Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – GOOD CROWDS – For this week, attendance isn’t a negative topic as both Winnipeg and Saskatchewan had over 25,000 in the stands.  The Bombers sold out while the Riders muddy the waters with their ‘tickets distributed’ tactic however I didn’t see the chatter about empty seats like I did during week one.  There also seemed to be a healthy number of people taking advantage of the tailgating that is a new aspect of the game day experience.

3 – BABCOCK – I’ve talked about this in previous columns but Brendan Shanahan is a highly regarded figure in the hockey world.  Shanahan wore a letter while playing for Mike Babcock in Detroit and he would have first hand knowledge as to how and why Mike Modano, Johan Franzen, and Mike Commodore were treated as they were.  Clearly, he had no problem with it because he then hired Babcock to work in Toronto.  To my recollection, Shanahan had very little to say about the Babcock/Marner situation other than he, probably, was the one that fired him.  Did he fire him because of the list he forced Marner to make or did he fire him because he knew Babcock could no longer be the coach after all that went public?  Babcock was then hired by Columbus but quit before the regular season even began after allegations surfaced that he committed the cardinal sin of wanting to scroll through cell phone pictures as a means to get to know his players better.  Keep in mind this Columbus player group is much the same group that Rick Bowness eviscerated at his year end press conference a couple of months ago.  So you can bet they wanted no part of Babcock.  I guess this is a long way of saying I am not buying the entirety of what has been painted as ‘truth’ when it comes to Babcock and how he’s handled players.  

4 – ODDS AGAINST HIM BEING HIRED – My guess is that Babcock doesn’t end up coaching the Oilers.  The criticism is just so intense that I can see both him and the team backing away.  It’s also a near no-win situation for everyone.  Babcock could do a masterful job with this team but it’s Stanley Cup or bust and I don’t think they have a Stanley Cup level roster.  To me, if ownership and management want to hire him and if it’s something that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl approve of, then hire him.  One of the better NHL Insiders, Chris Johnston, was reporting on Saturday that the league will soon conclude its investigation on Babcock and they will green-light the hiring.  That doesn’t mean he’s going to be hired.  Another so-called Insider, who has long been a bottom feeder and gas lighter when it comes to revealing information, had made claims Babcock walked away from Columbus over an issue(s) that was more serious than the cell phone matter.  But, in typical fashion, this so-called Insider doesn’t say what the issue was.  He’s kept it a secret to himself or maybe he’s running a front for someone who has it in for Babcock and is just lying outright—which wouldn’t surprise me.  

5 – GOOD MATCH – I support the Oilers going and getting Babcock. I think Babcock would be very hungry to prove himself.  I think McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, etc. are also eager to prove themselves.  I think Babcock has shown he is an excellent coach when it comes to dealing with superstars and their personalities and how to get the best out of them.  While it’s true he hasn’t won anything for quite some time, you have to remember he coached the Leafs when they weren’t even trying to be a good team and he had them in contention long before the Shanaplan called for such.  I’d also make the argument the Leafs were closer to being a good playoff team with Babcock than they were under Sheldon Keefe and Craig Berube.  Babcock was also battling against the superstar players in Toronto when it came to getting them to play a certain way whereas the Oiler players have already submitted to doing whatever it takes to win and that includes buying in to whatever changes Babcock wants to make.

6 – SKELETONS IN CLOSET – Things happen that the public never ever finds out about and because the public doesn’t know, we assume all the coaches and players in the NHL are, relatively, decent human beings.  This could not be any further from the truth.  I can guarantee you there are coaches, for sure, who are behind NHL benches that are guilty of similar tactics as to what Babcock did in Toronto and, supposedly, did in Detroit.  He’s no unicorn.  When I worked in media decades ago, I was the same age as the players and the stories they’d tell me about their coaches was appalling even back then and I can say, with absolute certainty, some of those coaches went to the NHL and a couple of them are still working in the league.  It’s a long way of saying that even if Babcock is as bad as he’s being made out to be by all these talking heads in the media, chances are he has nothing on some of the other coaches who just haven’t had their sins become public.  The other thing is Babcock’s methods really weren’t done in secret.  People on the inside were well aware of how he coached and motivated.  The stories about Franzen, Modano, and Commodore didn’t surface long after the fact.  Hockey Canada was always very quick to give their top coaching assignment to him.  The truth is nobody thought he was all that bad until Mitch Marner got upset.  

7 – SERIOUS INCIDENT NOBODY KNEW ABOUT – I will leave the names out of it but a reputable coach who served as a head in both major junior and the NHL told me a remarkable story about two superstar NHLers who jumped up out of their stalls following an intermission dress down from their head coach and proceeded to beat the daylights out of the coach in front of the team.  It destroyed any and all credibility in the coach, who was shortly thereafter fired and never ever worked in the NHL again.  My guess is that if that incident ended up in the public domain, both of those players would have been ‘canceled’.  

8 – UFC – UFC Freedom 250 will be held at the White House today and while you can take whatever political opinion you want as to whether or not this is appropriate to be sanctioned by the government, I am going to enjoy the fact this will be the best card of fights in over two years.  While Ilia Topuria is the heavy favorite to defeat Justin Gaethje in the main event, the truth is that there is no better contender in the lightweight division to fight Topuria. Maybe Topuria can chase Islam Makhachev and become a welterweight as they are the top two pound for pound fighters in the UFC but there really isn’t anyone that poses a serious threat to Topuria at the moment.  The other big story is Alex Pereira’s quest to win a championship in a third weight class after holding both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles.  If successful in his fight against Cyril Gane, he would be the first to be a triple champ but the argument as to whether he’s the greatest ever has flaws due to Pereira not really defending all of those titles because he was always changing weight classes.  Betting odds have Pereira and Gane as a near ‘pick em’.

9 – NBA AND NHL CHAMPIONSHIPS – The New York Knicks won their first NBA title in over 50 years on Saturday night by knocking off the San Antonio Sprus in five games.  Jalen Brunson dropped 45 points, becoming only the second guard in league history to have that big a night in a championship clincher (Michael Jordan being the other).  The Spurs, despite choking in several games of the series, should be back when you consider their youth.  Dylan Harper is a rookie, Stephon Castle is in his second year, and Victor Wembanyama just finished his third year.  Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes have an opportunity to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history today as they take on the Vegas Golden Knights in game six.  Former Winnipeg Jet Nikolaj Ehlers is making a bid to be the Conn Smythe winner with 7-goals and 10-assists in 17-games overall and a strong league final series.  Ehlers has shed his reputation as being a playoff no-show as he had just 21-points in 45-games in the postseason as a Jet.  He had just 14-points in 37-playoff games prior to last year.

10 – MAMBA AT MERLIS BELSHER – The Saskatoon Mamba will play their first ever game at Merlis Belsher on Monday night against Ottawa.  The Mamba are 3-and-1 in their last four and 3-and-0 with big man Jaden Bediako in the line-up.  Bediako is averaging 17-ppg and nearly 11-rebounds per game and that presence has completely changed the overall look of the team.  The Mamba are tied with Edmonton for third place in the Western Conference and are three games up on Calgary for a playoff spot.  Merlis Belsher holds approximately 2800 and the Mamba maybe aren’t a threat to hit that number today but if they can continue to string wins together, they should definitely approach that figure.  Winnipeg and Vancouver are the top drawing teams in the league at 6000 and 4500 respectively.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on X/Twitter at @Stack1975)