The Mike Babcock era in Detroit is over.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Toronto Maple Leafs simply offered the Red Wings head coach an offer he couldn’t refuse, which was a reported 8-year deal worth an estimated $50M.
Sources say Mike Babcock has been hired by the Maple Leafs. Mammoth 8 yr contract believed to be around $50 million.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 20, 2015
The deal effectively makes Mike Babcock by far the highest paid head coach in NHL history.
The move ends a crazy 48 hours of speculation surrounding the Stanley Cup winning head coach that pretty much had him tabbed for Buffalo up until this morning. Reports yesterday had the Sabres offering Babcock $5M with the Red Wings first offering $3.5M then increasing their offer to $4M.
Babcock, who’s arguably been considered the best coach in the League will given the hefty task of turning around a Maple Leafs organization that quite frankly has been a mess from top to bottom. Meanwhile in Detroit, the Wings will presumably promote Grand Rapids head coach (the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate) Jeff Blashill to the NHL as their new head guy behind the bench. That however hasn’t been confirmed.
A press conference has reportedly been scheduled for 11AM tomorrow at the Air Canada Centre to introduce Babcock to the Toronto media.