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Blue Jackets reportedly hiring Mike Babcock as head coach

After six weeks of waiting, it appears we know the next coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Mike Babcock. Darren Dreger first had the report Saturday morning, before the story was confirmed by Sportsnet, Elliot Friedman, and Aaron Portzline.

Babcock, 60, has 1301 games of NHL experience behind him, with a 700-418-183 record (.608 winning percentage). He’s made the playoffs in 16 of his 17 full seasons behind the bench, including winning the 2008 Stanley Cup with Detroit. However, he’s only won one round since 2012.

None of that really matters, though.

Babcock was fired from his last NHL job, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, early in the 2019-20 season. Afterwards, allegations of abusive tactics came to light, most notably from Mitch Marner and Chris Chelios. Johan Franzen described him as “the worst person I’ve ever met.” It should be noted that Babcock claimed in a 2021 interview that the Marner story is overblown, and that he apologized to both him and Franzen.

This was, understandably, received pretty negatively by Blue Jackets fans, at least among those who I follow on Twitter. It makes sense. This is a young team with a young core, in a very similar situation to the 2015-19 Leafs. While that team saw decent on-ice success, especially in the regular season, fans worry Babcoack’s… “hardcore” tactics will stunt development. And while players reportedly had a larger say in the process than with Larsen, Elliot Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast that some CBJ players were surprised by the report.

This will undoubtably be Jarmo Kekalainen’s defining move as Blue Jackets GM. Either he’s done his due dilligence, Babcock has changed, and Columbus will quickly be back on the road to contention. Or he hasn’t, and we won’t. Fans are skeptical. Let’s hope we’re wrong.