Mike Babcock is back in the NHL as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, which he joined on Saturday after nearly four years without a professional job.
The 2008 Stanley Cup winner returns, now that his long contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs is over. The latter fired Babcock at the start of his fifth season in office, in 2019.
Columbus decided early last month to hire Babcock, but had to wait until July to formalize the deal due to the large amount still owed to him on the eight-year, $50 million contract he signed with Toronto in 2015.
Babcock also appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals with Anaheim in 2003 and Detroit in 2009 and guided Canada to Olympic gold medals in 2010 and 2014. He gives the Blue Jackets an accomplished veteran behind the bench to oversee their attempt to once again become a force in the East.
Columbus has missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons. The Blue Jackets finished tied for the second-lowest points in the league last season and selected Adam Fantilli with the third pick in the draft.
They fired coach Brad Larsen in April after two seasons in the role, the second of which was plagued by injuries. Columbus signed top free agent Johnny Gaudreau last summer and looked set to step up. Managing director Jarmo Kekalainen is now counting on Babcock to make it happen.
Once considered the best hockey coach in the world – and paid as such by the Leafs – Babcock saw his reputation take a hit when stories emerged about some of his methods.
In 2019, Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen called Babcock the “worst person” he had ever met, and his former teammate Chris Chelios said Babcock berated Franzen in 2012 to the point of making him do a nervous breakdown. Maple Leafs star center Mitch Marner added that in his rookie year, Babcock made him rank his teammates based on their anger, and he shared that ranking with a few low-end teammates.
When Babcock was fired in November 2019, retired defenseman Mike Commodore lashed out at his former coach in a social media tirade.
“Quite simply, your players have abandoned you,” Commodore tweeted. They left you because you are a horrible human being. You are an average trainer with an inflated ego. You finally got exactly what you deserved…. The hockey world is in ecstasy. »
Babcock served as a senior adviser to the University of Vermont men’s hockey team before returning to his native Western Canada to coach the University of Saskatchewan in 2021-22.
Now 60, Babcock will be in his fourth NHL stint after stints in Anaheim, Detroit and Toronto.