Mike Babcock's Columbus Blue Jacket HC job in jeopardy: Reports

By Cole Shelton

Modified Sep 15, 2023 15:15 GMT

Mike Babcock may not even get a chance to coach one game for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets surprised many this off-season when they hired Babcock as their head coach. He hasn't coached in the NHL since November 2019 when the Toronto Maple Leafs fired him.

Since then, he coached at the University of Saskatchewan as he was hoping to get another chance in the NHL, despite his controversial past.

Many former and current NHL players have come out sharing stories on Mike Babcock's controversial coaching style. However, Columbus still decided to hire him.

However, before the season even began, Babcock was accused of having all of his players share their phones with them and then playing their photos on his office TV.

Mike Babcock has since denied the way the allegation has been put. However, the NHLPA is meeting with Blue Jackets players, and according to NHL insider Darren Dreger, there is a chance the head coach might be fired.

"Based on the information that has been discovered and percolated to the surface in the last 48 hours, I think there's a chance Babcock's job could be in question... I'm not reporting or predicting it's going to happen, but there's a chance that happens."

As of right now, the investigation into Mike Babcock is still ongoing, but Dreger believes there is a chance he may get fired over this.

Mike Babcock has denied the allegations

Although Paul Bissonnette and Spittin' Chiclets have doubled down on their report, Mike Babcock has denied all these allegations.

Babcock released a statement through the team and said he and the players shared photos with each other. According to Babcock, the idea was to get to know the player more personally and build a better bond.

“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. 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."

Babcock added:

"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.”

There's no question this is just the beginning of the story and whatever happens from it will be a massive story for weeks in the NHL.