Jimmy Howard reveals how his coach Mike Babcock disrespected him

Mike Babcock has a notorious history for how poorly he's treated some of his players as a head coach, which might explain why he hasn't had an NHL job in a while, especially after how poorly things went in his final job with the Columbus Blue Jackets. One of his former goalies in Detroit, Jimmy Howard, has just revealed that he was mistreated by Babcock during his rookie season with the Red Wings.

Howard was recently a guest on The Cam and Stick Podcast, and he revealed that when he was coached by Babcock during his rookie year with Detroit, Mike would call him out and mistreat him. Howard then went on to say that while the team was in Phoenix for a road trip, the Rookie of the Year award was a subject that had started to circulate around the league as it would almost be time for members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association to vote for a player, and Howard was having an incredible season that year and was one of the top candidates to take home the award. Howard played in 63 games that season, finishing with a spectacular GAA of 2.26 and a save % of .924. Those are Vezina Trophy worthy numbers, however despite all that, Babcock approached him and said that if he had a vote, he would go with Buffalo Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers, who ultimately ended up winning the Calder Trophy that year. That was a major dagger in Howard's heart, as he also finished second in rookie voting.

No doubt that Mike Babcock has had his good moments as coach in the NHL, such as when he won the Stanley Cup, but people are still very critical of him for how his teams would choke in pressure situations. As his head coaching career started winding down, more and more players were coming out with how they were mistreated by Babcock. He was also known to make players a healthy scratch just before they were set to hit a major milestone. He has also been accused of treating arena staff very badly.

Regardless of whether certain things about Babcock are true or not, the big problem was how he ended his coaching career in Columbus. Babcock faced the most amount of heat and backlash in his life when it was revealed that he was asking players for their phones so that he could look through all of their personal data. He was ultimately let go as coach of the team after this incident.

Mike Babcock is definitely not someone well liked around the league, and it is highly unlikely he will ever get a coaching job in the NHL again.

Source: Blades of Steel
Former Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard shares story about Mike Babcock

Source: HockeyDB
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