Mike Commodore's experience with the Wings

[krsmith17 7,191]

42 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Major reach. Commodore likes to pretend he was "decent bottom pair Dman" or whatever he says, but he's wasn't. He was an AHL talent who carved out a few decent years in the NHL. No different than Matt Carkner or Dylan Mcilrath. Big friggin pylon who was only kept around because he's big and nasty and well liked in lockerrooms. He was an enforcer in a league abandoning enforcers. He was up and down between the AHL and NHL his entire career.

Everything he says is hearsay, that so far no one else has spoken up about or confirmed. Fact of the matter is, he was signed as an extra Dman and played 17 games like I would expect an untalented 7th Dman enforcer to play. I don't remember anyone clamoring for Commodore to get more games during his time here. At the end of the day, you just weren't very good Mike. That's why you didn't play.

Look at Tootoo. Signed with us an enforcer. Babs gave him 53 games out of the 164 he signed up to play. Did Toots ***** that Babs was OuT tO gEt hIM? No, he did his thing and then went on to play 3 more seasons for NJ and the Hawks. Commie got traded out of Detroit and after a few games with Tampa his career basically ended. Boohoo your career ended at 32 and your last coach didn't play you a lot. Cry me a river.

Sucks for Modano and a shame Babs didn't do him the courtesy, but 40 year old Modano wasn't very good anymore and Babs obligation is to the team first, not to Modano's career games played. IMO Modano should have retired the day the Stars dropped him. The Wings are not a charity team where you sign to get those last 41 games in so you can hit a milestone. Modano was lucky to get as many games as he did in Detroit TBH.

Commodore blows more smoke than anyone, and if he didn't yell as loudly as he does not one would pay him any mind and he would've been forgotten about a long time ago.

I agree with pretty much everything here. Regarding the bold, take it for whatever it's worth, but I heard from Cleary himself that there was a lot of animosity toward Babcock from quite a few players in the Red Wings locker room before he left Detroit. A lot of players had enough of his bulls***, and I think we're already starting to see that in Toronto...

I think both can be true though. Babcock is a piece of s***, and Commodore sucked a**. But yeah, I totally agree that it is beyond ridiculous that Commodore thinks that Babcock wanted to sign him just to end his career... Get the f*** over yourself dude. You were never good, and it didn't take an a**hole coach for teams to realize this. You were just bought out by a bad Columbus team for f***s sake...

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Commodore is probably telling the truth about a lot of the stuff he says, but he has such a twisted obsession with Babcock that it is impossible to take him seriously.

 

The guy is a ******* loser who only can get attention by lambasting one guy over and over again.

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

26 minutes ago, krsmith17 said:

I agree with pretty much everything here. Regarding the bold, take it for whatever it's worth, but I heard from Cleary himself that there was a lot of animosity toward Babcock from quite a few players in the Red Wings locker room before he left Detroit. A lot of players had enough of his bulls***, and I think we're already starting to see that in Toronto...

I think both can be true though. Babcock is a piece of s***, and Commodore sucked a**. But yeah, I totally agree that it is beyond ridiculous that Commodore thinks that Babcock wanted to sign him just to end his career... Get the f*** over yourself dude. You were never good, and it didn't take an a**hole coach for teams to realize this. You were just bought out by a bad Columbus team for f***s sake...

Yeah the rumors about the players being sick of Babs have made their rounds. And I honestly don't find those rumors to be that surprising. Babs ripped all the pages out of the Bowman playbook. He's arrogant, cocky, controls the room, plays mind games with his players, and goes to teams setup to win. There's a reason Bowman bounced from team to team winning cups... you can only suck so much out of your players coaching that harshly until it's time to move on and start fresh again.

In that sense, I think Babs is a very good coach and that his voice probably was getting stale here. But at the same time, all our old players are gone now, and I'd rather have Larkin and co learning from Babs than Blash. Ask one Leafs fan if they'd swap Babs for Blash... I doubt any would find that a good idea.

I think Babs has a lot longer leash in Toronto than anyone realizes. And I won't be surprised if he's still regarded as a top5 coach in the league 5 years now when he jump ship to finally bring Montreal or Edmonton a cup.

Edited October 17, 2019 by ChristopherReevesLegs

[kipwinger 8,754]

8 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Yeah the rumors about the players being sick of Babs have made their rounds. And I honestly don't find those rumors to be that surprising. Babs ripped all the pages out of the Bowman playbook. He's arrogant, cocky, controls the room, plays mind games with his players, and goes to teams setup to win. There's a reason Bowman bounced from team to team winning cups... you can only suck so much out of your players coaching that harshly until it's time to move on and start fresh again.

In that sense, I think Babs is a very good coach and that his voice probably was getting stale here. But at the same time, all our old players are gone now, and I'd rather have Larkin and co learning from Babs than Blash. Ask one Leafs fan if they'd swap Babs for Blash... I doubt any would find that a good idea.

