Ex-Detroit Red Wing Johan Franzen once accused Mike Babcock of bullying - "A bully who was attacking people"

By Cole Shelton

Modified Sep 12, 2023 20:11 GMT

Johan Franzen was coached by Mike Babcock for years and he wasn't a fan of him.

Babcock has always been known as an intense coach, but he has also made a few players mad at him over the years.

Former defenceman Mike Commodore has been vocal about how much he hates Babcock. He also was involved in a couple of antics that saw Mitch Marner write out which of his teammates has the least amount of work ethic and then share it with the team.

Babcock also scratched Mike Modano in the final game of his career, which would have been his 1500th game.

Franzen, meanwhile, said in an interview back in 2019 that Babcock is a terrible person and a bully.

“He's a terrible person, the worst I ever met. He’s a bully who was attacking people. It could be a cleaner at the arena in Detroit or anybody. He would lay into people without any reason.”

Chris Chelios, a teammate of Franzen in Detroit under Mike Babcock, said on Spittin Chiclets that Babcock would emotionally abuse Franzen, which ultimately made him break down.

“Some of the things he (Babcock) said to him (Franzen) on the bench, I don’t know what he said to him behind closed doors one-on-one, but he blatantly verbally assaulted him during the game on the bench."

"It got to the point where poor Johan, no one really knowing he was suffering with the concussion thing and the depression thing, he just broke down and had nervous breakdown, not only on the bench but after the game in one of the rooms in Nashville. It was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”

After his career, Johan Franzen became more public about what Mike Babcock did to him.

Mike Babcock responds to Johan Franzen

Mike Babcock was asked about Johan Franzen and his comments in February 2021 when the coach said he thought the two had a good relationship.

“I thought we had a really good relationship. Now, did things not go as good at times? Absolutely. Did I ever, in my mind, try to bully anybody? That is the craziest thing I ever heard of. Now I also, though, didn’t even know what mental health was."

"So anytime someone, whether they work for you, whether you’re in a relationship with them, you’re wrong ... you never want to cross the line, and when you do, you want to own it. And if you do, you should own it. But if you didn’t, you shouldn’t own that either.”

Mike Babcock did say he reached out to Franzen but he never got back to Babcock, so the coach never got the chance to apologize.

Currently, Babcock is entering his first year as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.