New Blue Jackets head coach Mike Babcock met the media Saturday and addressed a bevy of topics, including success and structure.
Babcock said success goes up and down but it's something he's passionate about.
"Success is maximizing your group," Babcock said. "It’s helping all 23 guys get a little bit better and to believe in themselves more, so that we play organized and have fun, so that crowd can enjoy a game. So, to me, success is just getting better and being passionate about that.”
Babcock knows all about success at the NHL level. His 700 regular-season wins rank 12th all-time among coaches and his 90 playoff wins are eighth all-time. He won the 2008 Stanley Cup, has appeared in two more Stanley Cup Finals, and won two Olympic gold medals along with gold medals at the World Championship, World Cup of Hockey, and World Juniors.
The Blue Jackets are a franchise that is starving for success, having only won one playoff series and making the playoffs just six times in 22 seasons. With Babcock and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen both under contract through the 2024-25 season, Kekalainen is entrusting Babcock with leading the Blue Jackets back to the postseason, and not just to lose in the first round.
"The harder you work, the luckier you get." New #CBJ head coach Mike Babcock spoke to the media about today's NHL player and building a culture. https://t.co/ScvSPmwHOJ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) July 1, 2023
The ninth full-time head coach in team history also spoke about structure and what separates a team with it from a team without it.
"If you’re a really talented player and you want to be creative, you don’t want to be bumping into the people on your own team," Babcock said. "If we all know what we’re doing, and we don’t have to think about it, we can be way better together."
The Blue Jackets lacked structure, especially defensively, over the last two seasons, allowing a league-worst 3.82 goals per game since the start of the 2021-22 season, which is not even in the same galaxy as teams who can consider themselves playoff contenders.
"All you have to do is watch the Stanley Cup playoffs and watch organized teams that play hard, play five together," Babcock said. "They just have more success. Being organized is so important, but so is maximizing every individual here."
Babcock will look to implement his structure which will lead to on-ice success for the Blue Jackets.
