Mike Babcock has been able to keep the Red Wings highly successful in the post-lockout era in the NHL, and the Red Wings are trying to keep it that way. The club announced that they are talking to head coach Mike Babcock about a contract extension to keep him at the helm of the Red Wings' bench.
Babcock has one year left on a three-year deal. General Manager Ken Holland expects the process to take most of the summer, but hopes they can have a deal in place by the start of training camp.
"I'd like to keep him, so we're going to sit down and talk," general manager Ken Holland said Saturday at the 2010 NHL entry draft at Staples Center. "He likes it in Detroit, and I enjoy working with him. I think he's done a tremendous job since he came here in 2005.
Babcock has been one of the league's most successful coaches since arriving on the NHL scene in 2003 with the Anaheim Ducks. Babcock took the Ducks to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year with the team, a run that included going through the Red Wings. Babcock signed with Detroit in 2005, and has won 257 games for the Red Wings, including the Stanley Cup in 2008.
With success like that, it's no wonder that Babcock himself wants to stay.
"I'm staying if they'd like to have me," Babcock said. "But I haven't really even thought about it -- I just assumed I'm staying."
Babcock is coming off his most impressive season as a coach, guiding the Red Wings to a 19th straight post season in a year which many key players were injured for long periods of time. The Wings still accumulated 102 points, their 10th straight 100-point season, and finished second in the Central Division.
There's really not a whole lot of other jobs that could lure Babcock out of Detroit. The Red Wings are among the elite coaching jobs in the NHL, part of the reason why he left a successful and talented Anaheim club for Detroit in 2005. The Red Wings know that Babcock is one of the best in the game, and certainly their best hire since Scotty Bowman retired at the end of the 2002 season.
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