Mike Babcock’s new contract leaked with one important detail

Mike Babcock will officially be announced as the Columbus Blue Jackets’ new head coach, but the bench boss has to wait until Saturday to make it official.

Insider Pierre LeBrun reports that Babcock will sign a two-year deal and will receive $4 million per season. But it is important to know the the Blue Jackets can only announce the signing on Saturday seeing that Babs’ eight-year contract he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of 2015 is set to expire this Friday at midnight.

We’ve known for the past month that there was a great chance that Babcock would return behind as NHL bench to replace Brad Larsen, who coached Columbus for the previous two seasons, leading the club to a 25-49-9 record for 59 points last season. The Jackets are only waiting until his deal with Toronto officially comes to an end to welcome Babs back into the league.

Babcock was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in November of 2019 with three years remaining on his eight-year, $50-million contract. He compiled a 173-133-41 record with Toronto and has coached 1,301 NHL games and has a 700-418-164 record with 19 ties split between the Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings and the Maple Leafs. He also won a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2008 and will be looking for success in Columbus - from Saturday onwards.

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