Red Wings News
Going 0-3 with what’s supposed to be a top-5 prospect pool isn’t exactly what anyone wanted for our performance in this year’s Traverse City Prospect Tournament. Still, it was a good experience for the youngsters and for the new coaching staff. I’m trying not to read into it too much, despite the disappointing result in the win/loss columns. When you average almost 5 goals-for per game, you’re doing SOMETHING right… Standouts from the weekend included Söderblom, Danielson, Tuomisto, Hanas, and Sawchuk. Not going to go into who left me nervous after the weekend cossa I don’t want to.
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I’m going to try to not trash anyone here. There’s a lot of specificity that the public currently lacks, and most likely will continue to lack. Painting in broad strokes means that fine lines can easily be glossed over, and often those fine lines are important.
Without knowing a lot of the specifics, I don’t really feel bad that Babcock is out already. I believe in second chances for those who earn them, but I also don’t believe second chances should guarantee you a return to your previous station and privileges. Did Babcock actually learn a lesson in the 4 years he was absent from an NHL bench, or did he think he just needed to ride out the bad press? I don’t have the answer to that, but it sounds like the latter. I’m not sure, from what’s been made public, that Babcock thinks he ever did anything wrong… which feels like it would lead to a continuation of suspect behaviors much like was seen in this instance.
Oddly enough, I am saddened by this whole situation. It’s disappointing that several parties didn’t learn their lessons prior to July 1, and it’s disappointing that their optimism that “this time will be different” was unfounded or misguided. I want the NHL to have more examples of shining achievement, and this was yet another black-eye.
LGRW
