Holland explains why Franzen’s story on Babcock isn’t all true…

​The Oilers GM finally responded to the Babcock allegations that took place in Detroit.

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Published 4 years ago
Holland explains why Franzen’s story on Babcock isn’t all true…
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As you know by now, veteran Johan Franzen joined the growing list of NHL players speaking out about head coach Mike Babcock.

“As a coach he is extremely accurate and prepared. He is great at putting together a gaming system and getting everyone to buy into it. That’s his strong side,” Franzen told Swedish newspaper Expressen. “But then he’s a terrible man, the worst person I’ve ever met. A bully who cheated on people, it could be cleaners in the Detroit arena or anyone. He jumped on people just because.”

Franzen answered to the story that first came out after Chris Chelios spoke of the abuse in an interview with the Spittin Chiclets podcast. Chelios said Babcock “blatantly verbally assaulted” Franzen during a playoff game, which led to Franzen suffering a “nervous breakdown.”

Chelios added that the leadership group of Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg talked about Babcock’s behaviour among themselves also spoke with then-general manager Ken Holland. But, Chelios said, Holland backed Babcock.

It was Holland’s time to speak on Wednesday and the now Edmonton Oilers GM wanted to make something very clear. After speaking with Chelios himself, Holland revealed that the events did not take place at the same time. 

“I spoke to Cheli,” Holland explained, per TSN. “I hold Cheli in the highest regard…I just said to Cheli that the timeline he laid out – the perception was there was a situation between Babcock and Franzen on the bench and the next day I came down and said something to the team – both are true, but they’re about five to six years apart. When I did address the team one point in time – I think Cheli retired in ’09 – Cheli said he was sitting in the locker room, so it’s gotta be ’06, ’07 - and the Franzen-Babcock was the Nashville series in 2012.

“I just wanted to make sure everybody understood the timeline was five or six years apart.”

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman pointed out the same thing in his latest 31 Thoughts column on Sportsnet. 

“Chris Chelios’s Spittin’ Chiclets interview about Babcock had some confusing timelines, because when the Johan Franzen incident occurred (as Nashville eliminated Detroit in Game 5 of the 2012 first round), Chelios was no longer on the Red Wings. He referenced a meeting Ken Holland had with the players, where the GM defended his coach. I think this has to do with Marty McSorley. McSorley worked on San Jose Sharks broadcasts, and once said none of the Red Wings liked playing for Babcock. Word got back to Detroit reporters, who asked Holland about it. (The current Edmonton GM declined to discuss this, but did speak to the Detroit Free Press ’s Helene St. James about the Franzen incident.)”

Holland maintains that he wasn’t aware of Babcock’s mistreating players in Detroit. 

“You talk about Johan Franzen, I can’t speak for Johan. And when he came out, he was very clear and said Mike Babcock was a tremendous coach. He doesn’t like him as a person.

“When you have a 23-man roster and when I was in Detroit with Mike Babcock, there were some players in that locker room that didn’t like the coach, some players in that locker room who didn’t have any feelings either way, and there were some players in the locker room who thought he was the best coach that they ever played for…some people are going to like you, some people aren’t.”

While Holland had good things to say about Babcock’s tenure during his time, he also emphasized the need for healthy relationships between all levels and roles in hockey.

“I think the most important thing is respect,” he said. “We’re all trying to find it - managers and coaches and players - to make sure respect is the most important thing in our game.”

Source: TSN