out of the hallway and in their hands.

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Game Day with Mike Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 06/04/08 at 01:04 PM
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Q.  Can you just talk about the atmosphere of the skate this morning?  Did you think the guys looked pretty loose?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  Yeah, I mean, I thought they were fine.  But I haven’t rated that all year, the last three years or any of that, not a big believer that the pregame skate has a whole lot of impact in the outcome of the game.

Q.  It’s been clear throughout the year you guys remained level-headed, is that more than anything else the signature of this team, they just never let anything get to them really too much?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  Well, I wouldn’t say that at the start of the last game.  At the start of the last game we were nervous, no question about it.

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Post Game Interviews:  Therrien and Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 06/03/08 at 01:24 AM
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Transcripts for both coaches are below.

First, Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien, then Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.

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Game Day with Mike Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 06/02/08 at 12:48 PM
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Q.  How did you sleep last night given what’s at stake tonight?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  Outstanding.  Slept really good.

Q.  Can you just talk about being in the moment and how locked-in your team is, because this city and the fans are planning a big party tonight, and how your team doesn’t get caught up in any of that?

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Babcock Close to New Deal

by Alanah McGinley on 06/01/08 at 06:45 PM
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From the AP via NHL.com,

Mike Babcock and the Detroit Red Wings expect to complete a new deal shortly after the season to keep the coach under contract next season and beyond.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Babcock said Sunday, a day before he and the Red Wings had their first of three chances to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Stanley Cup. “We just have a couple details to fix.”

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Sunday with Wings Coach Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 06/01/08 at 03:24 PM
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Q.  How valuable is it for you as a coach when one your best offensive players, Hank, is one of your best defensive players?  Also, talk about the sequence yesterday where he blocked a shot up top and them came down and knocked Crosby’s stick down?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  Him and Pavel and Nick and Rafi and Kronwall, they’re all the same in a way.  Franzen as well.  Maybe Filppula.  They’re all our best offensive people and our best defensive people as well.  We’re fortunate.  I thought the five‑on‑three, we had to get a stop there.  We did.  Zetterberg did a great job.  Came off the ice.  Pavel went out and did a great job.  And they called a timeout.  So Z was allowed to go back out there again.

I think intelligent players with good hockey sense, you have a structure on your team.  But they take the structure to another level, because they know what’s going on.  They read plays.  They cut off lanes.  They know how to be in the right spot.

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Post-Game 4 with Mike Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/31/08 at 11:16 PM
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Q.  You weren’t real happy with Zetterberg after 3.  Can you give us your thoughts on that one after 4?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  That’s not what I said.  After 3 what I said was that the coach didn’t do a very good job, and I had some people on the ice too long.  I thought those guys are fantastic players, obviously, and they drive the bus for us.

And but they’re like everyone else.  We all gotta be good.  When I don’t do a good enough job, you gotta ‑ you need to stand up.  When you don’t, you gotta be willing to call them out.  I thought Zetterberg was fantastic.  So was Datsyuk in that five‑on‑three, Kronwall and Lidstrom.

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Saturday with Wings Coach Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/31/08 at 01:45 PM
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Q.  Could we get an update on Tomas Holmstrom, we saw he skated a bit this morning and went off?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  He did just what everyone else did.  And basically what we’re going to do is he felt pretty good.  He’s going to come back for the game tonight, see how he feels.

If he’s ready to go, he’s playing.  If not, obviously he’ll be scratched.

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Friday with Red Wings Coach Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/30/08 at 04:03 PM
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Q. Will you give us your understanding of Holmstrom’s injury and his chances of playing tomorrow?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK: What are the rules? Do we have to talk about the injury or just what part of the body or what do we have to do?

FRANK BROWN: The type.

COACH MIKE BABCOCK: I do a lot of stuff with kids cancer, and there’s a thing called HIPAA-compliance where you can never reveal anything about the person, how come we have to do it in the League? (Laughter.)

Oh, anyway, Holmer’s just got - Holmer’s got the back of his leg, the hamstring. He’s got a little problem there. We think he’ll be fine. He’s a tough guy.

