from Aaron Portzline of The Athletic,
Almost one month ago, Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said he’d have a new coach in place “sooner rather than later.” An explanation for the drawn-out process came into focus on Saturday.
The Blue Jackets intend to hire veteran coach Mike Babcock when Babcock’s current contract with Toronto expires at the end of this month, a team source not authorized to speak publicly on the matter has confirmed to The Athletic. Babcock has been out of the NHL since he was fired by the Maple Leafs in 2019.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report speculation of Babcock’s return to the NHL on Saturday.
The Blue Jackets had hoped to get Babcock under contract this week, but have been unable to complete an agreement with the Maple Leafs to buy out the remaining month of his contract. Unless that changes, the soonest the Blue Jackets could officially sign Babcock would be July 1....
The news sent shockwaves through the NHL on Saturday, and assuming the hiring takes place as planned, it will require a considerable amount of heavy lifting by the Blue Jackets’ public-relations and ticket-sales departments, with some fans already expressing discontent and disappointment on social media.
read on ($)
I feel like Babcock isn't a "development" coach. He's a guy you bring in when you've built a decent team and you need to get them over the top. For Columbus' sake I hope I'm wrong and that he's been humbled enough to change some of his worst aspects.
I have no idea what is being offered to Toronto, but as of 1 July theyll get nothing for Babcock, isnt something in June more than nothing in July?
Maybe hoping Columbus gets nervous in the service and ponies up something substantial fearing someone else might jump aboard the Babcock train in the meantime.
Charlie Weis was paid over $19,000,000 by Notre Dame and concurrently more than $5,000,000 by Kansas to NOT coach their football teams. Not sure if Babcock had such a buyout and how much Toronto ended up paying him not to coach. Im sure it was enough to quickly soften the sting to his professional pride.
Per the Sporting News (https://www.sportingnews.com/u...) :
"His contract with the Leafs was set to last through the following three seasons as well, so if we add the $4.5 million from the rest of the current campaign to the $17.625 million he's due for 2020-21 through 2022-23, we come up with a grand total of $22.125 million."
If I had to I guess I would take $22.125m to NOT work for a couple years....
Good to hear Babs is under consideration.
Heck if they are shopping Joe Q, why not let Babs back in?
To bad the Maple Leafs are involved.....not to sure the brain trust in Toeronto can handle multiple issues at once. The head office seems "task saturated" already.
When the players fail, change the GM.
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