Blue Jackets’ gamble on Mike Babcock backfires, putting team in tough position before camp

He didn’t even make it to training camp.

The $8-million gamble that was hiring Mike Babcock — of bringing the accomplished coach’s baggage and brashness, his history of championships and bullying to Columbus — blew up in the Blue Jackets’ red face Sunday.

In the wake of the NHLPA’s investigation into allegations that Babcock crossed a line by using his powerful position to scroll through players’ phones, Babcock tendered his resignation a couple months after becoming the highest-paid coach in franchise history, a couple days before the Jackets hit the ice, and a few days after his get-to-know-you methods were put on blast by Spittin’ Chiclets host Paul Bissonnette.

“We’re a players podcast. If you (expletive) with the players, your day will come,” Bissonnette tweeted once Babcock’s dismissal and the urgent promotion of Pascal Vincent became official.

The 60-year-old Babcock returned under scrutiny to the league for the first time since his 2019 firing by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Several times this summer he gave interviews painting himself as a changed man, one willing to own his mistakes, one more interested in two-way communication with his young charges.

“You’re trying to be a better coach, trying to be a better person,” Babcock told Sam McKee and Brent Gunning on The Fan Morning Show last month.

And yet, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Babcock spent “several minutes” away from team facilities looking through a player’s phone.

At least some of the Jackets felt uncomfortable, and the players voiced their concern to Bissonnette, who kept their names quiet but made their complaints deafeningly loud.

How the drama unfolded over the past six days leaves us with a few thoughts:

• Firstly, this was Babcock’s last shot. He blew it. For any NHL team to hire the free agent in the future wouldn’t be risky. It would be laughable.

• General manager Jarmo Kekäläinen, who is scheduled to meet with local reporters Monday, and president John Davidson should wear some of this as well. They looked at their young roster, gazed at the field of coaching candidates, including Vincent, and chose the pricy headline-grabber with an earned reputation for rubbing players the wrong way.

Not only was their mistake hire financially costly — while Babcock isn’t getting every penny, it’s believed a deal was struck here — but that mistake has thrust the team into scramble mode ahead of an important bounce-back season.

“Sooner or later this hockey establishment will understand it’s time to stop recycling these dinosaurs with archaic tendencies and start to bring in new blood with innovative thoughts and processes,” tweeted Akim Aliu.

• Spittin’ Chiclets was already the most popular hockey podcast, but now it has shown to be a vehicle for change.

“Wow that’s nuts,” co-host Ryan Whitney tweeted, sarcastically, when Babcock resigned. “We were just making all that stuff up for clicks.”

Curious if more players begin voicing their complaints to Bissonnette & Co. now that they see the impact of his amplification.

• Marty Walsh’s union means business. Would Donald Fehr’s Players’ Association have hopped on a plane to interview Blue Jackets players in Columbus so swiftly after Bissonnette put Babcock on blast? We’re not certain.

That Walsh and Ron Hainsey so quickly attacked this investigation in person, that their fact-finding mission yielded real results, is certainly a positive sign for the union’s leadership.

Perhaps this whole situation gets swept under the rug if the PA takes Babcock, captain Boone Jenner and veteran Johnny Gaudreau’s statements at face value, if the leaders don’t dig deeper.

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Walsh made it clear that he needed to develop relationships and build unity with his membership. Looks engaged to me.

“Our players deserve to be treated with respect in the workplace. Unfortunately, that was not the case in Columbus,” Walsh wrote in a statement. “The club’s decision to move forward with a new head coach is the appropriate course of action.”

• The summer he left Detroit, in 2015, Babcock was the most popular man in hockey. There were bidding wars for his services.

When he left Toronto, however, his controversial tactics and decisions were exposed. His players checked out before his contract was half over.

In Columbus, the man didn’t even make it to camp before his last chance unravelled in disgrace and disruption.

“Do I like the way I was talked about after I left [Toronto]? No. Do I think I did anything wrong? Absolutely,” Babcock said last month.

“But in our business, what are you going to do? When you leave, you’re gone. Someone else comes in, you wish them luck.”

Goodbye, Mike.

Good luck, Pascal.

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