Mike Babcock will not talk contract during season with Red Wings
We don’t want to say Mike Babcock has leverage with the Detroit Red Wings, but we understand his initial offer on a contract extension is everything they asked for in “Armegeddon”, a baby dinosaur and that no one in the franchise smiles for the next five seasons.
Assuming that’s rejected, the two sides will get down on a new deal for arguably the NHL’s best coach* as he enters the last season of his contract. But Babcock made it clear on Monday, via the Detroit Free Press, that those talks can happen before the season and then again in the spring, but not during the 2014-15 season.
"We get it done by fall, or I won't bother. I'm not doing it during the season,” he told the paper.
Helene St. James of the Free Press indicates that Holland and Babcock will talk in September about both of their deals, as Holland has one more year and an option on his contract. From St. James:
There's no doubt that Babcock — a Stanley Cup champion and Olympic champion — would get snapped up in a second if he were to be free next summer (hello, Toronto). But he has a great situation in Detroit, and a pay raise from the $2 million he currently makes could well mean many more work anniversaries.
The upcoming season will be Babcock’s 10th with the Wings.
(*to never actually win the award they give to the best coach.)
