Babcock is a good coach, no doubt. I think he got his reputation as some amazing coach by some pretty impressive performances in Detroit from 2005 until maybe 2010.
I think a good combination of great quality drafting, some iconic top tier players and a GM in Holland that made a lot of decisions that worked out. Mike Babcock was also a coach who was generally ahead of the curve from a North American perspective on puck possession, speed and skill style coaching. Part of this was his style and part of it was his players as well.
His numbers in Detroit are very impressive which lead to the 2010 Olympic Team and the Gold Medal in Vancouver. At that point he was the golden child and was given the top tier roles within Hockey Canada which further made his name bigger than others.
I don't believe for a moment that a Coach Q , Julian, Hitchcock or other top tier coach couldn't have had similar success with those Team Canada teams.
I think he is a great coach but for far too long he was considered the "Bill Belichick" of NHL coaches went in reality his post season success over the last decade has been blah.
A combination of his ego, the sky high expectations of getting him, paying him $6+ million plus all the "superstars" that are on the team lead to fan's thinking the club is better than it is.
I don't think for a moment that he didn't like or respect some of the moves or hockey knowledge of Dubas either. I don't think a guy like Babcock would be big into taking advice and orders from a GM who hasn't done a whole lot and can't grow a beard.
Good coach, solid performer and I know the coaching fraternity appreciates the work he did to get salaries up but I can't help but think that some of them shake their heads with his reputation.
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