The reports that the Edmonton Oilers are seriously considering Mike Babcock as their next head coaching hire has sparked a number of different reactions. Shock at the idea itself, surprise the Oilers would consider him, and anger that a coach with Babcock’s background would be considered for another bench job.
However, there are those who support the idea of Edmonton making Babcock the 24th coach in franchise history. Their main argument is Babcock’s long history of prolonged success at the NHL and international level. But is Babcock truly a consistent winner?
Let’s look at the history books and explore Babcock’s claimed history of dominance.
Babcock’s coaching record and winning history
Let’s start with the facts. Including playoff wins, Mike Babcock is the 13th winningest coach in NHL history. His 525 victories with the Detroit Red Wings are ninth all time for wins with a single franchise. He is a three time Western Conference Champion, a one-time Stanley Cup Champion, and a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist.
He is also a one-time IIHF World Champion, granting him the distinction of being the only head coach in hockey history to join the Triple Gold Club.
His teams have also won two President’s Trophies, presented to the team with the most points in the regular season.
He is one of only 20 coaches in modern NHL history to take two different franchises to a Stanley Cup Final. Babcock’s resume is still among the very best in the history of hockey coaching.
How did Babcock get there?
However, context for these accomplishments is very important to understand Babcock’s coaching history. His first big success came with the 2002–03 Anaheim Ducks, who he coached to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final before falling to the New Jersey Devils. The Ducks were a talented team, with players like Petr Sykora, Adam Oates, and Paul Kariya.
However, the Ducks didn’t take the early 2000s Devils to a Game 7 due to Babcock’s coaching acumen. They did it because of their goaltender, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Giguere was a man possessed that postseason, finishing with a .945 SV% and a 1.62 GAA in 21 games played. He became just the fourth player to that point to win the Conn Smythe Trophy despite losing the Final.
His journey with the Red Wings
After the 2004 lockout, Babcock took the job of head coach with the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings roster of this era is one of the most impressive collections of talent in NHL history. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Cleary, Franzen, Kronwall. Not to mention their old guard of Shanahan, Lidstrom, Chelios, and Yzerman.
However, Babcock’s first playoff foray with the Wings ended in six games at the hands of the 2006 Oilers. Babcock was also felled in 2007 by the eventual Cup champion Ducks in the Western Conference Final. In 2008, Babcock and the Wings won their Cup, but the roster talent was still world class. Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, and Kronwall were all franchise cornerstones. Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek as the tandem in net. Sure, Babcock supplied the Xs and Os, but these Wings rosters were good enough to win on their own.
In fact, as the Wings began to age, Babcock suddenly found himself unable to ride off the roster’s talent. The Wings went back to the Final in 2009, but lost to Pittsburgh in a re-match. They haven’t made a Final, let alone a Conference Final since. The Wings were passed in the pecking order by the Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Jose teams of the 2010s.
When he took of the job of Maple Leafs head coach in May of 2015, he was unable to bring his winning pedigree to a young team with talent like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Despite making the playoffs ahead of schedule in 2016–17, Toronto was defeated by Washington in six games, then suffered consecutive seven game losses to the Boston Bruins in 2017–18 and 2018–19.
Babcock’s international resume
In terms of international play, I understand that just by the nature of roster selection, Babcock’s players would be the best in the world. However, the 2010 Canadian team he coached to Gold might be the best roster of hockey talent ever assembled. Here’s the lineup Babcock was working with.
| Eric Staal | Sidney Crosby | Jarome Iginla |
| Brendan Morrow | Ryan Getzlaf | Corey Perry |
| Patrick Marleau | Joe Thornton | Dany Heatley |
| Rick Nash | Jonathan Toews | Brad Richards |
| Scott Niedermayer | Chris Pronger |
| Duncan Keith | Drew Doughty |
| Shea Weber | Dan Boyle |
| Roberto Luongo | Martin Brodeur | Marc-Andre Fleury |
Oh, and Patrice Bergeron and Brent Seabrook were the extras. I think I could have won Gold coaching that team. Sure, you need a coach to install systems and motivate players, but Babcock could have put his feet up and done nothing, and this roster probably still wins the Gold medal.
Babcock hasn’t won a Cup since 2008. He hasn’t won a round since 2013. He was fortunate enough to be the coach of teams with a world-class level of talent that would have succeeded with him being there or not.
It seems he’s trying to do the same thing with the Oilers, but Edmonton should steer clear. Just because someone’s won before doesn’t mean they’ll do it again, especially if the last time they won was almost two decades ago. Babcock’s resume is loaded, but misleading. Aside from the 2008 Cup, his teams had a number of years where more could have been expected and yet nothing came. The Oilers can’t afford to hire another has-been in a major organizational position.
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