OT - Mike Babcock's Olympic Performance

Submitted by Clarence Beeks on
I hadn't seen this discussed specifically yet, but I think it is worth discussing (or at least mentioning) the masterful coaching job Mike Babcock put in at this Olympics. Obviously, Canada had a stacked roster, but what he did, with pretty much zero practice time, was convince purely offensive players to buy into a defense first philosophy. Just as one example, he had Rick Nash (who doesn't remotely have a defensive element to his game in the NHL) on the penalty kill unit and blocking shots. I couldn't believe my eyes. That was amazing to see and I'm sure it surprised the hell out of any Rangers fans that were watching. It's a sterling example of why the Detroit organization has been able to do what it has done with its players. For a contrast, look at what Pavel Datsyuk did outside of Babcock's structure: he was the most dynamic offensive player for Russia in the tournament, and played very little defense. He's a regular Selke candidate in the NHL, who is obviously offensively gifted, but Detroit has convinced him to play a defense first game. It was easy to poke fun at Canada for their difficultly scoring, but in hindsight it was a result of implementing the defensive philosophy. A philosophy that resulted in Canada giving up ONE goal in the entire elimination round. Seriously masterful job by Babcock. Had the US taken a similar approach their outcome may have been far better. It's yet another reason why we as Red Wings fans are one lucky bunch.

Evil Monkey

February 24th, 2014 at 11:34 PM ^

I agree with the Olympic coaching performance. Some of the best game planning I've ever seen in a hockey game. I've yet to see him to do this with wings though. Plenty of series in the playoffs Babcock has been out coached. I also don't know if I'm all for Datsyuk's "defense" style you talked about. You don't pay someone 7.5 million
Dollars in the NHL to play good defense... That kind of money should have gone to a dynamic goal scorer. 25 goals a year is just not cutting it. He misses the net way to often as well. But as I digress. Here's hoping Babcock can pull something together with this team. Hopefully his winning edge can carry over to the wings cause it is much needed.

Joined: 09/16/2010

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jigsmcgee

February 25th, 2014 at 12:49 AM ^

if we are going by pure logic, you right. goals are more valuable to Detroit

If not, I am fine with his style of play.  It is one of the rare times where a player is that damn good that I dont think about what was the correct play or move with the puck.  the dude routinely makes the right play and it is insane to watch

Joined: 02/05/2009

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Tommy Want Wingy

February 25th, 2014 at 9:44 AM ^

Datsyuk is a point a game player, and the best two way forward in the NHL. Hes top 5 in the NHL in takeaways annually, and makes every player on the ice better by opening up the ice with his hands and vision. You dont have to be a 40 goal scorer to be worth that kind of money. If you want to get on a high priced player about not putting the puck in the net, Franzen is your guy.

Joined: 01/23/2011

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LordGrantham

February 24th, 2014 at 11:43 PM ^

Yep.  If Wings management could actually get some decent players in the fold outside of Datsuk and Zetterberg, we may actually compete with the best in the NHL.

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Kermits Blue Key

February 25th, 2014 at 8:05 AM ^

It's amazing how little success Holland has had as of late convincing free agents to come to Detroit - especially with all of the money freed up by Lidstrom and Rafalski retiring. Maybe he's still banking on the Detroit discount, which players aren't willing to accept anymore.

Joined: 09/04/2010

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Lionsfan

February 25th, 2014 at 9:02 AM ^

The flip side of that is who was the last big name free agent to sign a ginormous contract, and then actually produce? 90% of the time it seems like teams overpay, sign someone to a cap-killing contract, and are stuck with an average player for 8 years

Joined: 06/03/2011

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lilpenny1316

February 25th, 2014 at 7:23 PM ^

That probably had something to do with it.  Without a salary cap, we probably still have Hossa and Franzen would be on a third line where he belongs.  Still, if this roster was healthy and could win some shootouts, or if OT just ended in a tie, they would be firmly in a playoff spot right now.

Joined: 11/19/2009

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PizzaHaus

February 24th, 2014 at 11:44 PM ^

He won the tournament with, by a good margin, the best roster. I'm sure he did some nice coaching things, but there's nothing inherently spectacular about that.