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A Look At Babcock

by Paul on 05/29/08 at 03:05 PM
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

Mike Babcock woke up Thursday, after the Detroit Red Wings’ first loss in the Stanley Cup final and did what he usually does the morning after a game: He talked to his wife and he talked to a fellow coach Dave King — and not necessarily in that order, either.

Babcock did it for reasons that he patiently explains all the time: That lifetime learning is a core belief; and that no matter how long he stays in the game, he doesn’t pretend to have all the answers.

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Thursday with Mike Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/29/08 at 11:48 AM
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Q.  You mentioned last night that you thought you’d overplayed Datsyuk and Zetterberg, if I understand that.  Can you explain what you meant and maybe talk a bit about how you assess their play through the first three games and maybe what you’d like to see from them going forward?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  Well, our plan going into the game last night was, if you look at the game sheet, was to have our shifts at 35 seconds.

So you say that as a coach, you know that means 40.  When they end up at 51 seconds and you pile that on over a period of time, 29 or 28 shifts end up to be too many minutes.

Don’t get me wrong.  These guys are elite, elite players and they’re trying to win.  And sometimes in doing that, instead of just doing your part, you’re on the ice too much.

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Post Game with Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/28/08 at 11:32 PM
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Transcript from the post-game Q&A with Red Wings coach Mike Babcock after game #3.

Q.  You outshot them by a pretty big margin early on.  I think it was 9‑1, or 9‑2.  How much of a role did that play in tonight’s outcome?  Do you think things would have ended differently if you got one early?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  I think tonight we got off to a pretty good start on the road.  I thought we were under control.  Then I thought they had a pretty good push after a timeout, scored a goal.  And I thought they controlled the next, I don’t know, 20 minutes of the game.

And then I thought we battled back pretty good.  The third goal was a tough one for us to give up, just because it makes it hard to come back.  But I thought we had a good push at the end.

The other thing, I didn’t think we used our bench good enough tonight.  I thought the specialty teams were early.  I don’t know if we used enough guys.

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Game #2 Audio from the Scrum

by Alanah McGinley on 05/27/08 at 12:22 PM
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The Hockey News has been archiving audio from the winner’s dressing room after each game. 

Go here to hear Scotty Bowman share his thoughts, then scroll down the page and you’ll find links to commentary from Niklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart, Valteri Filpulla and Johan Franzen.

On a related note, a comment from Paul that I thought I’d pass on:

After Babcock finished his post game press conference, he met with Scotty for about ten minutes, one on one, going over the game.  How much of a help Bowman is to the Wings, we may never know, but it certainly cannot hurt to have Bowman use his “consultant” role to the fullest extent.

Monday Morning with Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/26/08 at 12:13 PM
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The transcript from today’s press conference with Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.

Note: Babcock’s comments notwithstanding, Bill has updates on Franzen, as does Eric Duhatschek.

Q. Here we go again. Latest on Johan Franzen.
COACH MIKE BABCOCK: I don’t even know that. I don’t know the answer, sorry. I was talking to the League guys, and I never got in the medical room to know. I know he’s out there flying around. And I know it’s decision time.

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Babcock Today

by Paul on 05/24/08 at 12:11 PM
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Q.  Is there any update on Franzen?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  No.

Q.  He went to the doctor, is he playing tonight or anything?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK:  He’s at the doctor’s or whatever.  If we keep sending him to doctors, pretty soon we’ll find someone who will shut him down for his life, I’m pretty sure.  (Laughter).

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Red Wings Media Transcripts

by Alanah McGinley on 05/23/08 at 06:16 PM
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From Media Day in Detroit, transcripts from the Q&As with the Detroit Red Wings.

• Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Osgood
• Ken Holland and Mike Babcock

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Game Day with Mike Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/19/08 at 01:39 PM
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Some questions for Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock:

Q. I’m not sure how willing you are to divulge military secrets, but any chance you might split up Datsyuk and Zetterberg at times in the game?

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Interviews with the Red Wings

by Alanah McGinley on 05/16/08 at 01:13 PM
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Today, some interviews with the Detroit Red Wings.  Q&A’s featuring coach Mike Babcock, Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom.

Q. A Franzen update? But can you also talk about what this has been like for him for him to be playing as well as he was and then have to watch.

