Babcock's after game comments

[Firehawk 305]

4 8 15 16 23 42

Not bad, you guessed 2 correct numbers...

[b.shanafan14 733]

I understand that what he says in interviews has to be different than the way he handles things in the locker room but I think he needs to change what he's doing or be replaced. They had an optional practice yesterday...this was a big game and they have not been playing to their potential. Every single player should have been there working their ass off in practice. I bet today will be another optional skate, just like the last west coast trip, they spent all their time playing out in the sun instead of figuring out how to fix what went wrong. That is not a good message to send, you play like s*** so go ahead and take a day off.

I was at the game and that was the most boring game I attended all season, during the 2nd period I looked up at the clock and it was only half way through but felt like it should be the 3rd. They had a few good chances and yes the Preds did play hard but I still think we have more talent in and should have and could have worked hard which would have resulted in a win.

This. Hell, after the loss to Columbus, Babcock even made a comment about how they had optional skates and perhaps that was a mistake.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2012/03/mike_babcock_really_shocked_by.html

“We had an opportunity last night to get in here and get ready to play and we didn't take advantage of that,'' Babcock said. “We obviously weren't ready to play, so as a coaching staff we didn't do a very good job.

“We had an optional skate this morning, maybe we should have had everybody on the ice.''

So what does he do the next game? Optional skate. He must have taken a raise-your-hands vote, right after popsicles and apple slices, and got vetoed Seriously, no follow through and zero accountability.

[Electrophile 3,554]

Sorry Babs. I love you, but it's time to call Bobby Knight or Mike Ditka and have them come in for a little "man to man" bonding with your players. Guarantee their heads will be ringing when they walk out the door.

I get that publicly throwing people under the bus isn't his style, but we're at the point now where it's starting to appear like he either doesn't know or doesn't care just how precarious our situation is. Yes, we're in the playoffs which is always a good thing, but the way we're playing right now, we won't be there long....and it doesn't appear that he understands that. Granted, we don't know everything that goes on, but it's the appearance of the thing that has me worried.

[Red Crazy 201]

Mike Babcoack is a great coach but at times I don't think this team will play for him anymore. I think that there may be several reasons for this but I think that player loyalty made this team a great place for players but it may have gone too far. We have issues with consistant effort for most of this and last season. We have even had a player say that he can't get interested in playing in the regular season (Mule). His ass should have been traded for that kind of comment. This team has become way to comfortable and I am not sure who to blame Babcock or Holland but playing hockey in the NHL is a job and they are not playing like it is.

[atodaso 279]

[PavelValerievichDatsyuk 1,935]

Babcock isn't the type of coach to call players out to the media. Calling players out in the media never made sense to me, anyway - He can talk to them one-on-one. When a coach criticizes players in front of the camera all it achieves is that the media will build up the story, ask the players to respond and compounds the problem and the stress on the player. I always used to cringe at how Ron Wilson used to do this.

[esteef 2,679]

I have it on good authority that Babcock took Franzen over his knee in the dressing room.

esteef

[kylee 727]

I thought the Wings played well tonight. They hit two posts, Zetterberg was robbed, and Nashville's first two goals (I didn't see the 3rd) came on flukey plays.

The Wings could have easily won 3-1 or 4-1.

I agree but unfortunately that's exactly the type of games and goals that happen in the playoffs.

[bentcobra 0]

Worst record in the NHL in our last ten games, really great stuff heading into the playoffs D getting mauled in our own zone constantly taking too long to move the puck. Hopefully he gets what he is looking for moving nyquist up with pav and bert down with abby and cleary. However I will be surprised if he manages to get good checking out of any of his bottom two lines

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Forget his comments after the game, his coaching decisions at practise today are leaving me less then impressed. Nyquist is getting moved up, but Floatey McGutless is getting to ride shotgun with Datsyuk still and Bertuzzi is being demoted. And it seems that White is going to be a healthy scratch to keep Kindl in the line-up.. Kindl has 2-3 bad giveaways last night and provided nothing. I do not agree with rotating the defenceman right now. Why? 4 games before the playoffs and your making guys fight for jobs they've had all year and done well in? That's not gonna breed sucess, not this late. If he had done this earlier in the season I'd be all for it, but your supposed to be growing as a team and getting ready to mesh in the 1st round, instead guys are gonna be more worried about getting playing time then developing chemistry. To me, just seems stupid

[Majsheppard 203]

It is okay, it isn't like his job is on the line. He won't be fired for this. Which is pretty s***ty IMO.

I am not a fan of Babcock at all.

[Zetterling 16]

They'll be ready for the playoffs. They'd have a better rout to the 3rd round finishing 6th.

