Babcock called out as a liar after issuing public statement

Veteran NHL coach Mike Babcock is once again in hot water due to his over the top head games.

ON the latest episode of the Spittin' Chiclets podcast, co-host Paul Bissonnette relayed a story in which Babcock demanded that Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner hand over his iPhone to Babcock so that Babcock could check out Jenner's photos to 'find out what type of person' Jenner is.

From Chiclets:

Are. You. FREAKING. Kidding me!?!?!?

Imagine you get kicked out of the NHL and essentially cancelled from the entire hockey world because you employ stupid, archaic head game tactics with your players... only to make your comeback and then fall back on the same old tricks. I mean, come ON, Babs.

I'm all for old school tactics and holding your players accountable, but this is just nonsense. You want to get to know your captain? How about you sit down with him and engage with him like a human being? Maybe even catch a meal or a few beers together. You're going to learn a lot more about a person by engaging with them than you will by checking out photos of his wife and kids.

Blue Jackets insider Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that the Blue Jackets are aware of the alleged incident with Jenner and that they're investigating the matter internally.

In an effort to get in front of the story and to clear the air, but Babcock and Jenner released separate statements through the Blue Jackets' social media channels.

Check it out:

MIKE BABCOCK

“While 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. There was absolutely nothing more to it than that.

"The way this was portrayed on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast was a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive.

"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.”

BOONE JENNER

“While meeting with Babs he asked me about my family and where I’m from, my upcoming wedding and hockey-related stuff. He 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.

"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.”

Alright... nothing to see here, right?

Wrong. Bissonnette has doubled down on his accusations against Babcock and went on a bit of a social media rant to get his point across.

Check it out:

Suffice it to say that this has the potential to go absolutely nuclear. Grab your popcorn and stay tuned.