Blue Jackets to Hire Mike Babcock: Why it Works, and Why it Doesn’t
If you’ve followed social media at all in the last two days, you know the news by now. The Blue Jackets will soon announce Mike Babcock as the 9th full-time head coach in team history, a bit of news that shook up the entire hockey world.
This marks a swift change in direction for the franchise, changes that can be looked at from a variety of angles. Babcock is a polarizing figure with a terrific success record at nearly every level he’s coached – which signals that this team is ready to start winning soon, rather than later. It also marks the end of the “young/player’s coach” trial run, that lasted only two seasons under Brad Larsen.
Babcock is an imposing presence who will make an immediate impact to the locker room, which can be good or bad. He’s one of the biggest names in hockey’s coaching world – and in fact, when next season starts, he’ll kick off the year with the 12th most wins behind a bench in NHL history, with 700 under his belt. Just four behind our old flame, John Tortorella. Still, we have one important question to answer: will it work?
Mike Babcock will be back behind the bench next season.@FriedgeHNIC | @Jackie_Redmond | @EJHradek_NHL | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/R89aFEa4Jf
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) June 4, 2023
Why hiring Mike Babcock might just work…
One look at the franchise history of the Blue Jackets, might just answer this question for us in the simplest way. The Jackets have made the postseason six times in their existence: once in 2009 under Ken Hitchcock, Once in 2014 under Todd Richards; and then four straight times under Tortorella, from 2017-2020.
When making the comparison between Babcock, Hitchcock, and Tortorella, there are some similarities in personality. All of them are extremely demanding, firm handed coaches, who will dole out ice time according to their own discretion. All three have had major success elsewhere, before coming to Columbus. And, maybe most importantly, all three came to Columbus looking for a chance to re-establish themselves in the NHL.
Where Babcock differs from Hitchcock and Tortorella however, is in his stylistic approach to the game. It’s not entirely fair to put him into the same category as those two, who demand tight-checking in the defensive zone; only to then rely on talent to push the offense the other way.
Mike Babcock’s teams typically play a free-flowing style, comparable more to European teams than what you might expect from an old school Western Canadian coach. His teams rely on puck possession and skilled transitions, followed up by fast forechecking and quick striking offense. When you lay it out like that, I would argue that he’s exactly what this team needs: someone to put their talented scorers into positions to score.
The biggest concern we all have about this hiring is his treatment of players; most recently, Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Mitch Marner. Is he the right fit from a personnel approach?
Again, we can look back at franchise history for some comparisons here. How many of the players who opted out of Columbus over the last handful of years, left because of John Tortorella? While nobody outright came out and said that’s why they left, one has to wonder if his heavy-handed approach drove some of them away.
It’s a fair question, and a fair concern when we’re bringing in Babcock. For as successful as he’s been and all of the good that he’s done, this is a coach whose voice wears thin on players over time. The Jackets, a young, upstart team with a collection of talent like we’ve never seen before, might benefit from this presence right away. But in two or three years, are we going to see another mass exodus?
There are two things we can hope for here. One: that Mike Babcock has learned from his past discretions, and is coming to Columbus with the right mindset. This is probably his last chance to coach in the NHL, especially if it doesn’t work out, so he knows he has to adapt.
The second thing we can hope for: that Jarmo Kekalainen understands the same thing. This is his last head coaching hire if it doesn’t work out, so he needs to have a tight grip on Babcock and do his best to ensure that none of his superstars or high draft picks are chased out of town by a coach that likes to squeeze the most out of his roster.
This is a bold move by the Jackets, one that will either pay off in a huge way – or flame out, and result in everyone involved looking for work elsewhere. For this reason, we should be excited. I don’t mean that we should be excited to see this team rebuilding again in two or three years; I mean that we should be excited and hopeful that it works out. These are smart hockey minds, who have a lot to lose, laying it all on the line for us in hopes of winning hockey’s ultimate prize.
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As fans, all we can do is buckle up and see what happens. I saw a lot of the same concerns on social media when Tortorella was hired, and all he did was take a pieced together team to the playoffs four years running. Imagine what this group, with a far more talented core, might be able to do under a coach who drags them into the battle in much the same way – but is more of an X’s and O’s type of coach.
Like it or not, these are the cards we’re being dealt. We can either rally around him like we did with Torts, or we can find another team for the next little while. Personally, I’m interested to see where this thing goes, and I have a feeling that if the team starts winning games, a lot of the critics will be silent.
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