Milbury fired from NBC....replaced by Babcock

[Toonage]

Mike Babtalk

Sorry.

[Locke]

Holy crap....Milbury was still employed?

I thought they cut that guy loose years ago.

[tvp2003]

Interesting interview with Babcock on the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/2332483/2021...afs-red-wings/

He speaks about a few topics, including the "Marner incident", and Johan Franzen...

“So Mitch was in my office. We were talking about work ethic. I asked him where he ranked on the scale. And that was no problem, that was just a private thing. It was a good meeting, Mitch left. But then I was meeting, I’m pretty sure it was with (Tyler) Bozak, afterward. Bozy was an important part of our team. What I ended up doing — and I made a big-time mistake, I knew as soon as I did it — when we were talking about competing and I said, ‘Well look where Mitch ranks it.’

“Well, as soon as I did that, and he saw the list, I knew that I had made a major mistake. After the meeting with Bozak, I went right into the dressing room. I grabbed Mitch and said, ‘Mitch, this is what I did. I screwed you here.’’’

Babcock said he offered right then and there to Marner to air out the coach’s mistake with the team. Marner declined. But for those who said Babcock went into the dressing room and posted Marner’s list up for all to see, that’s not true, Babcock said.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Interesting interview with Babcock on the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/2332483/2021...afs-red-wings/

He speaks about a few topics, including the "Marner incident", and Johan Franzen...

Sure. But heres my problem: I dont believe a goddamned word Babcock says.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by Locke

Sure. But heres my problem: I dont believe a goddamned word Babcock says.

Yeah. I’m pretty much in agreement. He’s greasy & slimy. He employs the twisted false equivalency of “crossing a line” with a player with fundamentally mentally destroying a human being.

He used advocacy for mental health as another tool to stroke his ego. He’s a fraudulent joke.

Either he or Lebrun didn’t even get their stories straight about why he’s big on mental health. His neighbor at Emma lake was killed by his son, because of mental health issues. The son didn’t kill himself.

Babcock has openly discussed this as being an impetus for him to get involved in the mental health movement on Bell let’s talk day. After looking deeper, there was more than one person as an impetuses, but they are actually connected in a mental health project in Saskatoon. If he was an advocate, just mention that.

After reading Craig Custance’s coaching book I found out he also lives on a lake in Michigan. He goes to Emma Lake in North Central Saskatchewan to be a celebrity and have his ego pumped.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

The firing of Milbury for that comment is a joke.

I would expect he has filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit.

Well, he was undoubtedly a contractor, not an employee, so there’s no wrongful dismissal. And for all I know this is a non-renewal, not a termination of contract which would give him zero case at all. And if not, he can try and sue for breach of contract but I’m betting he other has already been paid out or they have an out in the contract.

[zamler]

Milbury will be missed. Said no one ever.

[bluejays]

Babcock's own explanation sounds so ridiculous. It sounds like a prepared answer for a job interview, frankly.


If he actually handled the situation the way he describes, the story would never have seen the light of the day as it'd be a non-event, even in hindsight. He knows Marner won't talk about it, but Marner should burn him by setting straight what actually occurred. It really was a story of putting a different angle on it and acknowledging it could've been handled perfectly had he taken the extra step, but he did all he could under the circumstances. Only his version is nonsense. Has anyone tweeted Commodore for his inside scoop on what actually happened? He doesn't hold back.

[PegCityFlamesFan]

Lebrun giving him a nice fluff piece to welcome Babcock back into the fold. What a joke.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by PegCityFlamesFan

Lebrun giving him a nice fluff piece to welcome Babcock back into the fold. What a joke.

In recent years Lebrun and Friedman have certainly come across as pompous corporate brownosers. This isn't surprising. They're not journalists - just anything to get them ahead. Hope he at least got some coin for the stroking here.

[StAlbertFlame]

Mike Commodore will likely have a strong opinion regarding Babcock's hiring.

[Ashasx]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1351663761355116545

https://twitter.com/user/status/1351664307570925575

https://twitter.com/user/status/1351664461602574340

[Manhattanboy]

Still think it’s a joke Milbury was fired.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Still think it’s a joke Milbury was fired.

I don't know much of anything about the rest of Milbury's work, but having listened to that comment I agree. It's not even a comment about women. It's a comment about the players. Firing someone over that alone seems wildly disproportionate.

The hiring of Babcock is an even worse ethical and PR move though, so I guess the people making these decisions have some odd standards.

[Locke]

Milbury is an idiot.

But he might just be an honest idiot.

Babcock is full of ####.

I dont know any of the 'behind the scenes' stuff, but Babcock only succeeded with stacked teams.

The man is a clown. Same with Holland.

They were beneficiaries of an un-capped league and some amazing scouts.

[GioforPM]

I couldn’t care less about Milbury being let go - he’s an idiot no matter what and his opinions are crap. But they couldn’t do better than Babcock? He’s not even interesting.

[Jables16]

Babcock strikes me as having become a coach so that he could wield power over people and manipulate them psychologically for his amusement. While his personality is incredibly bland and uncharismatic there is a way that he can still be an entertaining analyst. If he just starts letting his facade slip and displaying increasingly concerning sociopathic tendencies, like Dennis on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there's no way I'd be missing one of his segments. I'm sure he has curated dossiers on everyone who has played for him over the years which could be a great ratings bump during playoffs.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by Locke

Milbury is an idiot.

But he might just be an honest idiot.

Babcock is full of ####.

I dont know any of the 'behind the scenes' stuff, but Babcock only succeeded with stacked teams.

The man is a clown. Same with Holland.

They were beneficiaries of an un-capped league and some amazing scouts.

Not to mention they were both in a Rec Wing organizations structure built managed and overseen by Jimmy Devalano, Bryan Murray, and Scotty Bowman with an owner who let them do their job.

Three hockey management professionals who were extremely successful in other markets. Devalano helped build the Islanders dynasty, Murray was directly involved with success in Anaheim and Ottawa, Bowman... self explanatory.

Holland talks a good game, he convinced the Wings ownership that he was the best option to lead the franchise so they let Jim Nill and Yzerman only to have success in other locations.

It looks like Nill was the brains behind the championships Holland receives the credit.

When the Oilers hired Holland, as another one of their shortcuts, the Wings were the only team in the league with a higher cap hit and worse record than the Oilers.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

What did he say again? I don't remember.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

What did he say again? I don't remember.

I can't remember but it as something dumb like the players were distracted by looking at girls. Not offensive IMO but not the smartest thing to say on a TV broadcast.