COACH MIKE BABCOCK: Obviously it’s real difficult for him. It’s part of playoff hockey, though. Things like this happen. You know, the bottom line is you just got to overcome it. Every team gets injured.

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Babcock & Tippett After Game 4 WCF

by Paul on 05/15/08 at 12:17 AM
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Q.  Mike, do you have any thoughts on the disallowed goal?

MIKE BABCOCK:  What do you want me to say?  The guy’s not in the paint?  The guy’s out of the paint.  That’s a repetition call totally.  It’s disappointing.  I mean, Homer got a penalty the other night and he bumped Turco earlier in the game.  But I guess the way I look at it is this:  in the League there’s lots that goes on on the ice.  Sometimes a guy gets tripped and you miss it.  Some things go wrong and you miss it.  Just don’t make stuff up, that’s all.

These men are doing their very best, just like us.  They want to get to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Kelly is a good referee.  He just blew the call.  That’s life.

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Babcock Talk

by Paul on 05/13/08 at 04:31 PM
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Q You were in this situation in the last round against Colorado. Is the message exactly the same to your team going in the fourth game with a 3-0 lead, as it was then?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK: I mean, it’s a different series. It’s hard to say that. It worked out well last time. I think part of the reason it did was we were mature, stayed focused and played a really good game. And I think that’s what we have to do here, is we’ve got to be really focused.

And we tried to get that back on track here today. They’re going to have a huge push, we understand that totally. In saying that, we have to push them as hard as we’ve pushed them all series, and harder. And we’re optimistic. We’re capable of doing that. So we’re going to prepare hard, and then try to play real well.

And tried to look at the mistakes after last night. I thought the second period we got turning the puck over too much and the momentum went the wrong direction. We can’t let that happen tomorrow.

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Interview with Mike Babcock

by Alanah McGinley on 05/12/08 at 01:49 PM
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Interview today with Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.

Q I apologize for opening with a Provincial question, but do you have any reaction to what happened to Joel Quenneville at Colorado?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK: Good for Joel. He’s a hot commodity now, and he’s out in the market. I think he’s a heck of a coach. I think he does a good job. He got his team two of the last three years out of the first round.

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Questions for Mike Babcock & Ken Holland

by Alanah McGinley on 05/07/08 at 02:42 PM
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A short Q&A session with the media, talking with Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock and GM Ken Holland.

Q. What sort of lessons do you take from being at this point last season as you enter this series?

COACH MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I think the big thing is I’ve been really fortunate to be here. This is my third time in five years, and it’s the best time of year. It’s a lot of fun. You want to prepare as hard as you can and get your team ready to go.

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Babcock Talks Wings

by Paul on 04/01/08 at 03:08 PM
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Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock participated in an NHL tele-conference today.

In each of his three seasons behind the bench Mike has recorded 50 wins and he has posted an overall record of 160-55-28. With their eighth consecutive 100 point season Detroit has tied the NHL record held by the Montreal Canadiens. With 17 consecutive season in the playoffs Detroit has the longest post season streak in pro sports.

The red Wings play in Chicago tomorrow, host Columbus Thursday and finish the regular season with the NBC Game of the Week on Sunday against the Blackhawks at Joe Louis Arena.

Q:  Are you worried about just cruising into the Stanley Cup Playoffs

MIKE BABCOCK:  I’ve been on both ends of it in the Stanley Cup playoffs. When you’re the higher seed, the other teams have usually been battling like crazy and sometimes you’ve been drifting along. The great thing for us this year is our games down the stretch here have been against teams that are good teams that have played us real difficult. We had Nashville in here the other day. We’ll get Chicago here tomorrow or there tomorrow. And they’re battling for their playoff life. So they’ve given us really good games.

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Could You See Babcock In Ottawa?

by Paul on 03/16/08 at 08:41 AM
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from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

It’s really going to be up to Babcock to decide if he wants to stay with the Wings. He holds the option on the last year of his contract, which means he has the hammer in negotiations.

At this point, it doesn’t seem likely Babcock will leave the Motor City, but things could change if the club underachieves in the playoffs this spring.

