News about Mike Babcock

Mike Babcock has resigned as the Columbus Blue Jackets' head coach after an inquiry into his conduct against players has been launched. Babcock, a Stanley Cup championship and two Olympic gold medals on his resume, saw his brief stint in Columbus come to an end before he had ever coached one. After just two months on the job, less than a week after his calls for personal photos of players in a bonding initiative were rejected as too invasive.

After a study emerged chastising him for privacy invasions, new Columbus Blue Jackets coach Mike Babcock said Tuesday that he did nothing wrong in requesting photos of players on their phones, clarifying that he was attempting to know them. On the Spittin Chiclets' podcast, Paul Bissonnette said he was told by an unidentified player that Babcock had ordered captain Boone Jenner to show him photos. "Let me see the photos in your phone," Bissonnette, a former NHL player-turned-analyst for TNT, told Jenner: "Let me see the pictures in your phone." I want to know what kind of person you are." In a joint statement released by the Blue Jackets, Babcock and Jenner called it "a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and highly offensive." Jenner said the meeting was a positive start to his Babcock friendship and expressed disappointment.