Detroit's Babcock keeps veteran Wings level, proving doubters wrong

PITTSBURGH -- When Mike Babcock was nominated for this season's Coach of the Year Award, there were some cynics who wondered about what he had actually done to merit the honor.

Mike Babcock has a feel for his team and knows how to communicate with his players. (Getty Images)

It didn't really matter that his Detroit Red Wings had won the Presidents' Trophy with an eighth consecutive season of more than 100 points and the league's best defensive record or that Babcock had become the only coach in history to record at least 50 victories in each of his first three seasons with a team. To the naysayers, Babcock was leading a charmed life, having lucked into the NHL's best-run organization and getting a chance to direct one of the league's most talented rosters.

"I think he was taken for granted at least for his first couple of years here because of the personnel he's had," said Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Murphy, a Red Wings broadcaster who won two Stanley Cups with Detroit in the late '90s and two more earlier in the decade with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"But if you watch close enough, you see that it's not a case of just opening the gate and throwing guys on the ice, he's gotten stronger every year. Mike's a real student of the game."

One who has obviously picked up some valuable lessons about himself and his craft during a career he honed for 12 seasons at the junior and minor league level before getting his first shot at the NHL.

"He's been with us three years and it's been a learning process for him," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "He's got a pretty good feel for the group now and I think he's real good at knowing when to be a little looser on the group and when to push us a little bit more."

He has even learned when to push himself, sometimes to the edge. Babcock, 45, took over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2002-03 and led a team that had not made the playoffs for three consecutive seasons to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals. But Anaheim slipped back out of the playoffs the following season and after the lockout ended, he gave up his first NHL coaching gig because he was offered only a one-year extension by the new management of the Ducks.

It looked like a risky decision in a profession that has little job security at the best of times, but Babcock had clearly made his mark and within days he was hired by the Red Wings, taking over from Dave Lewis, the longtime Detroit assistant, who had become head coach when Scotty Bowman retired after winning his ninth Stanley Cup in 2002.

Under Lewis, the Red Wings had two consecutive first place finishes, but both were followed by early playoff exits and criticism that the coach had become too chummy with players, a situation that was in direct contrast to the tenure of Bowman, who tended to avoid talking to his players. General manager Ken Holland, the architect of Detroit's run of success for more than a decade, wanted a fresh approach and settled on Babcock, who quickly changed the dynamics around the team.

"It was different, but it was definitely an adjustment for us too," veteran forward Kris Draper said. "You have to remember that a lot of us played for a long time for Scotty and Dave Lewis and having a different voice took some getting used to."

On the ice though, things continued to roll relatively smoothly for the first two seasons, at least until the playoffs. Detroit finished first overall during Babcock's debut season, only to be eliminated in a stunning opening-round upset by the Edmonton Oilers, and then last season, after capturing the Western Conference title, the Red Wings were sent home after the third round by Anaheim in a series in which they had generally outplayed the eventual Stanley Cup champions.

Before this postseason began, Babcock admitted that he wasn't quite ready for dealing with the annual anticipation of success surrounding his team.

"I had no idea when I got to playoff time how things were going to be different [in Detroit]," Babcock said. "What I mean by that is, I've been in the playoffs in the NHL, but I didn't know the expectations of the past were going to haunt us. And I couldn't believe how we were paralyzed. I had no idea. I didn't understand that."

Now apparently he does, and it reflects in the way Babcock keeps the veteran Red Wings on an even keel as they close in on their 11th Stanley Cup. After dropping a one-goal decision to the Penguins in Game 3 of the Finals on Wednesday, Babcock gave his team the day off and was in a pretty jovial mood when he held his required meeting with the media.

Babcock joked about the fact that the Red Wings have never been a preseason Cup favorite under him and even made light of the mistakes he said he made by letting star players Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk spend too much time on the ice.

"I'm not talking that we didn't have a good plan, or weren't trying to do the right thing, coaches make mistakes," said Babcock, whose team still leads the series 2-1. "Sometimes when you're trying to do the right thing, the wrong thing happens. That's life.

"We didn't win a game, but it's a new day. It's sunny; let's go."