“Even if the intention was good”

– Even if the intention was good, the idea of ​​looking at pictures from someone else’s phone was perhaps a bit stupid, because nowadays everything leaks out.

Thus Mike Babcock’s Iltalehti’s ice hockey expert states about the actions Pekka Virta.

And it really was a stupid idea. The actions of the champion coach hired in July quickly became public, after which Columbus announced Babcock’s resignation on Sunday evening.

The departure was certainly helped by Babcock’s questionable history as a human leader. Former players have said that he was “a bully and a terrible person”.

Despite this, the GM of Columbus Jarmo Kekäläinen wanted a fighter pilot for the Blue Jackets.

– Maybe it was a bit naive to think that Babcock’s past would have been swept under the rug, and things would not come up again, Virta reflects.

He still also understands Kekäläis and Columbus.

– In recent years, Columbus has received quite a lot of criticism regarding the way they play and coaching matters. There was certainly an idea to take a step forward on the sports side.

– Babcock is a big name, and it hasn’t been an impossibly long time since he was a hot coach in the NHL. He was supposed to be a household name on the hockey side.

The imagination lives on

Everyone who follows NHL hockey certainly has a certain image of Babcock, although few actually know the man.

However, the image is so strong that Babcock should have been on his toes all the time to avoid commotion. The man probably didn’t even try this.

– A person cannot do his job well if he tries to be something other than what he really is, Virta knows.

Although Babcock is only 60 years old, he is hardly seen in the NHL anymore.

– Babcock may feel that he didn’t do anything wrong. And that whatever she does, it will be turned against the man. It could be that he doesn’t want to experience this again and has actually made the decision to leave himself, Virta reflects.

Babcock has won the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, World Cup gold and under-20 World Cup gold. He was considered the best coach in the world in the early 2000s.

The downward spiral began in November 2019 when he was fired from Toronto due to his questionable antics. Now the man was returning to the NHL after a four-year hiatus.

– I don’t think that the return was just about further success. Babcock certainly wanted to repair what image he had left. Now it went from the ditch to the spring.

Culture change

Tactically smart, Babcock might still be a top coach if he had been able to change his coaching methods to suit the spirit of the times.

– Those days are over when the dressing room was sacred, and those things were not talked about outside, Virta reminds.

Because of this, social media in particular has been poison for the likes of Babcock old school – for coaches.

– If a coach’s job has always been quite insecure, it has not improved in any way at least now that the demands are getting tougher all the time, thanks to the media and social media.

However, Virta in no way criticizes the media or social media, because at the top level hockey is a media sport that lives on publicity. You just have to know how to handle it correctly.

– You have to understand the change, where we are going. It’s about transformation. No matter how sincere you try to be, you have to think carefully about how you say things. The downside to this is that it can take away the creativity and courage of the people performing it.

The story continues after the picture.

VPK man

Last season’s Columbus assistant coach will step into Babcock’s head coaching shoes Pascal Vincent51.

– He is a bit like a VPK man, Virta describes.

Nobody expects miracles from Vincent. Basically, he only has something to win. The man gets to show his talent in an almost pressure-free situation.

– He now has everyone’s support behind him. If Vincent can create a positive story, this is a big opportunity for his career.

However, it is not easy to fill the boots of the charismatic Babcock. That’s why it’s important for Vincent to appear believable in front of his players, especially at first.

– Even if you don’t always know what to do, the coach has to look like he knows damn well where we are going. This is how the world has always been run.

AHL booklet

When Vincent stood behind the bench in Columbus last season in the role of an assistant, the team’s game was a terrible mess. The Blue Jackets were the second worst team in the series.

However, according to Virra, this does not mean that the same style of play will continue next season.

– Even though coaching is a collaboration, the game always looks like the head coach. The assistant coach always modifies the game according to the will of the head coach. It’s not like the assistant coach would turn the head coach’s head.

According to Virra, every head coach must have his own playbook and videos ready.

– You can’t imitate the previous head coach’s style of play. It doesn’t go like making bun dough, that you look in the guidebook to see what you should do in such a situation. Players will see right away if you try to coach someone else with the playbook.

Before joining Columbus, Vincent was the head coach of the AHL club Manitoba Moose for five years. Virta believes that he will bring his own spices to the Ohioans’ game.

– He certainly has his own AHL notebook with him. We’re probably going to see things that we wouldn’t have seen in Babcock’s game and that we didn’t see last season. That makes Columbus an interesting team.