Former Leaf goes on a heated rant about how Mike Babcock handles himself behind closed doors
As the NHLPA investigates the allegations brought forward by Paul Bissonnette against Columbus Head Coach and former Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock, hockey Twitter was divided about who to believe. Bissonnette shared screenshots of texts he received confirming that his allegations were true, while Boone Jenner and Johnny Gaudreau both released statements siding with Babcock saying that the allegations are not true. Some, like former Leaf Frank Corrado took the opportunity to throw a funny jab at Babcock. Corrado posted a series of photos with the caption "If Babs went through my phone when I played for the Leafs..." The photos included two of him holding a giant bag of popcorn and his photo on a milk carton with the caption "Missing" referencing him constantly being a healthy scratch under Babcock when he played for the Leafs.
A handful of former players have shared that they were treated unfairly under Babcock, such as Johan Franzen and Mike Commodore. Today on TSN1050's First Up radio show, Corrado commented on the situation referring to his personal experiences with Babcock.
"If Paul Bissonnette is going public with something like that I have every reason to believe he got it from a credible source, he's not gunna torpedo his show and his reputation. The guy's on major television platforms in the US. He's not gonna sewer himself in that regard. And when you see that statement from Boone Jenner and Babcock, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle... If you're asking me what I think, I'll go back to my experiences with the guy and I don't think he handles himself well," commented Corrado.
"I think he's socially awkward. I don't think he cares about your family � I know for a fact he doesn't care about your family. All he cares about is himself. I've read this three-part puff piece that came out on Babs recently, and my stomach turned reading this thing because he's talking about how he's got communication plans for every player. No he doesn't. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. It's not my place to comment on what I think may or may not have happened... my experience with him, doesn't care about anyone other than himself and that's how he's gonna operate every day, even in Columbus."
Following Corrado's rant about Babcock, co-host Aaron Korolnek mentioned that Babcock is "old school" which led to Corrado jumping in and explaining the difference between being an "old school" coach and Babcock.
"I just wanna jump in on the old-school practices... I played for Tortorella, Tortorella is old school. He gets in your face...He tells it to you direct and blunt and you may not like it. My issues, and a lot of peoples issues, with the way Babs does things is he doesn't do that. He doesn't get in your face, doesn't tell you direct and blunt and straightforward. He plays these stupid head games around you and that's what frustrates players...what he does, he dances around it and it messes with your head."
This isn't the first time Corrado has been blunt and honest about his experiences with Babcock as he has previously stated he believes he was treated unfairly during his time in Toronto. Corrado spent two seasons with the Leafs from 2015-2017, playing in just 41 games.
You can hear the rant here at TSN.ca.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 13 | 153 ANSWERS Former Leaf goes on a heated rant about how Mike Babcock handles himself behind closed doors Do you think Mike Babcock should be coaching in the NHL? | ||
| I don't think he should be coaching hockey, period | 101 | 66 % |
| Yes, he's a good coach who messed up | 30 | 19.6 % |
| I think his route back to the NHL was too easy | 22 | 14.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
