NHL Coach resigns after going through players’ phones

Lukas Blankenstein / Contributor

     The Columbus Blue Jackets announced the resignation of their head coach Mike Babcock, before he had even coached a game for the team. The resignation came after allegations that he asked to go through players’ phones.

     Based in Ohio, the Columbus Blue Jackets, decided to hire Babcock after a season that saw them finish with the second-worst record in the National Hockey League (NHL). 60-year-old Babcock previously won a Stanley Cup, the award for winning the NHL playoffs, with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008, making him appear to be a valuable asset to the Blue Jackets.

     However, Babcock’s hiring also brought controversy stemming from the myriad of players and stories that painted him as “toxic.” Former NHL forward Johan Franzén called Babcock “the worst person I have ever met” in an interview for the Swedish newspaper SportExpressen. After Babcock was fired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019, a story was leaked to the Toronto Sun about an incident during the 2016-17 season.

     According to the report, Babcock asked Mitch Marner, a rookie at the time, to “list the players on the team from hardest-working to those who, in the eyes of the rookie, didn’t have a strong work ethic. The rookie did so, not wanting to upset his coach, but was taken aback when Babcock told the players who had been listed at the bottom.” Babcock later confirmed this story to reporter Elliotte Friedman. He stated “I was trying to focus on work ethic with Mitch — focusing on role models ended up not being a good idea, I apologized for it at [the] time.”

     After this story was released, many wondered if he would ever get another job in the NHL. However, on July 1, 2023, the Blue Jackets decided to hire Babcock for his first job since he was fired in Toronto. In his first interview with the press after being hired, Babcock talked about how he had changed during his time away. “What this [break from the NHL] has done is given me a chance to get outside my body, have a look and see what I’m doing, and understand that you need to change, you needed to grow,” Babcock said.

     This decision to hire Babcock brought many negative reactions. One of those reactions was from former defenseman Mike Commodore, who played under Babcock in 2011. Commodore stated in a social media video, “scumbags like that don’t change.” Babcock’s controversy meant he couldn’t afford any slip-ups if he wanted to keep his job.

     The Spittin Chiclets podcast, a popular hockey podcast with almost 300,000 subscribers on Youtube is run by former NHL players Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonette. The podcast often advocates for players’ rights. Paul Bissonette reported on texts he received from Columbus Blue Jackets players.

     “One of the first things he does is call in Boone Jenner, the captain of the [expletive] team, and he says ‘let me see the photos on your phone, I want to know what kind of person you are,’” Bissonette claimed.

     The Blue Jackets later released statements on social media from both Babcock and Jenner. “While meeting with our players and staff I asked them to share, off their phones, family pictures as part of the process of getting to know them better. There was absolutely nothing more to it than that,” Babcock said. Jenner reaffirmed Babcock, stating that “to have this blown out of proportion is truly disappointing.” Their statements was an attempt to cool the flames beneath Mike Babcock.

     Despite these statements, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) continued their investigation into Mike Babcock. Seeing the writing on the wall, Babcock resigned. Following his resignation, NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh released a statement on Babcock’s tenure.

     “Our players deserve to be treated with respect in the workplace,” Walsh emphasized. “Unfortunately, that was not the case in Columbus.”

     The major concern for the NHLPA seemed to be incidents that happened outside of team facilities, as reported by NHL insider Pete Blackburn who stated that, “several of these incidents happened at Babcock’s house… a young player was invited for lunch, told to take out his phone, had Babcock flip through his photos and then told him to leave… without lunch.” With Babcock’s resignation come other questions, such as what to do about members of Columbus’ management.

     The USD Vista reached out to Jay Ashdown, the cohost of the “Jay. Jake. Jackets” podcast, a fan podcast covering the Columbus Blue Jackets, for his perspective on the situation.

     “In my opinion, their [other managers’] fate was tied to Babcock’s success with the team, since he was the man they chose. I do not believe they should’ve had that card up their sleeves. In my opinion, they should’ve been fired,” Ashdown said.

     Babcock’s actions brought with it many opinions about the role of a coach and when a coach has gone too far. Peter Kilborn second year law student is on the USD hockey club team. He acknowledged that Babcock’s actions were unprofessional.

     “It is acceptable for coaches to ask a lot of players on the ice, but, off the ice, there is no room for that conduct. The content on a player’s phone makes no difference on how he is able to perform on the ice. There are so many private aspects of a person’s phone that a coach has no business seeing,” Kilborn said.

     It also brought to question why players would prefer to go to a podcast host with allegations, before going to the team or players association. Bissonnette responded to this question on the Agent Provocateur podcast.

     “If word ends up getting back to management and they’re being a disrupter, and maybe they’re not a star player who’s locked into a contract, next thing you know you have a one way ticket to the American League, and your career is over.” 

     Bissonnette lended credence to the \ idea that players would rather stay in silence put up with abuse than put their dream and livelihood in jeopardy.

     Mike Babcock’s brief but controversial time with the Blue Jackets left a lot of questions to be answered by the organization and the NHL. As they look to move into the new season, the team will hand the reins over to first-time head coach Pascal Vincent, who the franchise hopes will last longer than Babcock did and lead the team to victory.