Home / News / Mike Babcock reportedly asked Columbus players to come into his office and show him photos from their cell phones

Mike Babcock reportedly asked Columbus players to come into his office and show him photos from their cell phones

By Chris Cerullo

 6 Comments

September 12, 2023 1:11 pm

Mike Babcock got his first NHL job this past offseason after a multi-year absence from the league caused by toxic, abusive off-ice behavior that led to his dismissal from the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019.

The Columbus Blue Jackets took the chance on Babcock perhaps learning from his prior mistakes and signed him to a two-year contract in July. If emerging reports from NHL on TNT analyst and former NHLer Paul Bissonnette are true, it’s questionable if Babcock has learned anything at all from his previous controversies.

Bissonnette said that one of the first things Babcock did in charge of Columbus was call team captain Boone Jenner into his office and ask to see the photos on his personal cell phone.

Bissonnette says he received a text message from a player about the goings on and reported the exact “findings” on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast.

“He gets to Columbus and one of the first things he does is he calls in Boone Jenner, the captain of the team, and he says let me see the photos in your phone,” Bissonnette tells Ryan Whitney. “I want to know the type of person you are.

“What the f— is going on?” Bissonnette said in response to the news. “Worry about the forecheck. Worry about your personnel. Worry about getting the power play humming. I don’t understand this.”

In a tweet from the podcast’s account, a more complete description of the accusation says that Babcock did this with multiple Blue Jackets players.

The tweet reads:

Mike Babcock has allegedly been asking various Blue Jackets to see their phones then AirPlaying their photos on his office TV.

The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline picked up the story and confirmed that the Blue Jackets are aware of the allegations and are looking into them. He adds that he has not received an official response from the team, Babcock, or Jenner.

Given the allegations, Bissonnette has been questioned about the validity of the news so he took to his X account to confirm the story at least from his end.

Babcock’s long tenure as a coach in the league has been marred by abuse of power similar to this new development. Former Red Wing Johan Franzen called Babcock “the worst person I have ever met,” confirming an allegation by former teammate Chris Chelios that Babcock had “verbally assaulted” Franzen during a playoff game.

In 2017 with the Leafs, Babcock asked then-rookie Mitch Marner to confidentially rank his teammates in order of effort before ultimately showing the list to those Marner had put at the bottom. Marner’s teammates were furious with Babcock for sharing the list and the young forward was reportedly left in tears after the incident.

Columbus is set to open their first training camp under Babcock on September 20.

Update (2:28 pm): Babcock and Jenner have now released statements through the team refuting the story.

Screenshot: Columbus Blue Jackets/YouTube

, , ,