46 replies to this topic

[Dabura]

He doesnt need to address the players through us fans. Babcock doesnt like cameras or any sneak peek into his team. He will keep the public under one impression and i guarantee he went into that locker room singing a different tone.

Again with the fans angle.

It's not feeding drama-hungry fans. It's not addressing us through the fans (though it's closer to that than feeding drama-hungry fans).

It's rocking the boat.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if, behind closed doors, Babcock's tearing the team a new collective ass hole every night now. But, well - let's say that's the case. Let's say that, behind closed doors, he's tearing the team a new collective ass hole every time they lose now. The question being, Does it seem to be helping matters?

[Carman]

People still care about the coach interviews? Babcock's portrayal to the media is about as fake as you can get. If we win and play well he will say we need to improve and if we lose and play bad he'll point out the things in the game that went well. He's been doing it forever, the only people that know what's going on is the people in the locker room, and while media call outs might be interesting I don't believe that's the proper course of action with so many proven championship caliber players.

[evilzyme]

Again with the fans angle.

It's not feeding drama-hungry fans. It's not addressing us through the fans (though it's closer to that than feeding drama-hungry fans).

It's rocking the boat.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if, behind closed doors, Babcock's tearing the team a new collective ass hole every night now. But, well - let's say that's the case. Let's say that, behind closed doors, he's tearing the team a new collective ass hole every time they lose now. The question being, Does it seem to be helping matters?

No. Currently it is not. But as a coach or a leader in any position you cant beat a dead horse and continue just putting players on blast. Blasting your players non stop can have two effects... it can motivate and get heads oit of asses or overtime you can see a drop in morale and confidence. So what if Babcock is trying a new approach and finding a way to motivate and try to instill some confidence in this team. I know its hard to think about with an aged organization like we have, but i wouldnt disown the idea either.

[Dabura]

while media call outs might be interesting I don't believe that's the proper course of action with so many proven championship caliber players.

Proven championship caliber players who are playing like zombies.

You're right, of course: a media call-out isn't Babs' style. But that's sort of the idea.

[Dabura]

No. Currently it is not. But as a coach or a leader in any position you cant beat a dead horse and continue just putting players on blast. Blasting your players non stop can have two effects... it can motivate and get heads oit of asses or overtime you can see a drop in morale and confidence. So what if Babcock is trying a new approach and finding a way to motivate and try to instill some confidence in this team. I know its hard to think about with an aged organization like we have, but i wouldnt disown the idea either.

I'm not saying Babs should be berating them after every loss. It was a hypothetical counter-argument. Frankly, I'm hung-over, and I shouldn't have to talk myself into circles over a point as simple and reasonable as the one I'm making - that is, that, hey, maybe the boat needs to be rocked.

[Firehawk]

4 8 15 16 23 42

Not bad, you guessed 2 correct numbers...

[b.shanafan14]

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]

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]

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]

[PavelValerievichDatsyuk]

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]

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

esteef

[kylee]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Sgt. Angry]

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]

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]

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.