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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 23, 2009

Mike Babcock

DAVID KEON: We are now joined by Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock who is starting his fifth season behind the Red Wings bench. Detroit hosts Toronto Friday, meet the leafs in Toronto Saturday, and host the defending Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday afternoon at the Joe Louis. They will then travel to Sweden where they'll meet **Firestat on Wednesday in a final exhibition game. They prepare to open the regular season with back to games against St. Louis. The 2009 NHL premier Stockholm on October 2nd and 3rd. Thanks to Mike for joining us to answer your questions. Operator, we'll open it up now.

Q. I wondered, with you guys going over to Europe and the compressed season with the Olympics and all the players that you might have participating in Vancouver, and you and Kenny Holland and Steve Yzerman, can you forecast or predict what kind of effect it might have and how you guard against all of the extracurricular activities this year?

MIKE BABCOCK: To tell you the truth, I gave the guys off today just because we're in a situation where we've really tried to divide our roster for the exhibition schedule. We haven't played a strong roster one time just because of too much play. And then, you know, I really believe as a coach going into this year's season in the NHL, depth is going to be key. I can't be playing Zetterberg and Datsyuk 22 minutes a night. I'm going to have to play them 18 minutes a night.
In order to do that, that means Filppula has to play 16, and Helms has got to play 10 or whatever. That's got to be a four?line rotation. If we put them all in one group, I think we're going to be in trouble, because injuries just have to rack up. You can't continue to play that amount of hockey and ask your guys to play as hard with this kind of schedule. There is no question this trip overseas, our guys are going to be really excited to go, no question about it. Our Swedes are going to be pumped up. I think it's a great opportunity for Nick Lidstrom who is one of the greatest players of all time, as the captain of the Red Wings, four time Stanley Cup champion, six time Norris Trophy Award winner, to take his team and go to Sweden and to say that when we get home we'll be fatigued. There is no question with that.

Q. Will you feel stretched with your duties with the Olympic team?
MIKE BABCOCK: The good thing about my duties with the Olympic program is I'm not going to do anything different. What I mean is I was going to be watching hockey every night of the week anyway. That's what I like to do. Now I've paid attention ?? or if we would have played better, I would have more so. But Richards and Carter last night and Gagner, for example, you note them because they might have an opportunity to play on the Olympic team. So I think you go about your business that way.
As far as our preparation as an Olympic staff, I thought our coaches really bared down, Jacques, Ken and Lindy and myself this summer did a ton of work, so that our work's done as far as foundation building. Going in, we know what program we're going to have. We know what we're going to do. So I don't see that being a big issue. Obviously, I'm not going to go somewhere and hang out in the sun for two weeks. I'm going to have the opportunity of a lifetime instead.

Q. I really enjoyed last year during the playoffs listening to you speak with such passion about your team playing for the people in your city and in your state, going through troubled times and that. I'm wondering now as you start a new season, whether there is any new source of inspiration for you personally this year?
MIKE BABCOCK: You know, it was interesting. It was an unbelievable summer for me personally. I wouldn't have thought this going in. But I think sometimes as a coach, when you get fired, what you do is you get time away from the game. You get reenergized and evaluate who you are. You try to get better for your next opportunity.
What happened for me this summer being involved in the Olympic program, being around Jacque Lemaire, Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock, getting prepared to present to them the first time at the coaches camp. Then gathering all their information at that camp and having our evaluation camp was a real energizer for me.
What I mean by that is you are stretched. You were hit with a bunch of new ideas. So I thought that was a fantastic summer. And that motivates you in itself.
As far as our team goes, the other thing that's going to be interesting for us is change. Seven players on on our roster, for sure, are going to be new. So any time you've changed seven players or a third of your roster, you've got to embrace that. It's going to be exciting.
It was the same after the lockout. We had lots of changes in Detroit. We're going to have that this year. Now we've got to develop into a real good team so we can contend again.

