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Rewriting history? You do know Quenneville started coaching before Chicago, right? Without getting into a debate on Hull-Turgeon-MacInnins-Pronger-Fuhr or Kane-Toews-Sharp-Hossa-Kieth vs what Babcock has had, Detroit was a top contender for only four years with Babcock. Another two or three as a second-tier team, and the last three being middle-of-the-pack. Not much different than Quenneville's tenure with Chicago and Colorado. True, he's had more playoff success in Chicago, but he also had a lot of failures in St.Louis. He went to Chicago with 11 years of NHL coaching experience, including several very good teams in St.Louis, plus a couple as an assistant with the Avs first Cup team. Babcock had two years. Maybe if Babcock had had more experience when he took over with the Wings, we would have had more success. Maybe not. But really, picking a best coach is pretty much impossible. It's too hard to quantify the coach's impact. It's practically impossible to pick a best player, even with a boatload of individual stats to help. There are no individual stats for coaches. Only team results. No two coaches are ever in the same situation, so you can't even make direct comparisons. Best you can do is look at a guys general success level and say "he's one of the best". That's all most people actually say about Babcock, and also what most people say about Quenneville. That one or two people here may hold the opinion that Babs is the best is no different than you believing that Queneville is. It's an opinion and nothing more. Both are great. Both have missed the playoffs only once (so far). Q had a bubble team the year he was fired in StL, but they did end up making it even though they didn't really improve any after he left. Both have made the finals 3 times. Similar winning% both regular season and playoffs. Both have had a PT winner lose in the first round. Both usually have only been beaten by better teams in the playoffs, with several losses to eventual Cup winners between them. Basically the only difference is Q has won a couple big games where Babs has lost a couple, and Babs succeeded in a couple big opportunities than Q was never given. Whether the results would have been any different if the roles were reversed is something we can only guess at. Your guess is no more valid than anyone else's. Personally, I think guessing at all is silly. A team would be lucky to have either of them.

Your hypocrisy amazes me Frank. When someone says anything good about Ken Holland, you call them “fanboys”, yet you are the one who spouts off that Babcock is the best coach in the world every single chance you get. I could probably look at your posting history and find 10 posts from the last month alone. If someone makes a valid point against Babcock, rather than acknowledge or even debate the point, you simply call the people making the point “the anti-Babcock” crowd. You take the argument to the extreme and dismiss/distort what is actually being said. There have been alot of great points made in this thread. I do believe that if Babcock was the greatest, he should be getting more out of TO then he is. What TO’s performance is telling me, is that while he is good, he is not to the level some people think.

Good one on Fedorov too http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/14054745/nhl-sergei-fedorov-had-impact-ends-ice Fave quote

So if you're under 6 ft you have no chance of being a goaltender in the NHL? Smaller pads, not bigger nets

He's right though. Excellent ******* post.

I'm just annoyed by my Canadian friends/co-workers acting like some miracle is bound to happen with Babs and somehow the loss of Babs is the end of our playoff streak. Well i hope the Leafs crumble further and this whole Babcock 50 million deal turns into a joke.

This arena is going to be amazing. Awesome to see they are upping the ante to make it even sweeter. The suspended seating/walkway bit from the ceiling is cool. They have that at MSG. Anyways, I plan on going to the site this weekend to fly over it and will update the blog when I do.

Exansion draft? then I choose to protect Mrazek.

Or hopefully the desire.

Generational player. He will be used in video tutorials as long as the rules are similar, for all of time.

Best positioning of any player EVER. He was always in the right spot. Add all world hand eye coordination to that and phenominal conditioning/preperation, and whammo.

lol "Teams planning to beat the Red Wings would enter a game with the sound strategy to dump the puck into Lidstrom's end in order to force him to turn and get the puck, creating an opportunity to wear him down physically. It was almost impossible to execute because his hand-eye coordination was so good; he'd often block the dump-in attempt and start the attack the other way. "He knocked everything down at the blue line," Blake said. "Guys would get so frustrated. They'd go to the other side because it was no use. They avoided him as much as possible and it set up the whole Detroit game.""

http://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/rumor-several-teams-involved-in-major-trade-rumor/?ref=jo

Why is he right, because scoring is apparently way down and people want football scores? The games are just fine, he coached/coaching two teams that lets face it they struggle to score. Wings and Leafs. I mean I'm watching Hawks and Blues right now and they're 5-5 with couple minutes left.

Poor poor Collar McBroken

Colorado Avalance 2013 season record 16-25-7 Patrick Roy hired as rookie head coach and the following year. Colorado Avalance 2013-2014 season record 52-22-8. If Babcock is the best coach in all of hockey then he should at the very least be able to better Toronto a tiny bit than last year. If Patrick Roy can do what he did then Babcock has zero excuses imo.

Realistically? Probably just advance scouting in preparation for the Leafs game this Friday. But let's go with the Fowler thing because that would be awesome.

Not agreeing that Babcock is hockey coach jesus does not make someone "anti-Babcock".

Sorry. I don't think you measure success solely on the number of Stanley Cups you have won. To me the way Babcock coached some of these teams even into the play offs (the one's that had no business to be there) is as big a measure of success if not more. The greatest challenge Quenville's hawks faced on route to the Cup a few years ago was Babcock's limping, battered and bruised Red Wings. Team Canada chose Babcock because they believe him to be the best despite others having more cups.

Poor kid, that's a shame, really. He will be OK, but the Oilers won't. I was liking that the NHL was pimping McDavid as the second coming of Crosby, and ignoring Dylan. Leave our baby alone, please... I don't want him ruined by the NHL Hype Machine.

Never once did I say he was any of the things in bold. Out of all the accolades you listed, the only one that matters is the cup. I hate when people use the gold medals when doing a comparison to other coaches. How many other coaches are given an opportunity to win a gold medal with a team that has a chance? The answer at best is 5 other coaches every 4 years. Add in the fact that his roster was stacked, not fair to compare. World Cup Champion? I assume you mean World Championships? If so, winning that tournament does not make you best in the world. Babcock is a great coach, but to say he is without a doubt the best coach in the world is just wrong. He's one of the best. Just because certain posters feel the need to say it every post, doesn't make it true. I agree with everything you just said Kip.

Acquiring Byfuglien in 2015 would be the equivalent of acquiring Rasheed Wallace in 2004. First, it would give the team a little swagger. A little moxie. Second, it would be the most "Detroit" thing the Red Wings could do. An intense, hulking, maniac representing an intensely maniacal city would be perfect. Let Zetterberg be the stoic, humble, face of the franchise. Let Byfuglien be a wrecking ball.

I don't care what it would cost, with how soft this team is I would kill for somebody like this on the team: