HENDERSON, Nev. — Here’s the challenge for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Mike Babcock: people are holding him to the unattainable standard — he has to be perfect.
Spittin’ Chiclets’ Paul Bissonnette started a firestorm Tuesday, reporting that Babcock was asking to see his players’ phones and AirPlaying photos on his office television. In a team-released statement, Babcock countered by saying the photos were shared “off their phones,” adding, “The way this was portrayed … was a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive.”
Columbus captain Boone Jenner followed saying Babcock “asked if I had pictures of my family, and I was happy to share some with him. He showed me pictures of his family. I 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.”
You’ll hear his full comments on a Wednesday drop of the 32 Thoughts podcast, but at the NHL-NHLPA media tour, Johnny Gaudreau backed Jenner.
“It was (Babcock’s) way of kinda getting to know me, and I got to get to know him,” the winger said. “I wasn’t uncomfortable at all. I was showing him pictures of my family. If I had (a) problem with it, I would’ve been like, ‘I don’t think I’m comfortable with that.’ But I had no problem with it.”
Asked if any teammates indicated to him they were uncomfortable, Gaudreau replied, “Not a single person.”
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said that initial reports to the league weren’t “remotely similar” to what was alleged, while the NHLPA indicated it continues to investigate the allegation.
It’s clear, after reaching out to as many people as I could, Babcock has asked to see people’s family photos at least going back to his days in Detroit. He did it in Toronto, and now he’s doing it in Columbus. In some cases, apparently, there were “family presentations,” where a player would send pictures, Babcock would put them on a screen and have that player talk about his family to the team.
It wasn’t just players. He’s done it with people on his various staffs. While going through Columbus’s hiring process, he did it with some of their executives.
Considering everything that’s been reported about Babcock, if a lot of people really hated this, we’d probably have heard much sooner. On Tuesday, I heard from several who liked it and a couple who didn’t. One current player — who has never played for Babcock — said he’d heard about this recently and it would make him uncomfortable, although he admitted the way he heard the story was like a game of broken telephone.
So, it’s fair to assume that Babcock has done this with hundreds of people going back years. It’s insane to think that everyone’s going to like it, or everyone’s going to hate it. Of course, there are going to be both. Unfortunately, that’s the problem.
The moment anything remotely controversial involving him is reported, it’s going to be a frenzy. I’m not sure Columbus clearly realized that until now.
Going after Bissonnette’s intel is a losing play. Many players love him and talk to him. He’s not going on his podcast with this unless he’s got the info. (Although I’d bet he regrets dragging Jenner into this.) The other thing this situation tells us is that those who don’t like Babcock are going to make sure anything negative is going to get out there.
Everyone knew Babcock would be closely watched. The Blue Jackets knew that, and he definitely did, too. That’s one of the reasons he liked the idea of Columbus, out of the spotlight. Now, I’m wondering if location matters. The standard is perfection.
