Canada’s management team felt Mike Babcock gave them the best chance to win the return of the World Cup.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
When the Colorado Avalanche fired Joel Quenneville in 2008, Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock invited him to join his staff as an assistant.
While that didn't work out, Babcock and Quenneville will now be working together on Canada's World Cup of Hockey team. Babcock is back as the head coach after winning back-to-back Olympic gold, but not without the management group giving strong consideration to hiring Quenneville.
"It was a two-horse race for me," Canadian general manager Doug Armstrong said Thursday. "I wasn't torn on the final decision, but I thought we had to give Joel Quenneville the opportunity for us to discuss him. You just can't get past three Stanley Cups in six years. What excites me is having both guys on the staff."
Babcock has never lost with Canada in international competition, winning gold at the 1997 world junior championships, 2004 world championships and then the 2010 and 2014 Olympics. Hockey Canada president and CEO Tom Renney called Babcock's international excellence the "tipping point."
The current Toronto Maple Leafs coach also won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2008. Of course it was his coaching in Vancouver and Sochi that earned him another chance at the World Cup.
"I believe in hockey, I believe in the game, I believe in Canada, and I think it's important that we continue to do everything we can to stay on top and so I like being part of it," Babcock said. "When they asked me, obviously I was thrilled. The number of guys they could have asked, when they asked me, I was thrilled to have the opportunity and to have the challenge and the challenge is exciting."
Joining Babcock and Quenneville in undertaking this challenge are assistants Claude Julien of the Boston Bruins, Barry Trotz of the Washington Capitals and Bill Peters of the Carolina Hurricanes. Julien is back from Babcock's staff in Sochi, while Quenneville, Trotz and Peters are newcomers.
Quenneville will run Canada's defence, Trotz and Julien will focus on special teams and Peters will be in charge of prescouting like Ralph Krueger was at the Olympics.
"[Babcock has] worked with some of these guys in the past, obviously, and everyone probably brings a little bit of something different to the table," Peters said by phone. "I think it's a very good group, it's a diverse group and it's a group that obviously he feels he can put together, work with in order to end up with what we want to end up with and that's to win the World Cup."
Armstrong and the rest of Canada's management team felt Babcock gave them the best chance to win the return of the World Cup, which takes place from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 in Toronto. It's an eight-team tournament involving Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Team Europe and the 23-and-under Team North America.
When considering his options, Armstrong knew he couldn't appoint Quenneville coach and have Babcock as the assistant. But the St. Louis Blues GM believes this arrangement will pay dividends for Team Canada.
"When I talked to Joel about the process, he was very understanding of the situation we were in," Armstrong said. "And he just said, 'I'd like to be part of Team Canada in any fashion,' which made this that much easier to do."
Babcock was "the logical choice," Armstrong said, because of the past two Olympics. Beyond that, Armstrong spoke with players from those gold-medal teams and they raved about Babcock's smart game plan and ability to implement it quickly.
"Mike has the ability to be able to bring a group together quickly," Armstrong said. "His record obviously speaks for itself."
Armstrong gave Babcock an opportunity to say no because of the large undertaking going on with the Maple Leafs. But the 52-year-old from Saskatoon wasn't turning this down.
"This is something I'm excited about for the opportunity," Babcock said. "It's easy to say, 'I'm not going this time, I've done it.' But to me, any time you get to represent your country, why wouldn't you?"