On the Wings

The Freep’s Michael Rosenberg has come out from under his rock and posted a column on Mike Babcock in which he demonstrates that he, like most columnists, is all fluff and no substance, particularly when it comes to a sport they know nothing about. How else would someone be able to mention Johnny Depp, The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Edward Scissorhands (Rosenberg’s way of saying you can’t predict the future based on past performance) in something ostensibly related to hockey? Or, for that matter, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Anniston, and Angelina Jolie (Rosenberg’s way of describing the hiring of Babcock and the firing of Dave Lewis).

Of course, the basic premise of Rosenberg’s column is strictly true: we don’t know anything about what’s going to happen in this series. Still, I think we can draw conclusions based on the Wings’ performance in the regular season and to me, the conclusion is that this team is different than last year’s. You say, “No kidding, it’s different.” I mean more than the loss of Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman. I mean the addition or increased roles of players like Kyle Calder, Danny Markov, and Johan Franzen, the committment to team defense from everyone from Pavel Datsyuk on down. This team has bought into Mike Babcock’s system much more so than last year’s and is becoming more made in his image all the time.

I don’t think I buy the notion that Babcock is done if the Wings don’t find playoff success this year. This team is still in transition and yet we can still see enormous potential. We saw last offseason how this team is changing, with the players they let go and the players they brought on. I think they can be very successful this year, but give it another season and I think that’s when we’ll really see what Babcock can do for this organization.

Maybe I’m just crazy and Babcock will be gone much the same way Lewis was after two playoff attempts. I just think the situation with Lewis was different, as the team seemed to come to the conclusion that familiarity had bred contempt and what the players needed was someone from outside. I don’t think Babcock will ever have the players feeling as comfortable as Lewis did, and so I think he’ll really have to screw up to be ousted.

I said above that I don’t think Babcock is done if the Wings don’t go deep into the playoffs, but I will admit that if they lose in the first round, his job is in jeopardy because that would fall under the category of “really screwing up.” I suppose that’s all the Babcock Doom-and-Gloom party is saying and it must be my confidence that they’ll make it out of the Quarterfinals that causes me to leap to his defense.