Every other coach in the tournament had to deal with minimal practice time too, they just (in most cases) didn't have anywhere near the caliber of players. 

Joined: 01/09/2014

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Evil Monkey

February 24th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^

Bylsma's performance was subpar at best. They had enough talent to medal easily and possibly beat Canada. The line combinations were not working and he did not adjust to the offensive zone trap Canada was running. They had the talent to perform offensively but didn't when it mattered.

Joined: 09/16/2010

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Canadian

February 24th, 2014 at 11:59 PM ^

It's a testament to not only his coaching ability but also to the drive those players had to win gold. Crosby could have easily said "fuck that I want to score" but instead he played some great hockey tht was overlooked by most analysts. Babcock is a big time possession coach which I believe leads to less odd man rushes as they spend more time in offensive zone which leads to wearing down the opponent instead of trying to score 8 goals before the opponent (which was my opinion of the Americans game).
I had been saying it all tournament and ill say it one more time... You guys can make fun or point out our "lack" of scoring but I point at the fact that when push came to shove we could've put out the best player in the world and told him to have at it. Crosby is a player who shines in the biggest of moments and is always in the offensive end creating scoring opportunities. He may have only scored one goal this tournament but ill argue it was the goal that won us gold again (going up 2-0 with our defensive play was a death sentence to the swedes).

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Brhino

February 25th, 2014 at 12:39 AM ^

Following the olympics as a Red Wings fan is confusing.  Go USA!  Although... not any players I normally root for on the team.  I gotta root for frikkin' Patrick Kane?  Well, I'm not going to root for Canada... although they are coached by Babcock and managed by Yzerman.  Hmm.  So go... Sweden?  Yeah, half their roster are Red Wings, even after Lidstrom retired.  And then we've got one or two players on half the rest of the olympic rosters.

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bacon

February 25th, 2014 at 4:12 AM ^

I'd like to think a monkey could have coached team canada to a gold with all the talent they had. That said, Babcock is an excellent coach and I would have much rather had him over Bylsma.

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w2j2

February 25th, 2014 at 5:30 AM ^

"I think he instills a lot of confidence in the group," Crosby said of Babcock. "He leads by example and I think you can see that he trusts every guy out there, and the situations he puts them in, he puts them in for a reason. Definitely to have a group come together this quick isn't easy, and everyone's kind of laughing at the ball hockey in August, but you know what, all those little things go a long way sometimes. He definitely did a great job, his whole staff, of preparing us and getting us ready for all the adjustments we needed to make on the big ice."

http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2014/icehockey/story/_/id/10505881/2014-sochi-olympics-canada-defense-first-mindset-delivers-win-ages

If you watch the video, you can hear what Pierre LeBrun says.

Joined: 11/23/2008

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w2j2

February 25th, 2014 at 5:38 AM ^

(2 Olympic Golds, 1 Stanley Cup, World Championship, Junior World Championships)

Babcock is still underated.

Another coach with the same players could have easily lost this tournament.

Under great pressure, Babcock just outcoached (by far) the best coaches in the world.

Joined: 11/23/2008

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Simps

February 25th, 2014 at 8:42 AM ^

Babcock did a great job coaching, and is IMO the best X's and O's coach in hockey. However, I think it was the puck possession and forechecking that landed them the gold medal more than the defense. Even though they didn't score a lot, it sure seemed like the damn puck was always in the opponents zone. It's obviously much easier to defend when the puck is that far from the goalie.

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Clarence Beeks

February 25th, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^

I agree, and that's ultimately consistent with what I was intending to convey. The forechecking and puck possession, while mainly occurring in the offensive zone, are spring from the defensive strategy. Getting purely offensive players to buy into that strategy is remarkable. For anyone who questions that, just take a look at what Russia did with some of the best offensive players in the world. They played a pure offense game (much like the US did) and had nothing to show for it. Lots of one and done opportunities and no structure to fall back onto when that didn't work. In my opinion, the best game of the entire tournament was the Canada-Finland game. Both teams played this tournament with a similar philosophy.

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