kipwinger

That's because it's not big enough.

Wow, Duncan Keith played 49:51 minutes last night. I bet his dogs are barking today.

That obscures the fact that you shouldn't call ANYOnE who disagrees with you a desperate, whining, pissing, moaning, crybaby. Not just me. I'm not sure why you think its OK just because you didn't address people personally. It breaks any number of rules around here, and also just drags down the conversation in general. Just don't call people names. That shouldn't be amusing, it should be standard practice.

You're welcome to think that way. But it might be better, in the future, to articulate it like that rather than go overboard like you did in your other post and start personally attacking people. I don't think you're a ludite for giving Babcock the benefit of the doubt, but for some reason you saw fit to get personal with the folks you disagreed with. Disagree with me all you want, but don't call names and be rude about it.

Ted Kulfan ‏@tkulfan 6m6 minutes ago "I'll know in the morning" Babcock texts as to where he'll coach next season...says there is nothing else to report. "Same old, same old" 7 retweets 7 favorites

I'm not really sure why you're so upset about people commenting on what is, without question, the biggest story in hockey right now. Seriously what's the problem? You just don't like that I'm talking about Babcock in two Babcock related threads? Or you don't like that I feel differently about it than you obviously do?

So anybody who doesn't agree with you is a whiny, desperate, pissy, moany, crybaby? That's an awfully decent way for you to approach the subject. Thanks for the positive contribution.

Parise and Suter didn't sit down with Darren Dreger during the middle of the process to explain their thought process, and talk about how much they've learned. Mike Babcock did.

To a certain extent the media is going to speculate, that's what they do. My biggest beef with Babs is that everything he's done has fueled that speculation, to the point that it has become completely asinine. When the Wings were eliminated (on April 29th) he said he'd make his decision in "10 days or so". That was 20 days ago. He said he didn't want to be part of a rebuild and then visited Toronto and Buffalo. He said it wasn't about the money and now we're hearing that it's down to Detroit and Buffalo (the team with the least future and the most money). He said his family's wishes were more important than his, and then publicly stated that his family wanted to stay, and then called San Jose himself to get an interview. He went on the biggest hockey media outlet in the world, with their most high profile contributor, to discuss his "decision process" and "what he learned". If you think, for even one second, that this is all being thrust on him from outside you're nuts. Don't want all the attention? Don't do interviews. Don't want people to speculate? Make your actions consistent with your words.

Why not? He said "I won't negotiate a contract during the season" and nobody asked him about it all year long. Why couldn't he have done the same thing after the season was over? Well I certainly agree with this. It's insane. I think part of the reason it bothers me so much is because of how omnipresent the whole thing is. I don't remember any instance in recent memory when there has been this much hype or speculation regarding where someone would end up. Maybe Parise and Suter, but even they declined to talk about the process while it was going on.

That's like saying, minus that Superbowl half time show, he's really kept a low profile. TSN is the biggest media source for hockey, and hockey related information. And Darren Dreger (and perhaps McKenzie) is it's most high profile contributor. Mike Babcock is notorious for shutting down reporters and/or interviews the second he doesn't like something they asked. Watch any of his post game comments (particularly after loss) and he couldn't be more combative. Yet suddenly he's doing sit down interviews, and discussing his through process, etc. and I'm NOT supposed to believe he wants it that way? One sentence, exactly one, would have put an end to this crap a year ago. "I don't discuss contract negotiations publicly, you'll know about it once I've signed the contract".