I made the bold prediction at the time of Blashill's hiring that he'd win a Cup with the Wings before Babs did with Toronto.  Another early exit from the playoffs and Babs gets fired at the end of this year.  So basically I'll win by default right?

Anyway, this is my yearly reminder that Mike Babcock sucks.  He's been living off that insane Anaheim run (Hey Giguere!), and the Olympics, his whole career.  His NHL career has been above average, but not spectacular, despite having STACKED teams for most of it.  Peter Laviolette has basically had all the same success with about 1/10th the talent and nobody fellates him like they do Babs.

Edited October 17, 2019 by kipwinger

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

5 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

I made the bold prediction at the time of Blashill's hiring that he'd win a Cup with the Wings before Babs did with Toronto.  Another early exit from the playoffs and Babs gets fired at the end of this year.  So basically I'll win by default right?

Anyway, this is my yearly reminder that Mike Babcock sucks.  He's been living off that insane Anaheim run, and the Olympics, his whole career.  His NHL career has been above average, but not spectacular, despite having STACKED teams for most of it.  Peter Laviolette has basically had all the same success with about 1/10th the talent and nobody fellates him like they do Babs.

I mean you can say the same for Scotty Bowman, he always made sure he was on stacked teams. IMO a smart career-minded coach does just that. Puts himself in positions to win.

People prop up Blash because he keeps getting selected to coach the American Olympic team, but Babs being selected to do the same for Canada is somehow now turned into a detriment for him?

I don't think Babs is a coaching god or anything, he needs a jack adams and more cups to be that. But I do think he's played his career out masterfully and is in a very good position to win in Toronto. Laviolette has been fired multiple times from NHL teams, Babs never has been fired...I think he could certainly breach 1,000 wins by the time his career is up, which would put him behind only Bowman in games won. 

 

[kipwinger 8,754]

13 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

I mean you can say the same for Scotty Bowman, he always made sure he was on stacked teams. IMO a smart career-minded coach does just that. Puts himself in positions to win.

People prop up Blash because he keeps getting selected to coach the American Olympic team, but Babs being selected to do the same for Canada is somehow now turned into a detriment for him?

I don't think Babs is a coaching god or anything, he needs a jack adams and more cups to be that. But I do think he's played his career out masterfully and is in a very good position to win in Toronto. Laviolette has been fired multiple times from NHL teams, Babs never has been fired...I think he could certainly breach 1,000 wins by the time his career is up, which would put him behind only Bowman in games won. 

 

Scotty typically won when he went to the Cup finals.  Babs hasn't.  Big difference.

Also, there's basically no way that Babs beats Quenneville for 2nd all time in wins.  By the time Babs tops 1,000 (if he does) Quenneville will be up in Bowman's range. 

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

23 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Scotty typically won when he went to the Cup finals.  Babs hasn't.  Big difference.

Also, there's basically no way that Babs beats Quenneville for 2nd all time in wins.  By the time Babs tops 1,000 (if he does) Quenneville will be up in Bowman's range. 

Babs is 1/3 in the finals. Scotty went 0/3 in his first 3 finals appearances.

I don't think Babs will ever achieve Scotty's success, but I also don't buy into the meme "TOR is gonna exit in the first round again and Babs gets fired". If it does happen I'll be super stoked though.

Coach Q is about 5 years older than Babs. Let's say they both retire at the same age, that's potentially another 200 wins Babs could use to close the gap on Q. I think they're only separated by about 200 wins right now. Could end up a tighter race than you think depending on what they both do.

 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

There are a lot of coaches who are not liked by players but still find work. As long as you've won, that's all management cares about. Mike Keenan is another one that comes to mind. Wins one cup and has a job in the NHL for another 15 years. Same wirh Tortorella.

[LeftWinger 5,129]

3 hours ago, Doc Holliday said:

Commodore is probably telling the truth about a lot of the stuff he says, but he has such a twisted obsession with Babcock that it is impossible to take him seriously.

 

The guy is a ******* loser who only can get attention by lambasting one guy over and over again.

Whoa Cowboy, I haven't seen you in these parts in a long time! 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

36 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Whoa Cowboy, I haven't seen you in these parts in a long time! 

I'll be your Huckleberry. Still have no idea what that means.

[LeftWinger 5,129]

1 hour ago, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

I'll be your Huckleberry. Still have no idea what that means.

Quote

 “I'm your huckleberry” is a way of saying that one is just the right person for a given job. 

 

[gcom007 1,465]

11 hours ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Major reach. Commodore likes to pretend he was "decent bottom pair Dman" or whatever he says, but he's wasn't. He was an AHL talent who carved out a few decent years in the NHL. No different than Matt Carkner or Dylan Mcilrath. Big friggin pylon who was only kept around because he's big and nasty and well liked in lockerrooms. He was an enforcer in a league abandoning enforcers. He was up and down between the AHL and NHL his entire career.

