Mike Babcock is out as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets before the start of training camp due to phone scandal.
Mike Babcock is out as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets after another devious maneuver by the outdated coach backfired. Less than three months into Babcock’s tenure in Columbus, the 60-year-old resigned after he found himself gazing through the photos on his players’ phones.
Paul Bissonnette, former NHLer and co-host of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, disclosed on the Sept. 12th episode the fiasco that surrounded Babcock’s start with the Blue Jackets.
“He called in players from his team, and he’ll say let me see your phone. Open up your photos, and I want to see who you are as a person,” Bissonnette explained. “The players in the past have obviously handed over their phone, they plug it in, and the video coach brings it up on a flatscreen.”
However, both Babcock and Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner refuted Bissonnette’s report, stating that his claims are “a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive.”
Jenner and Babcock’s statement was initially enough to close the matter between the National Hockey League’s Player Association (NHLPA), NHL and the Blue Jackets, as reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, but they reopened the matter when the young players on the Columbus roster expressed concerns with Babcock’s outlandish actions.
One of the main concerns that the three parties found when doing their investigation, was that an interaction between Babcock and a player occurred away from the team facility where Babcock scrolled through the player’s phone for several minutes, which as Friedman mentioned, “was beyond the scope of what was initially understood to have occurred.”
The phone scandal is just one of a flurry of negative incidents Babcock has perpetrated in recent years.
In the 2016-17 season as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Babcock asked rookie Mitch Marner to list his teammates from hardest working to least hardest working; a list that was reported to be publicly shared with Marner’s teammates.
Years before as coach of the Detroit Red Wings, Babcock verbally abused Johan Franzen:
“I get the shivers when I think about it. That incident occurred against Nashville in the playoffs. It was coarse, nasty and shocking. But that was just one out of a hundred things he did. The tip of the iceberg,” Franzen said.
As a result of the joint investigation and Babcock’s history, on Sept. 17th Babcock resigned as head coach of the Blue Jackets stating:
“Upon reflection, it has become clear that continuing as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was going to be too much of a distraction. While I’m disappointed to not have had the opportunity to continue the work we’ve begun, I know it’s in the best interest of the organization for me to step away at this time. I wish everyone in the organization well in the upcoming season.”
Pascal Vincent, one of the former associate coaches under Babcock, was promoted to head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets after Babcock’s dismissal on a two-year contract through the 2024-25 season.