"He's a pervert" - Mike Babcock gets flamed by Mike Commodore for allegedly invading players' privacy

By Cole Shelton

Modified Sep 13, 2023 14:54 GMT

Former NHL player Mike Commodore has never been a fan of Mike Babcock and he recently blasted the new Columbus Blue Jackets coach. On Tuesday, Babcock was accused of making players send him all the photos on their phone which he then played on his office TV.

Immediately, many people were wondering why he would do that, and whether there was any truth to it. Paul Bissonnette and Spittin Chiclets doubled down on it, saying they had multiple players text them about the incident happening.

Mike Commodore, who played under him, in the AHL and then with the Detroit Red Wings, never saw eye-to-eye with Babcock. However, on Tuesday evening, Mike Commodore took to his Twitter and claimed the story was true and blasted Mike Babcock.

"Mike Commodore here. Hey look, I don't enjoy doing these videos, but Mike Babcock just can't help himself. All this talk, second chance, he's changed. It's all bulls**t. Nothing changed, he's exactly the same. He's pulling the same stuff now that he was in Toronto, that he was in Detroit. It's the same s**t. Power, intimidation, and I mean, going through people's camera rolls, I mean pervert. He's a pervert."

It shouldn't be a surprise to see Mike Commodore take aim at Mike Babcock, as the former NHL defenseman accused the head coach of ending his career.

Babcock coached Commodore in the AHL, and he alleged the coach refused to play him. Commodore later signed with the Red Wings, who were coached by Babcock, and believes the coach misled him by telling him he was sought as a physical presence.

However, Commodore was a healthy scratch for a month and a half and played two games before being scratched again until December. He only re-joined the lineup once Red Wings GM Ken Holland ordered Babcock to play him.

Eventually, Holland traded Commodore out of Detroit, which he claims was because the GM felt bad for the way Babcock was treating him.

Mike Babcock denies allegations

Although Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney, and Mike Commodore all claimed the story was true, Mike Babcock released a statement through the Columbus Blue Jackets denying the allegations and claiming that he used it for training purposes.

According to Babcock, he wanted to see photos of the families to get to know each player and even shared his own photos with the players.

“While meeting with our players and staff I asked them to share, off their phones, family pictures as part of the process of getting to know them better," he shared via ESPN. "There was absolutely nothing more to it than that. The way this was portrayed on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast was a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive."

"These meetings have been very important and beneficial, not only for me but for our players and staff as well, and to have them depicted like this is irresponsible and completely inaccurate.”

Although Babcock denied the allegations, it's likely this is not the end of the story as the NHL season is still a month away from starting.