Detroit Red Wings officially hire a new head coach today
Photo credit: NHL
It was on this day in 2005 that the Red Wings hired Mike Babcock as their head coach, replacing former head coach Dave Lewis, who had succeeded Scotty Bowman.
It was exactly 20 years ago on this day in 2005 that the Red Wings hired Mike Babcock as their new head coach.
Babcock became Detroit's new bench boss, replacing Dave Lewis, who was a longtime assistant coach with Detroit and was named the successor of Scotty Bowman after his retirement.
While Lewis won nearly 100 games for the Red Wings as head coach, they won only a single postseason series, losing in a shocking 4-game sweep to Babcock's Mighty Ducks in 2003 and then losing in 6 games to the Calgary Flames the following year after a series win over the Nashville Predators.
Babcock won no less than 50 games in each of his opening 4 years with the Red Wings, which included a Stanley Cup in 2008 and 15 postseason wins the following year, falling just short of a Stanley Cup repeat against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Babcock then left in 2015 to sign a record coaching contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but that's when controversy surrounding his time in Detroit began to build about his alleged treatment of Johan Franzen.
During his time in Toronto, reports also surfaced that he may have mistreated then-rookie Mitch Marner, while also drawing controversy when he scratched Ontario native Jason Spezza in what would have been his 1st home Maple Leafs game with dozens of friends and family in attendance.
Babcock also pulled a similar move with Mike Modano in Detroit, scratching him in the last game of the year and preventing him from reaching 1,500 games played.
Babcock was hired as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets 2 years ago, but resigned without ever coaching a single game after reports surfaced that he had requested to look through the personal photo galleries on the phones of his players.
Previously on Red Wings Insider
