Olympic Week

After months of speculation, Canada's Olympic team will finally start to take shape this week.

It will begin with the naming of Mike Babcock as head coach tomorrow or Wednesday, or at least, the expected naming of Babcock. Some will point to Detroit's Game 7 loss to Pittsburgh as reason enough to question Babcock's viability in this position, or the fact that he's lost two of three Stanley Cup finals as a coach, both in Game 7 situations.

The Olympics, obviously, include a short tournament with one or two big games. So you want a big game guy.

That said, that would be about the only speck on Babcock's otherwise terrific record. There is no obvious better candidate, although you could argue that if life were fair this would be Ken Hitchcock's turn to run Team Canada.

Having Babcock behind the bench sending out the likes of Sidney Crosby and Ryan Getzlaf, of course, will be an intriguing sight given the rivalries with Pittsburgh and Anaheim, respectively.

There will be suggestions, as there always are, that Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman, a Red Wings executive, is "feathering his own nest" by picking Babcock to coach the team. But the controversy would be much greater if Yzerman didn't pick Babcock, thus preferring the coach of another club to Detroit's own.

The only other meaningful candidate is probably Brent Sutter, soon to sign on as Calgary's new head coach as part of a Flames' organization now thoroughly infested with Sutters from top to bottom.

But given Sutter's lack of NHL success so far, at least in the post-season, he would be an unlikely choice.

So Babcock should be the man this week, followed by a list of 40-plus players next week expected to be invited to the club's orientation camp in August. That is where you're likely to see more surprises that would be expected this week with the naming of a head coach.

Comments

[Stephen]

Arguably, Canada's most successful coaches internationally regarding NHL-player-populated tournaments have been Mike Keenan and Pat Quinn. Babcock betters them... combined... in terms of both Cups won and playoff record.

While I agree that Hitchcock probably deserves to be in the conversation, he's hurt himself by coaching in a low-profile market. He's done a good job with the Jackets, but it's unfortunately too low-profile.

And I like the fact that Babcock has intimate knowledge of Team Sweeden, who just happen to be the Olympic champions, as well as the type of game that is needed to win in a tournament like this since that's exactly what the Red Wings play day in and day out. Sutter would be a horrifically bad call, because he isn't very progressive as a coach.

[jboy]

Holy crap, here we go - this foolish 6-8 months of who is going to be on the Olympic team.

It's going to be 25 of Canada's best. Can't we just leave it at that until at least November/December.

But no, every Canadian sports writer will have to submit their lineups over and over again, speculating on who is going to player where, and on what line yada yada,,,,,,,,,which coach is going to be the X and O's guy, which one is Captain Video,,,

Who cares????!!!!It's only June 22.

[SPYWIZARD]

Pat Quinn for coach gets my nod.

[mark]

Can't see how anyone would categorize this as controversial. Babcock is a fantastic coach. Unlike many hockey pundits, I believe that the Red Wings are actually over achievers. They have a mediocre goal tender, a blue line that is aging and not blessed with great speed, yet they continue to be one of the elite defensive teams in the NHL year after year. They have a lot of guys who have been very late round picks but who have bought into the Red Wing system and have thrived. That happens when you have excellent coaching... not by accident.

[Carlo A]

Nash, Thornton, Getzlav, Perry, Crosby, Staal (both), Iginla, Toews, Heatley.. A very young set of forwards; Thornton, Heatley, Iginla look like grand fathers.. Canada will have a lot of balanced fire power, but Russia will be scary !! I hope the best of each country CAN show up, no injuries..

[Ray]

Ummm let's see, how hard is it to be one of the best defensive teams in the league when all your team does is trap? The NHL wants a more offensive game? Ban the trap. The Wings were exposed when they were down and couldn't trap the Pens to death. Look up boring hockey and you'll see a picture of the Wings.

[Dan]

First anyone who thinks Pogge is an asset should get there head examined he has been terrible in the minors and his few stints in the NHL he just doesn't challenge anyone let alone himself. But I think TBay could be interested in moving some of there more expensive contracts like Malone and I think one or two other ones so the Leafs could acquire the second pick included in that exchange would be Kaberle and maybe 2 second round picks.TBay doesn't have the cash to have Stamkos and Tavarez let alone the guys they have now. They made a number of contractual mistakes that they are looking to purge and they have already done that when the Leafs traded for draft picks to take on lame contracts that will expire in July. Burke will purge the team of Stempniak, Ponikarovsky, Blake, Stralman, Kubina, Kaberle, Grabovski. Forget about packages because people they only exist in talk and blog they don't exist in the practicality of the business of hockey. Those players account for over 20 million dollars some will be traded for draft picks, some for prospects, some for roster players and yet others will be waived. That opens up the doors to sign Neil, May, Marchant, on the bottom six forwards the Sedins and Camilleri on the top 6 with Gustavsson likely being inkied in the immeadiate future. This team will nasty tough and pugnastic and for all those pansies in Toronto who think body checking is too violent get your kids into figure skating.