from Simon Houpt of the Globe and Mail,

Babcock, of course, was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs 23 games into the 2019-20 season and then found himself tarred and feathered when former players suddenly began breaking hockey’s code of omerta, speaking out about the psychological abuse they had suffered at his hands. Mitch Marner and Chris Chelios shared stories of Babcock’s toxic head games; Johan Franzen said his former Red Wings boss, while being an “extremely accurate and prepared” coach, was also “a terrible person, the worst person I’ve ever met.”

(Translation: He’s no Doc Emrick.)

Nevertheless, Flood told reporters that, after Babcock “reached out to us through representation during the playoffs last year,” NBC almost brought him on board at that time. “But because of COVID protocols … we decided to wait until this year.”

Flood revealed that he had met Babcock in 2006 through the analyst Pierre McGuire, who was working for TSN at the time. “Pierre and I would go to Mike’s office before the many Detroit games we produced, and we would sit in that little office of his and have a conversation about hockey and about life. And he was a fascinating, insightful man,” Flood said. “And I thank Pierre for creating a relationship and getting me into that office all those years ago. And those are the moments that reveal who you want to have on your team. And Mike was a fascinating guy to spend time with, and I think he’ll be a great addition.”...

Nobody is suggesting that Babcock be cancelled. (There’s no real threat of that, anyway: last fall, before he signed with NBC, he interviewed for the Washington Capitals’ head-coaching job.) But reputational rehabilitation is supposed to begin with acknowledging what you’ve done; then you make amends, if those you’ve wronged are interested. But until you clear the air, your ugly past is going to hang over everything you do, like the cloud of dust and bugs that follows poor Pig-Pen in the Peanuts cartoon.

NBC may have thought it was playing enforcer for its new hire on Monday. But nobody wants to drop the gloves with the network or with Babcock. We just need him to finally, fully – and publicly – address the issue of his past behaviour, so we can all get on with the business of listening to what he has to say about hockey.

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