If Babcock, 45, were to become available, Senators GM/coach Bryan Murray would almost certainly have an interest in speaking to him.

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Your Western Conference ASG Coach

by Paul on 12/26/07 at 11:13 PM
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The Wings victory tonight over the Blues locked-in Mike Babcock as the coach of the Western Conference in the NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta.

One other note from the game, Lidstrom played roughly 14:50 tonight, which has to be one of the lowest TOI stats for him. No injury, just rested as the Wings cruised to a victory and should help him when he takes the ice in Colorado Thursday night.

Evening Line

by Paul on 12/13/07 at 08:00 PM
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via Duffer’s Dabbles,

Wings coach Mike Babcock admitted he knew of a hockey player who’d taken a performance-enhancing substance, but felt it was wrong to label such athletes as cheaters.

“I don’t believe for one second that the guys who did this looked at it like they were cheating,” Babcock said. “They looked at it as, ‘I’ve got to do what I can to be the best that I can be.’ They looked at it as a way to have a good career and it’s come back to haunt them. And when they looked back at it in hindsight, they probably said, ‘Geez.’ That’s when you look at yourself as a human being and you see the difference between right and wrong. It’s a terrible thing to be stripped of medals and be stripped of your integrity, because integrity is everything in this world.”

Hockey Bloggers Can Make A Difference

by George James Malik on 12/04/07 at 03:58 PM
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Joe Pelletier of Greatest Hockey Legends has issued a challenge to hockey bloggers across the blogosphere to adopt a charity, and the charity of choice was an easy one.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock may be my favourite Wing, Babblespeak and all, and the frequent visitor to Children’s Hospital in Detroit was moved by the death of one of his biggest fans as the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks’ coach, Jeffery Thomas Hayden, who died of a brain tumour at 12 years of age.

Babcock has lent his name and considerable time and effort into both raising awareness for this understudied area of cancer research and providing a network of resources and support for parents who face the unreality that is their child suffering from a brain tumour at an extremely young age.

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Babcock Thinking Tie

by Paul on 12/04/07 at 10:42 AM
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from University Sport,

Mike Babcock has indicated that his alma really does matter and he intends on wearing his old school tie when he steps behind the bench for Detroit’s National Hockey League game against the Montreal Canadiens, tonight.

Babcock, who played hockey at McGill University in the mid-1980s, where was captain and MVP of the Redmen, confided to some old school buddies during dinner in Old Montreal, Monday, that he would wear the crimson red silk tie for the game against the Habs.

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For close-up pictures of the tie, see a previous KK post…

Line Of The Day

by Paul on 11/25/07 at 09:38 AM
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via Puck-rakers,

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock boiled the game down thusly: “There is such a fine line in this league now. If you don’t have your whole team show up you’re not going to win. I never ever say this, but tonight was the first night in a long time that we didn’t have enough people to compete, and that’s unacceptable.”

The Right Man For The Job

by Paul on 11/02/07 at 05:20 PM
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

...When the Red Wings originally hired Mike Babcock away from the Anaheim Ducks to replace Dave Lewis, they did so knowing the inherent risk. Babcock was the antithesis of the low-key Lewis — he didn’t mind rattling a few cages and asserted his authority when necessary. That isn’t always a popular approach on a veteran team. The tendency for the players is to ask, who does this (newcomer) guy think he is anyway? Sometimes, that manifests itself in a player revolt — and a revolving door in the coaching office. Instead, the Red Wings’ players bought into what Babcock was selling. They are grittier than they were two seasons ago; are more dogged and persistent in their fore-checking; and yet they retain a high skill level, a Red Wings’ characteristic for going on 15 years now.

much more NHL talk, a must read for NHL fans…

Line Of The Day

by Paul on 10/16/07 at 12:11 PM
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How true Mike…

from John McGourty at NHL.com,

“Under the salary cap, you don’t have extra guys anymore,” Babcock said. “The ‘depth’ of the organization is health. Scotty Bowman always had an extra line sitting in the press box. Those days are gone. As soon as you’re not healthy, you’re depth is gone. That’s why minor-league development of prospects is more important than ever. When they get brought up, they have to be ready to play your system.”

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