[Sgt. Angry 23]

I remember years ago, the Wings were just coming out of the Dead Wings era, and seemed just on the verge of making a playoff run. And then, all of a sudden, they traded away Ray Sheppard and Paul Isebaert (sp?), and Steve Chaisson, three of the better players on the team. What in the heck are they doing, says I to myself! Well, within a few years, the cup was ours (muuhahahaha). I'm beginning to think that maybe we should start dangling some of our top-line players for trade bait, and see if we can improve the chemistry of the whole team!?!?!?

[wings_fanatic 677]

Babcock is not rotating the Dmen to make them fight for their jobs, he is rotating them to give each of them a little rest. I understand his thinking, but I do not like the idea because we are in a position where we need to get our team consistent heading into the playoffs and that is not going to happen if we are resting a different dman every game.

In regards to Babcock keeping Franzen on Pasha's line instead of Bert, I think that is a mistake. Franzen has not EARNED to play 1st line minutes at all this year. The argument against that is that he is leading our team with 27 goals. My argument to that is if we had Nyquist playing with Pavs all year like Franzen, I am sure he would be right around that mark as well. TO add to that, Nyquist gives it his all every shift unlike Franzen, and actually has speed and makes good plays. Franzen has done nothing to impress me this year and has just slowed Pavel down imo. IF Babcock does not realize this and get Franzen off of pavel's line, then it could be a very short post season for the Wings.

Nyquist- Datsyuk- Bertuzzi

Filpulla- Zetterberg- Franzen/Hudler

[Electrophile 3,554]

I'm glad some of you are optimistic about the playoffs, because I'm sure as hell not. I don't think we'll get swept, but playing like we are right now, I don't foresee us lasting very long. I just don't think we have what it takes this season to win the Cup. I want to be wrong, and I hope I am wrong, but too many players are lackadaisical on the ice, too many players are making boneheaded mistakes that players of their caliber/tenure should not be making, and while I don't think firing Babs and/or Holland is going to fix this, I don't see any urgency in them to do something to pull the team out of its funk.

The fish rots from the head down, but that's also assuming the rest of the fish isn't already a festering mess.

[dobbles 252]

while i am not exactly excited about what babcock said, in a way i understand. and also, in the mlive article today he calls out the datsyuk line and the abdelkader line for not being very good last night. in addition, he is moving guys around in practice and that means a million times more than some offhand comment to the media.

i was skeptical of babcock when he first arrived, but he has shown himself to be an outstanding coach. i can't believe so many are dumping on him. can't we all pile on hudler or ericsson instead??!?!?!!?

[dats13owns 157]

I think that this offseason is going to be a pressure cooker for Holland. He has stood pat for too long now and the rest of the league is catching up to the Wings because of it. I smell a huge offseason, Holland is too good of a GM not to.

[nate94gt 134]

I thought they played a great game starting halfway through the first period. their power play looked great, and the PK did its job.

I believe a wise man once said that there will be times when your hot and you'll win games you should lose, and there will be times when you play games that you should win but you lose. IMO that was one of those games where they played great but lost. We've seen those games a number of times.

we could outshoot an opponent 59 to 4 and we could lose, ti was just one of those games.

[AceInTheSleeve 97]

I think that this offseason is going to be a pressure cooker for Holland. He has stood pat for too long now and the rest of the league is catching up to the Wings because of it. I smell a huge offseason, Holland is too good of a GM not to.

This isn't Holland's fault. All the pieces are there, its up to the coach and ultimately the players themselves to buy into the system and put the effort into playing the game. No effort, no wins. Thats true regardless of the talent on this team.

Edited March 31, 2012 by AceInTheSleeve

[b.shanafan14 733]

This isn't Holland's fault. All the pieces are there, its up to the coach and ultimately the players themselves to buy into the system and put the effort into playing the game. No effort, no wins. Thats true regardless of the talent on this team.

Agree and disagree. I place the majority of the blame on the players themselves. Most of them have the tools, but aren't playing up to their potential. The effort isn't there and its the players themselves who are at fault; way ahead of coach and management.

That said: its the coaches job to motivate and manage his personnel. If things work as they should, a player who isn't playing up to snuff will either be motivated to improve or demoted. In the case of Franzen, he has neither improved on the ice or been demoted to less ice time or scratched. No accountability.

In the case of Holland, he has done a great job of getting pieces in place, but in recent years has lacked the ability to pull the trigger on deals which would improve this team. He seems understandably hesitant to mess with the current formula. However, while he refuses to make risky transactions, other teams have begun to eclipse the Wings, while this team seems to stagnate.

Players need to play. If they aren't, the coach needs to coach. If that isn't working, the GM needs to deal. The frustration exists because none of these SEEM to be happening.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Babcock may be forced to commmit seppuku in the offseason, to avoid shame and dishonor.

[b.shanafan14 733]

Babcock may be forced to commmit seppuku in the offseason, to avoid shame and dishonor.

I wonder what his death poem would sound like...

"We did a lot of good things,

we took a step forward tonight,

I thought we carried play,

their goaltender was the difference,

I thought Bert was physical and created space,

I thought Mule was skating well

... I have no regrets!!"