The coaches.

McKenzie:

 

Sure, you just just get "informed". *HELP*

 

The longer this gets dragged out the less likely, IMO, that Babs returns to DET. He's not a FA coach until July 1 but the Wings are going to want to know which direction they're going much sooner.

They have three stars on the wrong side of the age spectrum. And they have a boatload of young players/prospects with great promise. Developing them properly is much more important to that franchise than maintaining the ridiculously long playoff record. And, there's the question of what to do with Howard's contract.

I get a stronger sense that Babs is mentally moving on. And I get the sense that the Wings are 1) getting frustrated, and 2) they're also mentally moving on. After all, they may have the best young coach already in the org. I actually prefer the Grand Rapids coach for BUF, and if Babs leaves they will waste no time promoting him to HC. Who better to continue the player development?

EDM has to intrigue Babs; any coach would want to lead McDavid and that collection of O talent. I think that expressions about his desire for control over personnel are highly overstated. He does not want GM authority; he just wants say in the matter. To me, there's a big difference. I now place a better than 50% chance that Babs leaves, with EDM as his most likely landing spot.

I think the odds that he goes to BUF are higher than him returning to DET. He worked with Tim Murray when both were in ANA. I do not know how strong their relationship is, but I know TM places an extreme premium on the GM-HC relationship. BUF cannot offer him the chance to coach McJesus, but Eichel & Reinhart have intrigue of their own, and BUF is in better shape overall compared to EDM in terms of org. talent. Lastly, money will be a factor, and BUF will not lose any competition when it comes to that.

 

from everything i've heard, a decision is likely within a week.

in the meantime, i strongly encourage everyone to work themselves into a speculative frenzy about what will happen.

 

Done, but I can only speak for myself and thousands among Lennie.

 

strikes me as a conservative estimate. please don't sell lennie short.

 

They're still not used to so many Canadian teams in the postseason. If the Habs or Team Scorch get swept the number will be in the billions.

 

bab's to the khl for ten bazillion rubles would be fun

 

Dreger say Boucher has been contacted by the Shananigans.

 

How many teams will talk to Babs?

 

apparently, not Teh Penz:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=767125&navid=nhl:topheads

 

The Pens puzzle me. I'll elaborate. The Pens puzzle me.

I hear Babs needs to make a decision by May 25. That must be the time the Wings granted him to talk to other teams. I think there's about six already lined up.

 

the Penz puzzle me too... I thought Rutherford was only gonna be around for 2 yrs... it feels like 6 or 7 already! Get his useless ass out of there for fux sake!

 

I might have to go in full haterize mode on the Pens next year.

Rutherford has 13 vets under contract right now.
Why hasn't there been any talk of extensions? Winnik, Comeau, Downie, Bennett, Martin, Ehrhoff, Cole, and a bunch of prospects are FAs. He should have known months ago about some of these guys. The draft is coming up fast and they have to be ready to maneuver.

 

one of the guys on the CBC/SN intermission panel says the oilers want mclellan bad.

 

First comes Babs, then comes McClellan ... then things will settle down a bit. Personally, I hope Babs stays in Detroit since I'd prefer their AHL coach for Buffalo. The Wings will not lose both coaches this summer.

 

Rutherford does not like to talk contract during the season. All his time in Carolina I think Tuomo Ruutu was the only player he signed during the season and only because the fan base was still upset he let Eric Cole walk.

 

Babs has already met with TOR and is in BUF today. It'll be fun to see how this plays out since if any team signs him before the end of June, (and if they do it would probably be before May 25th), then they would owe the Wings a future third round pick.

Of course, he could just wait until he's a FA on July 1, but I do not think that he - or the Wings - want to be kept twisting in the wind until then. If Babs leaves it reasonable to expect that he'd want to be fully oriented with his new team before the draft. The same applies for the Wings; they'd want to know who there coach is before the draft.

 

Babs won't get the leafs in the playoffs, he's no miracle worker. Wings are who they are, average goalie with a handful of great players.