As reported by NHL.com, the big decision on what former Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was going to do has finally been made. He’s left Detroit and signed an 8 year deal worth approximately 50 million dollars with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s no shocker that he left the Red Wings because he was clearly unhappy there for a while now. The landing spot to me was surprising because of how far off Toronto is from being a contending team, as they were 30-44-8 with 68 points this past season, and they’ve made some moves that showed clear signs of being in rebuilding mode. I guess he has eight years to figure that one out.
Babcock is widely known as one of the best coaches, if not the best coach, in the National Hockey League and there were a handful of teams out there swarming to try to sign the 52 year old. He began his head coaching career with the Anaheim Ducks in 2002-2003 the year they lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals. He coached one more season with the Ducks and then spent a phenomenal 10 year career with Detroit, where he won at least 40 games eight times and at least 50 games four times. He also won one Stanley Cup in 2007-2008 and lost in the Cup Finals the next year. This is a big time move for this Maple Leafs team as they try to rebuild into a playoff contender again.
In the 850 games Babcock’s coached, he’s 527-285-119 with 19 ties.