Everything he says is hearsay, that so far no one else has spoken up about or confirmed. Fact of the matter is, he was signed as an extra Dman and played 17 games like I would expect an untalented 7th Dman enforcer to play. I don't remember anyone clamoring for Commodore to get more games during his time here. At the end of the day, you just weren't very good Mike. That's why you didn't play.

Look at Tootoo. Signed with us an enforcer. Babs gave him 53 games out of the 164 he signed up to play. Did Toots ***** that Babs was OuT tO gEt hIM? No, he did his thing and then went on to play 3 more seasons for NJ and the Hawks. Commie got traded out of Detroit and after a few games with Tampa his career basically ended. Boohoo your career ended at 32 and your last coach didn't play you a lot. Cry me a river.

Sucks for Modano and a shame Babs didn't do him the courtesy, but 40 year old Modano wasn't very good anymore and Babs obligation is to the team first, not to Modano's career games played. IMO Modano should have retired the day the Stars dropped him. The Wings are not a charity team where you sign to get those last 41 games in so you can hit a milestone. Modano was lucky to get as many games as he did in Detroit TBH.

Commodore blows more smoke than anyone, and if he didn't yell as loudly as he does not one would pay him any mind and he would've been forgotten about a long time ago.

Pretty much exactly what I’ve thought about it all along. Anyone who talks as much as he does in the way he does is clearly self-serving, which immediately raises red flags with me about the legitimacy about what’s being said.

[kliq 3,763]

16 hours ago, F.Michael said:

Apparently near the end of his run as coach of the Red Wings - several veteran players were referring to him as 'Goldcock'...Meaning he was riding on the fact that team Canada had won Olympic golds with him behind the bench...Sorta patted himself on the back with that.

Such a lame thing to be cocky about. Not exactly a coaching masterpiece to win a gold with a team stacked with first line elite level players. Its like Steve Kerr being called the best coach in the world because the Warriors won the NBA Championship with Curry, Green, Durant, and Thompson.

[kliq 3,763]

14 hours ago, gcom007 said:

It’s very hard for me to buy that Babs simply wanted to end this guy’s career. It doesn’t really add up. I can’t see anyone at that level caring enough to go out of their way to do that. I’m sure he was hard on him and busted his chops and obviously didn’t play him much, but the suggestion that he explicitly wanted to end his career seems like a major reach.

Agreed, I don't believe Babs cares enough about Commodore to literally sabotage his career. My guess is that Babs thought Commodore would be a serviceable 7th D-man, and at some point in training camp Commodore pissed him off and Babs essentially said "F this guy, go sit in the press box".

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

14 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

 

Thanks, but it still makes no sense.

[gcom007 1,465]

10 hours ago, kliq said:

Agreed, I don't believe Babs cares enough about Commodore to literally sabotage his career. My guess is that Babs thought Commodore would be a serviceable 7th D-man, and at some point in training camp Commodore pissed him off and Babs essentially said "F this guy, go sit in the press box".

That I could totally see. His delusions about Babcock’s obsession with him strike me as pure self-aggrandizement. We’ve seen plenty of his over the top personality at this point; perhaps that had something to do with it. I do suspect he was liked by the players for his personality, but I could totally see how a coach wouldn’t be a fan. If it’s true that he said all that stuff to Holland about Babcock not liking him and then made a big scene of it with Babs on the call, that’s certainly not a great setup either. That puts you on the radar. Perhaps it was a call that ended with Babs thinking “you know, I didn’t think much about you at all before, but now I might” sort of thing.
 

Most everyone in hockey management respects the hell out of Babcock. Players don’t necessarily like him. Wasn’t it rumored Shanahan wasn’t a huge fan in the year he played under him? Well, he also helped bring him into Toronto. I think that summarizes a lot about Babcock in general. 

[Jonas Mahonas 1,872]

21 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

 

Huck Finn

[LeftWinger 5,129]

On 10/18/2019 at 10:10 AM, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

Thanks, but it still makes no sense.

not sure where the term originated from, but it is just that. "I'm the man for the job."

Yzerman : The Red Wings need a leader.

Larkin : I'm your Huckleberry

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

9 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

not sure where the term originated from, but it is just that. "I'm the man for the job."

Yzerman : The Red Wings need a leader.

Larkin : I'm your Huckleberry

Abdelkader: I'm your Tom Sawyer

[TheXym 2,606]

On 10/20/2019 at 3:36 AM, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

Abdelkader: I'm your Tom Sawyer

Never thought of him as a modern day warrior with a mean, mean stride 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

11 hours ago, TheXym said:

Never thought of him as a modern day warrior with a mean, mean stride 

He does join the RUSH from time to time

[TheXym 2,606]

9 hours ago, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

He does join the RUSH from time to time

Well played, sir