Mike Babcock has resigned as the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team\u00a0announced on Sunday. <\/p>\n
\u201cUpon reflection, it has become clear that continuing as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was going to be too much of a distraction,\u201d\u00a0Babcock said in the statement.\u00a0\u201cWhile I\u2019m disappointed to not have had the opportunity to continue the work we\u2019ve begun, I know it\u2019s in the best interest of the organization for me to step away at this time. I wish everyone in the organization well in the upcoming season.\u201d <\/p>\n
Blue Jackets general manager\u00a0Jarmo Kekalainen called it a \u201cdifficult\u201d but \u201cnecessary\u201d decision to \u201censure our focus remains on the players and the team\u2019s upcoming season.\u201d <\/p>\n
The resignation comes after former National Hockey League (NHL) player and current TNT host Paul Bissonette said on his Barstool Sports podcast, \u201cSpittin\u2019 Chiclets,\u201d last week that a player told him Babcock asked Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner to show him photos on his phone to \u201clet him know the type of person you are.\u201d <\/p>\n
Both Babock and Jenner\u00a0called the allegations a \u201cmisrepresentation\u201d of what had actually happened. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile meeting with our players and staff, I asked them to share, off their phones, family pictures as part of the process of getting to know them better,\u201d Babcock said in a statement last week. \u201cThere was absolutely nothing more to it than that. The way this was portrayed on the \u2018Spittin\u2019 Chiclets\u2019 podcast was a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive. \u2026 These meetings have been very important and beneficial, not only for me but for our players and staff as well, and to have them depicted like this is irresponsible and completely inaccurate.\u201d <\/p>\n
The 30-year-old, 10-year NHL veteran Jenner also denied the allegations and backed up Babcock\u2019s statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile meeting with Babs, he asked me about my family and where I\u2019m from, my upcoming wedding and hockey-related stuff,\u201d Jenner said. \u201cHe then asked if I had pictures of my family and I was happy to share some with him. He showed me pictures of his family.\u00a0I thought it was a great first meeting and good way for us to start to build a relationship. To have this blown out of proportion is truly disappointing.\u201d <\/p>\n
The team named Pascal Vincent the new head coach on Sunday, also announcing they signed the 51-year-old Vincent to a two-year contract through next season. <\/p>\n
Vincent joined the Blue Jackets as an associate coach in 2021 after spending 10 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets organization. <\/p>\n
\u201cPascal Vincent is an outstanding coach,\u201d Kekalainen said. \u201cHe knows our players and organization and is respected by everyone here. He was a strong candidate for our head coaching position several months ago and is in the best position to help us navigate this change as we begin camp and lead our team moving forward.\u201d <\/p>\n
In July, Babcock was named the ninth coach in Blue Jackets history after coaching the Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs previously. The 60-year-old helped lead the Ducks to the Stanley Cup final in 2003 and the Red Wings to a Stanley Cup victory in 2008. Babcock compiled a record of 700-418-19-164. Babcock\u2019s 700 wins are 12th-most in NHL history. <\/p>\n\n
Mike Babcock has resigned as the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team\u00a0announced on Sunday. \u201cUpon reflection, it has become clear that continuing as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was going to be too much of a distraction,\u201d\u00a0Babcock said in the statement.\u00a0\u201cWhile I\u2019m disappointed to not have had the opportunity to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}