It pains me to defend Mike Babcock. Everybody knows that I think he's an overrated, blowhard, whose folksy Canadian "awww shucks, we need to work harder, and listen to our wives more" crap is just a veneer. That said, he's definitely one of the top coaches in the league. He's just not soooo much better that teams who already have good coaches (or coaching options) are willing to drop everything and throw the bank at him. There are a couple of coaches who are probably better, and a hand full that are as good. Any team without a coach, or with a consistently underwhelming coach should be happy to have him. But any team that already has a quality guy would be dumb to can them for Babs. And for some reason that was what everybody expected. Also, the fact that there are at least 3 or 4 other really good coaches available really diminished the interest in Babs. Why throw 5 million at him when you can get McLellan or Bylsma for cheaper and they're not much (or any) worse than he is. I follow hockey because I love the sport. I'd really love to follow the Stanley Cup playoffs, since those are still going on and all. Unfortunately every single outlet dedicated to covering the sport of hockey, is currently following #Babswatch. So I'm forced to either quit following the sport I love, or follow it and comment on how idiotic this whole decision making process has been. I've chosen the latter. What else am I going to do, watch the NBA? Lol.

Why is it a stupid move strategically to say that money is your biggest concern but not when you say family and winning are your biggest concerns? If it's a bad idea, it's a bad idea either way. If he wanted to negotiate his contract privately (like the vast majority of folks who sign NHL contracts) he could have done so.

Greenway?

I was mostly being a smartass. I don't think he, or the Wings, are interested in a 1 year deal. I think he'll go where the money is. And if the money's close in all cases, he'll stay.

Not at all. It's insane. There is literally up to the minute articles, tweets, interviews, etc. with every commentator under the sun, all speculating on where he'll end up. #Babswatch is trending on Twitter as we speak.

Unless he signs a one year deal. Then we get to do it again next year. Yippie.

It's interesting that all these guys who say it's not about the money end up going to the place that offers them the most money. Hmm...

What would the money matter. Babs has already said his decision comes down to winning and what his family wants. If he goes to Buffalo, it's clearly because they've got a better chance of winning than Detroit...lol.

But that's not really saying much at all is it? Which is the whole point. You can never be wrong when you say things like. "Well the analyst in me says the conventional wisdom is that he'll stay"... Because Bob McKenzie is in the business of analyzing conventional wisdom now? "But I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in Buffalo either"... Neither would I. He interviewed there and they offered him the largest amount of money. I like Bob Mckenzie. He's a good analyst and hockey reporter. But this isn't analysis or reporting, this is speculation. And I actually don't even blame him for that either. This Babcock thing has gotten so out of control that he's be a fool not to cover it. It's the top story of the Stanley Cup playoffs for some ******* reason.

Enough to make sure that he can strongly insinuate every possible outcome, and therefore not be wrong about anything ever?

This is like an episode of The Bachelor". Everybody is waiting to see if Mike will give Ken Holland the rose. Puke.

Our assistant coaches, and their special teams improvements were a primary factor in making the playoffs this year. We were terrible at even strength. Moving them for a guy with no coaching experience is a terrible idea. No matter how beloved Lidstrom may be. Thats the kind of stuff the Oilers do, not teams who care about winning.

Whoa, lots of exaggerations here. He's had all year long to decide whether he wanted to leave or not. The fact that he said he wouldn't negotiate during the season doesn't mean that he didn't think about it, prepare for it, consider other options, and consider his own priorities. People are acting like he didn't know his contract was up until the season concluded, which is crap. He's had every opportunity to talk over this "major life decision" for at least the last year. And the fact that he didn't want to negotiate was his call too. It's not like he was dying to get this figured out and Ken Holland just wouldn't hear him out, he's been offered several contracts that he turned down. Secondly, I'm not sure where this notion that Babcock didn't have good rosters is coming from. His rosters haven't been as good as Chicago or L.A., sure, but they haven't been bad either. This notion that they were "barely playoff caliber" is overblown. Ottawa and Calgary had a "barely playoff caliber" roster this season. Columbus had a "barely playoff caliber" roster last season. People are acting like he had nothing to work with...which is bull. He didn't have a Cup contender, but he didn't have trash either. The fact that we've barely scraped into the playoffs the last couple of years had more to do with our shootout record (for the last two years), injuries (last season), and a monumental collapse (this season). Some of which, contrary to popular opinion, actually had to do with Babcock's coaching.

Touche.