EDMONTON — Even in a light least favourable …
In its Thursday press release announcing that Mike Babcock’s awkward, early resignation from the Columbus Blue Jackets three years ago had passed muster, the National Hockey League used language we’ve not seen it use before:
“Our investigation has concluded that, even in a light least favourable to Mr. Babcock, there is no current basis to restrict his employment in the League.”
You can suspend a player for a head shot, and you can suspend a general manager for tampering. But the NHL is telling us without telling us that you can’t suspend a coach for a quarter century of questionable character. For leaving a trail of people behind him with little or nothing good to say about their interactions with the 63-year-old Saskatoonian.
Babcock is free to coach again, and he will coach the Edmonton Oilers next season. Expect a press conference as soon as Tuesday.
So desperate are the Oilers to win a Stanley Cup before Connor McDavid starts looking elsewhere, they will overlook every transgression that the Mike Modanos, Chris Chelios’ and Mitch Marners have testified to, not to mention the many voices who would rather not be quoted on a man about whom they have nothing positive to say.
The NHL’s Players’ Association followed quickly with a release of its own:
“While we found the allegations of Mike Babcock’s conduct as the Columbus Blue Jackets’ head coach very concerning, the League has decided that there is no current basis on which to restrict his employment. Moving forward, we expect that Mr. Babcock will uphold the high standards required of NHL head coaches.”
So, this is where the Edmonton Oilers have taken us. To a lens we must peer through “even in the least favourable light,” with empty hopes that a man who has built his reputation over a quarter century in the NHL and a lifetime in the game will suddenly “uphold the high standards required of NHL head coaches.”
How many 63-year-old men are adept at change? And when does this change begin?
Oilers GM Stan Bowman emerged from the Kyle Beach scandal in Chicago with tangible evidence of his pursuit of betterment. He had spent the time with Beach and earned the player’s blessing.
Bowman also sought counsel from Sheldon Kennedy, and at the press conference when he was announced as the Oilers’ new GM, Kennedy was there as a character reference. Actual, tangible work, with actual tangible people who could attest to the genuine efforts Bowman had made to learn from past mistakes.
Has Babcock looked in the mirror the same way that Bowman did? What restitution has he made to the Hockey Gods, for years of abusing the power that comes with his position?
Who has counselled Babcock, and for how long? After all, it was a second chance for Bowman. It’s a third chance for Babcock.
All in all, this hire seems murkier than a goaltender interference challenge. As questionable as a World Cup “injury.”
When their attempt to hire Bruce Cassidy was thwarted by the Vegas Golden Knights, the Oilers immediately acceded the moral high ground, going after the man whom Johan Franzen so famously labelled, “A terrible person. The worst person I’ve ever met.”
If it were only one player who despised Babcock, we’d write it off as everyday business. There isn’t a coach in the NHL who has left behind a trail only of advocates.
Some players even hated the great Scotty Bowman. Glen Sather had his detractors. The “Jolly Rancher” Darryl Sutter’s mailbox does not overflow with Christmas cards from past players, to be sure.
But those men understood the oldest rule in the coaches’ handbook. The one about keeping the five guys who hate you away from five guys who are undecided.
Babcock, likely due to an ego that is said to be as big as Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley, never worried much about how other coaches do things. Never worried about the people he’s met along the way, from the parking lot attendant to the Zamboni driver.
Babcock has never worried about how he’s perceived, which can be a useful trait when you are standing behind the bench of an NHL team.
Useful, until it becomes something you are asked to explain.
Questions.
Come Tuesday, or whenever the Oilers take this loathsome plunge, there will be questions.
