A new infuriating Mike Babcock story has officially come to light
Mike Babcock has been the centre of a lot of negative chatter over the last decade or so, and the newest Babcock story is really rubbing people the wrong way, and it involves former Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard.
Obviously, when you look at Mike Babcock from a Toronto Maple Leafs lens, the Mitch Marner rookie list story is probably at the top of the charts in terms of showcasing Babcock's pure audacity. For those who are unaware of what I'm referring to, during Marner's rookie season, Babcock had requested that Marner write a list of his teammates, ranking them from hardest working to least-hardest working. Babcock would then share the list with the entire team.
Babcock's history is chock full of stories like this one -- some not quite as bad and some far, far worse. Before the cell phone incident in Columbus, there was the Marner incident. Before the Marner incident, there was the Mike Modano incident. Before the Mike Modano incident, there was the Chris Chelios incident. Before the Chris Chelios incident, there was the Johan Franzen incident. The list goes on and on and while I'm not going to get into each individual story, I will encourage you to look them up, because they're not difficult to find.
As far as Jimmy Howard goes, he had the misfortune of playing under Babcock for a number of years in Detroit, and this week during an appearance on the Cam and Strick Podcast, Howard shared a story about Babcock that will only raise your level of contempt for the former NHL coach.
Howard revealed during the podcast interview that Babcock had delivered a shot below the belt during Howard's rookie season, when he was up for the Calder Trophy. During the 2009-10 season, Howard put up an impressive 37-15-10 record in 63 contests. His 2.26 GAA and .924 SV% made him the talk of the NHL. However, rather than celebrate his rookie goalie's success, Babcock opted to dig at Howard at every turn, culminating in an interview in Phoenix where Babcock told reporters right in front of Howard that his vote would go to Tyler Myers, who eventually did win the award.
This story is just another in a long list of embarrassing Babcock behaviour that flew under the radar for years before finally coming to the surface.
Regardless of the fact that Babcock did experience some Stanley Cup success during his time in the league, we can all relish the fact that those successes will never be what he's remembered for. Now, his name will live on in infamy as the guy whose career spiraled downward like the flush of a toilet because he couldn't just be a decent human being to his players at any point of his storied career. Heck of a way to go out.
Source: Cam and Strick Podcast, via BladeofSteel.com
Former Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard shares story about Mike Babcock
Source for Howard's stats: HockeyDB
Jimmy Howard stats and bio
| POLL | ||
AOUT 7 | 762 ANSWERS A new infuriating Mike Babcock story has officially come to light What was Mike Babcock's worst action on his known hit list? | ||
| The Blue Jackets cell phone searches | 216 | 28.3 % |
| The Marner list | 309 | 40.6 % |
| The Mike Modano scratching | 171 | 22.4 % |
| Other | 66 | 8.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