Q. Can you sort of address had you won that last game last year, would you be looking at camp any differently this year in terms of your veteran players? You mentioned you were going to have seven new guys. But might the focus have changed? Were you looking at change in a general sense to start with?
MIKE BABCOCK: We were looking at that anyway. But I think the biggest difference when you win versus when you don't win that game is the fact that you're much more exhausted, I think, when you win. Now that's just my experience. That doesn't mean that's true. But I just know for a fact that the parties at my lake place didn't go on day and night for months on end. People actually left. Some people didn't even drop by, which was kind of nice.
My point being is it's just a party magnet. You want to celebrate it with everybody, and you want to share it with everyone. And it's been the greatest ride of your life. I don't doubt Pittsburgh did that. They can tell you anything they want. I did it last year.
I told my players we were not tired I told them all year, yet I knew we were exhausted. My point being is the emotional well is only so deep. You've got to recharge that. I'm optimistic we've had that opportunity.

Q. Couple of house cleaning questions. I'm wondering what does Helms' shoulder injury do to your opening night lineup or what not? Who jumps in? Who bumps around? What kind of force are you going to be bringing over there as a result?
MIKE BABCOCK: Real good question. One I'm going to find out myself. I'm going to sit down with Kenny Holland, and I'm hoping tomorrow ?? you find this hard to believe. Kenny and I talk every day, we haven't talked about our roster once since training camp started. The fact that so much of it is already defined, but the battles are just taking place. We play so many exhibition games. What happens in Detroit is it just separates.
We go into Philadelphia last night with about a quarter of a lineup, and they've got their real team. It's pretty evident very quickly some guys can't play. So that process just continues. We've got three games in three nights here on the weekend, so we're going to play a lot of people that probably won't be on our team.
So guys who might play on a line with two good players, have had to play more with players of their own class. If you can't survive that, you're not going to make the club.
So who is on our team? I don't know the answer to that. How much is it going to be financial? Are the best players going to start the year? Is the tie going to go to the veteran like it always does in Detroit? Those are questions that we're going to answer here in the next few days.

Q. When you go to Sweden, you're in one place for a week. I know you make the train trip to **Karlstad for the game. But it's one hotel room. It's no one country type of thing. How important is that for this team for you to have the continuity that when you get over there you can continue camp as you would normally and build right into the season?
MIKE BABCOCK: It's going to be the best part of our camp. Normally what happens with our team, is I lived in a fantasy world when I first got to Detroit. I said to Kenny Holland we're only going to play this many exhibition games. He said no we're not. We're going to play nine or ten whatever we played.
Then I thought we'll get this full roster together, get our power play together our penalty kill together. But guys are worn out. You can't do that either. That's not going to happen here. But it's going to happen over there. We'll get a couple practices together. We'll get an exhibition game and have all NHL players playing together. That part of it. If you could take the travel out of this situation, this would be the best thing that could happen to us.

Q. I know you mentioned the time spent with the coaches this summer. What were some of the things you learned about Lindy Ross as both a coach and a person during that time?
MIKE BABCOCK: I'm a big fan of Lindy's. I think Lindy is one of the best coaches in the league. The reason I believe that is he's a great person. He gets a lot out of the players he has. I think he sees the game a lot like I do in the fact that his foot's on the gas. He wants it to be played, pressure game. He wants his guys to jump in on offense.
They've got a great goaltender in Miller that they can rely on. But I think he's done a good job, plus they've had significant player change where quality players have left their program. And I really enjoyed being around them, and we've had had some good laughs.

Q. You've got a couple games coming up with the Leafs. Are you interested in seeing the changes they've made and they've obviously toughened up. That's not Detroit's game, and in terms of fighting in that. We're always looking forward to those games.
MIKE BABCOCK: We're always looking forward to those games. To be honest with you, I wish these games were spread out. We're going to play a full roster, and they're going to play a full roster. That's just not the reality. In saying that, two?part question. Address their toughness. I mean, we play against lots of tough teams. If they're looking to scrap, they've got to go somewhere else. That's not happening here.
Second part is they've obviously really improved their team. I think it's really important for the Toronto Maple Leafs to have a good franchise. I think all the original six franchises, the healthier they are, the better it is for the league. Obviously, Toronto, Montreal, these places really sell the NHL. And I think that's really important that they're strong. It's great that Burkey and Ron are doing a good job, and they've acquired good players and they're going in the right direction.

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