My inside source told me last night that St-Louis is now showing interest in Babcock. Current coach Ken Hitchcock's contract is also up at the end of June and the Blues may not re-sign him should Babcock show interest in coaching them.
But the big stumbling block once again is the contractual demands requested by Babcock. Not only does he wish to become the highest-paid coach in the league, but he also wants control over player movement. Most general managers aren't so willing to give their coach that much authority. St-Louis is another team that isn't exactly swimming in money, so i doubt (like the Sharks) they'd be willing to make Babcock the highest-paid coach in the league. Only a few teams are willing & have the money to do this, among them Buffalo and Toronto.
The problem with the lack of suitors for Babcock is that many GMs have realized that he may not be as good as they thought, considering it's been ages since he's taken the Red Wings past the first round of the playoffs. If you compare both coaches' records over the past few seasons, Ken Hitchcock could be considered a much better coach than Babcock. GMs have also realized that any coach with a lineup of premium players would have won the gold medal at the Sochi Olympics. I'm confidant to say that had i been chosen to lead Team Canada at those Olympics. i would have won a gold medal. I also would have played P.K. Subban instead of having him rot in the press box. Chris Kunitz would have taken a seat.
I also don't get why some habs fans (and some in the anglo Mtl media) would prefer Mike Babcock over current coach Michel Therrien. I mean, do they honestly think that Babcock would have made much of a difference considering Therrien got them 110 points? They're dreaming!!
Babcock will likely make his choice by tomorrow according to three of my sources. I told them that it wouldn't surprise me if Babcock signed for considerably less than he expected to. If i'm correct, he won't be heading to either Buffalo or Toronto. I also can't see him moving his family to the Buffalo area, which in my opinion sucks. Okay, not as much as Detroit, but Buffalo still sucks.
And let me state it here: I don't believe that at this current time Babcock is the right fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He'd be better off moving to St-Louis or San Jose, even if it means accepting less money than offered elsewhere. I won't be disappointed if the Leafs do hire Babcock, but i also won't be disappointed if he doesn't wind up there since they'll overpay for him and he may not be the right fit.
On another note, two of Patrick Roy's top assistants resigned from their assistant coaches positions yesterday. Andre Tourigny, who is close to Roy and was handpicked by him to join him in Colorado, may very land in Ottawa as one of Dave Cameron's assistants. He'd be replacing the late Mark Reeds, who passed away from cancer. I can't wait to hear the real story of what happened in Colorado to cause the two assistants to hand in their resignations.
