Mike Babcock

Mike Babcock (born April 29, 1963) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former player.

He spent parts of eighteen seasons as a professional and head coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Babcock played for the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1980–81, and spent a season with the WHL Kelowna Wings in 1982–83.

In between, he played a year under Dave King at the University of Saskatchewan, and after Kelowna he transferred to McGill University to play for coach Ken Tyler.

Over four seasons from 1983–84 to 1986–87, he was a two-time all-star defenceman, served as captain, and also won the Bobby Bell trophy as team MVP.

While at McGill, Babcock joined the Tau Alpha chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

In September 1985, Babcock also attended the Vancouver Canucks NHL training camp, and played one exhibition game with the team.

Babcock graduated from McGill in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in physical education, and also did some post-graduate work in sports psychology.

In 146 career games with the Redmen, he tallied 22 goals and 85 assists for a total of 107 points and 301 penalty minutes, graduating as the second-highest scoring defenceman in McGill history.

After his time at McGill, Babcock moved to the United Kingdom in 1987 as a player-coach for Whitley Warriors.

The team missed out on the league title by two points.

In 49 games, he contributed 45 goals and 127 assists, and accumulated 123 penalty minutes.

Babcock is one of four McGill University players to coach an NHL team, joining Lester Patrick with the New York Rangers, George Burnett with the Edmonton Oilers, and Guy Boucher with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators.

Babcock has had a distinguished coaching career, coaching continuously from 1987 to 2019, including from 2002 to 2019 in the NHL.

In 1988, Babcock was appointed head coach at Red Deer College in Alberta.

He spent three seasons at the school, winning the provincial collegiate championship and earning coach-of-the-year honours in 1989.

During his first coaching tenure from 1991 to 2019, Babcock's teams missed the post-season only four times.

Babcock moved to the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1991, where he guided the Moose Jaw Warriors for a two-year term.

Babcock was fired by the team in 1993 after missing the playoffs and nearly left coaching when he accepted a job in business consulting; however, he was then offered the head coaching position at the University of Lethbridge, and decided to accept.

Babcock coached the struggling Lethbridge Pronghorns and helped turn the program around.

He earned Canada West coach-of-the-year honours in 1993–94 after guiding Lethbridge to their first-ever appearance in post-season play with a 34–11–3 overall mark and a national CIS Cup title after defeating the Guelph Gryphons 5–2 in the championship final.

In 1994, Babcock was appointed head coach of the WHL's Spokane Chiefs, with whom he posted a regular-season record of 224–172–29 over six seasons for a .564 winning percentage.

He was twice named as the West Division coach of the year, in 1995–1996 and 1999–2000.

The team advanced to the final round of the playoffs in 1995–96, a series they lost 4–1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The team also participated in the 1998 Memorial Cup by virtue of hosting the tournament; Spokane lost in the semi-final against the Guelph Storm, 2–1 in overtime.

From 2000–01 to 2001–02, Babcock guided the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks to a 74–59–20–7 record, including a franchise-high 41 wins and 95 points.

The team qualified for the playoffs both years.

He began as head coach of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, whom he led to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.

In 2005, Babcock signed with the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup with them in 2008, and helping them to the Stanley Cup playoffs every year during his tenure, becoming the winningest coach in Red Wings history.

He guided the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup in 2008; he led Team Canada to gold at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in 2004; and he led Team Canada to gold at both the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Babcock is the only coach to win six distinct national or international titles.

In 2008, Babcock became the second McGill hockey player to coach a Stanley Cup winner after Patrick.

On November 25, 2013, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) by McGill University.

In 2015, he left Detroit to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs, a position he held until he was fired in 2019.

In 2023, he attempted a return to the NHL as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets; however, he resigned before the beginning of the 2023–24 season, without coaching a game, amidst investigations into allegations of misconduct.

Babcock was born in Manitouwadge, Ontario, and grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

As of March 2024, he is the only coach to gain entry to the Triple Gold Club (Stanley Cup title, IIHF World Championship title, and Olympic gold medal in men's ice hockey).

In addition to the three distinct titles described above, he guided Canada to gold at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, to gold at the IIHF World Junior Championships in 1997, and the University of Lethbridge to the CIS University Cup in 1994.

On June 2, 2016, Babcock was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) by the University of Saskatchewan.

When he was fired by the Maple Leafs in 2019, he had amassed an NHL coaching record of 700-418-164-19, with his 700 wins currently placing him 12th all-time in coaching wins, as of 2023.