Jakub Kindl shares how Mike Babcock “humilated” him
Kindl is the latest former player to speak out against the maligned coach.
HockeyFeed
Mike Babcock's tenure as the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was shockingly brief, lasting less than two months. He resigned from his position even before training camp commenced, following revelations that he had invaded player privacy by accessing their phones.
By now, many fans are familiar with the stories surrounding Babcock, dating back to his time with the Red Wings, where he was alleged to have verbally assaulted forward Johan Franzen. This incident led the Swedish forward to later describe Babcock as "the worst person I've ever met."
Of course, there was the benching of Mike Modano in the final regular season game of the 2010-11 season, keeping him from reaching 1,500 career games. He did the same with veteran Leafs forward Jason Spezza in the team's home opener in 2019 despite his having given several tickets to family and friends to watch him play for his hometown team.
And now, former Red Wings defenseman Jakub Kindl has joined the chorus of former players speaking out against their old bench boss.
“I wasn't his favorite player from the beginning, and even though (Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland) liked me, Babcock seemed to constantly test what I could handle and he let me know that he didn’t like me as a player,” Kindl wrote for the Czechia news site titled Bez Frazi.. “I couldn’t stand him as a person.”
“I saw him making jokes with the others, but with me, he barely exchanged a few words,” Kindl said. “If he did, it was to humiliate me. For example, he once put me on the right side of the defense, and I was looking at the lineup in disbelief. He was just passing by and heard me, so he looked at the lineup and said, 'Yeah, you're on the right side. You have trouble playing on the left, and I'm making it harder for you, right?'"
Kindl got an extra measure of satisfaction when he scored the game-winning overtime goal for the Red Wings against the Leafs and Babcock in November of 2015.
“They knew how hard it was under Babcock. That evening, I received a lot of messages from people all over the club, from chefs, guys who parked our cars, facility personnel, and from the people who worked in offices. They all congratulated me,” Kindl said.
Kindl, who was taken 19th overall by the Red Wings in the 2005 NHL Draft, played parts of seven years in Detroit before being traded to the Florida Panthers.
Meanwhile, it's safe to say that Babcock will never coach in the National Hockey League again.
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