Reports surfaced a week ago that the Washington Capitals received permission to interview veteran coach Peter Laviolette for their open head coaching position. However with three big-name coaches available, many felt GM Brian MacLellan would also interview the other two, to fill the vacancy left after the team fired Todd Reirden.
Last night during Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Washington has already interviewed former Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock:
“Last week the reports got out that the Washington Capitals had permission to interview Peter Laviolette for their vacant head coaching job, this week it’s believed that they interviewed Toronto’s former head coach Mike Babcock,” Friedman said. “And he is a legitimate candidate for the position.”
Babcock certainly would provide the Capitals with a ton of experience. The 57-year-old coached the Anaheim Ducks for two seasons before taking on the Detroit Red Wings for 12 years, which included winning the Stanley Cup in 2008. He spent four and a half years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but failed to lead the team through a round of the playoffs. Throw in a sluggish start to the 2019-20 season and he was fired in November. He has a combined 351-173-133 regular season record.
However, it doesn’t end there as Friedman also noted later on in the segment that the Capitals have also interviewed former Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights’ head coach Gerard Gallant. The veteran coach coached each team for two full seasons each before getting fired in the middle of his third season with each team. However, he did win the Jack Adams award in 2018 in Vegas’ inaugural season when he took the expansion team to the Stanley Cup Finals. He was also the runner-up for the Jack Adams with Florida in 2016.
The Capitals are in a good position with so many veteran coaches available. The team, who has a history of hiring inexperienced coaches, has made it clear they are willing to bring in a coach with plenty of experience as the window for the team is starting to close. Star forward Alex Ovechkin will be turning 35 years old in 11 days and likely only has two to three years remaining at his peak and with little youth in the system, Washington will need a coach that can light a fire under them in the next few years.
Ron Francis should swoop in and hire Gallant to coach the Seattle team.
Also hope the Caps don’t hire Laviolette.
I’d root for them to hire Babcock but the Caps are one of the few teams in the NHL that he could probably still coach, since their core is older.
Babcock is the most overrated coach out there. What has he done in the last 12-13 years
Gallant did a great job with Vegas. So when he lands the Seattle job and it isn’t as successful,will the geniuses chirp “well it’s not going to happen twice,so what did you expect?”
There were a $100 million reasons why they were successful. It’s called available players.
You don’t think it’s going to be similar? More teams will be up against the cap, which isn’t going to rise next year, and may not as 21-22 season dawns. If it does, it won’t be by much. The last I saw was the league revenues had to hit something like 4.6 billion before they would move the cap and that was before the current pandemic and the economic downturn that followed, and while people would like to get back to normal (or a semblance of life before this pandemic), that’s not going to happen without a vaccine. I’d be really surprised if we see fans in the stands immediately when the new season begins in a few months, as would I be shocked if they decided to try and start without bubble(s). All of this will impact revenues… not to mention the league will have a new TV deal here in the states which might be hampered by ongoing pandemic.
All this is to say, I think, with all that potentially factored in, Seattle could be in a prime position to have a roster that ends up looking slightly better than VGK, especially if these GM’s don’t watch how they spend over the offseason.
ugh i dont one of our biggest rivals to have Gallant
Babcock quite the douchbag.
You stay classy Detroit
Gallant is a good coach but I think McPhee deserves credit . He used every advantage he had too full effect. He was wiling to play hardball with other gm’s . He also hired good staff picking up people like Karlsson,. Who Know one thought of trading for.
if Babcock signs with the Caps do they have to give up any compensation to the Leafs since they’re still paying him?