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For a team with the Detroit Red Wings' glittering recent history (five trips now to the Stanley Cup finals in 13 years), Mike Babcock has actually been there more recently than the team he's currently coaching.
Babcock advanced to the 2003 final with an underdog Anaheim Ducks' team that rode J.S. Giguere's goaltending to a stunning upset of the Red Wings in that year's opening playoff round.
The Stanley Cup championship came down to a seventh game, on the road, and one of Babcock's current players, defenceman Brian Rafalski, was playing for the opposing team, the New Jersey Devils.
Babcock told Rafalski recently that early on in Game 7, with the game scoreless after the first period, he legitimately thought they were going to "win for sure. We got through the first, everything is good. We didn't. We ended up losing.
"At that time Pat Burns was the coach of the other team. I remember looking over at him and thinking, 'He deserves it more than me anyway. He's been here longer, done more good things.'
"I believe the trophy is so special, I think it should come on an as‑earned basis."
The Red Wings earned their right to play the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 2008 Stanley Cup by defeating the Dallas Stars in the sixth game of the Western Conference on Monday night. It sets up an intriguing match-up, on many levels, including behind the bench where Babcock, in his third year at the Red Wings' helm, will face the Penguins' Michel Therrien. Both coaches paid their minor-league dues before moving to the NHL. In Babcock's case, he spent two seasons coaching in the AHL for Cincinnati at a time when the operation was shared by the Ducks and Red Wings.
After his second year in Anaheim, the Ducks missed the playoffs. Then came the 2004-05 NHL lockout and a managerial switch in Anaheim, with Brian Burke going in as general manager to replace Bryan Murray. After debating what to do with the holdover coaching staff, Burke offered Babcock just a modest one-year extension, on the grounds that a short-term contract would give the two a chance to get to know one another.
Instead, Babcock turned him down and signed with the Red Wings, where he's led the team to three consecutive 50-plus victory seasons, plus 24 playoff wins. The only real stumble came in the first post-lockout season when they won the President's Trophy, but lost in six games in the opening round to the Edmonton Oilers, a year in which his star centre, Pavel Datsyuk was, according to Babcock, playing on one leg.
However, Babcock is realistic enough to know that all the preparation in the world can be undermined by injuries, a hot goaltender, a bad call or just plain dumb luck. So he is not taking this opportunity to win for granted.
On the contrary, Babcock noted how fortunate he was to qualify for three conference finals and two Stanley Cup finals in his first five years of NHL coaching.
"That means you coach really good players and have good people around you," said Babcock. "People that haven't been in it don't understand that the Stanley Cup playoffs are totally different than the finals, in my opinion. The finals, there's so much more excitement and energy. You're living your dream - that's for all the players."
Coaches too.
Babcock will be far better prepared this time around to defence the Penguins' star tandem of Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby than he was in last year's third-round loss to the Ducks. He can deploy Rafalski and team captain Nicklas Lidstrom against one unit; and the pair of Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart against the other. Last year, Kronwall was injured and Stuart was playing for Calgary, leaving the Red Wings desperately short on the blue line. Having a second shutdown defence pair is more than just a luxury against the potent Penguins' attack; it means Babcock won't constantly be shuffling players on and off the ice to get the match-ups he wants.
The Red Wings were the No. 1 defensive team in the regular season and are tops again in the post-season, something that Lidstrom says is an underrated part of their make-up.
"We're a tough team to play against," said Lidstrom. "By that I mean we keep teams on the outside. We don't give them a whole lot of chances in the slot, trade chances with the team. I thought we played well through the neutral zone, in our own end.
"That's something we've worked on since training camp, having a middle drive hard to their net, but when they're coming back hard, pushing them to the outside, eliminating their shots. You know, we've been able to do that pretty much throughout the whole playoffs here."
The Penguins will represent a unique test, but not an insurmountable one.
"They are obviously a very talented team - young guys that can really play, active back end, good goaltending, big body in the net," said Babcock. "Crosby and Malkin are names everyone talks about. To me, they've added (Marian) Hossa, a great two‑way player that can score. (Ryan) Malone's a huge body and can really play. (Jordan) Staal scored 23 goals or something the first year in the league — a shorthanded threat, big body. To me they're very talented, very deep.
"It's going to be a lot of fun."
