Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

16 Hours Later And All Is Well

05/21/2015 at 7:20am EDT

The eyes of the hockey world are on you, as they always are. Mick Kern (@expomick) tweeted something strange last night.

What I most love about Babcock to Toronto is all the whiny, snobby, know it all Red Wings' bloggers having to eat crow.

Of course, he doesn't mean just bloggers. They never do. They mean you, too. He means you. And he went on to say that the reason we should all "eat crow" is because we need to accept that Toronto "...is the centre/centre of the hockey universe. Accept it."

Kern, and thousands of others, are claiming we're not handling this well, that we simply can't accept Babcock's decision.

I'll speak for me, and I've decided I'll speak for you too. I'm not sad. I'm not angry. I'm surprised that Babcock was adamant for months that his first priority was winning and that the money would, "be there" no matter where he went.

I'm surprised because he went to a clown show. I'm surprised but honestly amused, that he decided to leave the hands-down classiest, best run major sports franchise to go to a laughing stock with maybe a third of the talent on their roster and little to speak of coming up behind them.

Wing fans are not angry. Wing fans would be angry if Randy Carlysle was being interviewed today, like he probably is in San Jose. Wing fans would be angry if Ken Hitchcock was our coach, and still our coach after failing with a truck-load of talent like the Blues have.

Mick Kern should probably read some of the comments on this blog or at George's or anywhere else. We liked Babcock. Heck, I really liked him. I still do. But Wing fans are not angry he left because we've got Blashill coming up and what Kern and the legions of others who can't stand our well-earned arrogance don't understand is that we are very, very good with that.

If I'd had a choice, I probably would have kept Babcock in Detroit because he's a proven winner. I don't like to worry and there are things nagging at me specific to Blashill's lack of NHL experience. But a big part of me is actually relieved because in order to keep Babcock, a contract of greater than 5 years would have been required.

That would have turned ugly.

Kern most likely said we'd have to eat crow because most of us never thought Babcock would seriously consider Toronto. It's been such a bad franchise for so long, such an endless joke, that we couldn't conceive of a smart man doing something so dumb.

It's not because we don't like Toronto or the thought of Babcock there. Heck, have at it. I'd rather see him there than in Pittsburgh or even Buffalo, where they have reams of talent to cultivate. Toronto has...nothing.

We also didn't think Babcock would go there because he and Brendan Shanahan genuinely appeared to hate each other's guts when Babcock coached him. I'm sure that's going to work out well. Does that make us mad? No, Mick. It makes us laugh. We're still snobby...very snobby. But we're not whining about this. Not one bit.

One more thing about Babcock and it's a point Gregg Krupa brought up in the News this morning. Yes, the money. We get it. The money lured him. But, Mike Babcock is a Canadien and he's a hero in that country. The chance to rehabilitate that team, to fix it and--importantly--to take credit for the repairs....that's the kind of challenge he probably couldn't shy away from. Better put, winning there would leave him with a legacy that he craves.

Everyone wants to know how you'll react today. Yahoo's watching. They're watching in Toronto, obviously. Mick Kern, who I truly never thought had a problem with Wing fans or bloggers, is certainly watching.

So, on your behalf, I'll say this: we are not frothing over this. We are not angry. Mike Babcock made a decision that was probably stupid, and certainly risky. But it was his decision and the deal he got was just not do-able in a town where smart hockey men practice good business.

Jeff Blashill is coming. Mike Babcock has left. It was his choice, but it was a choice made for reasons other than what he always claimed were his primary consideration. Winning. He said he likes it. He hinted he likes it even more than money. That turned out not to be true.

Mad? No. Disappointed because maybe he's not the guy we thought he was. But not mad. Not even sad, Mick.

Because in the end, we still have the Red Wings. And in the end? Toronto has Babcock. But, man, they still have the Leafs.

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About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

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