Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in game five of preseason.
Was this a missed opportunity with camp winding down with three more games to go?
Babcock: I think the part that is missed for individuals is that you had an opportunity to be important tonight and it didn’t go for you. That makes it hard for sure. It was a tough night to evaluate players. No one really got themselves in a better spot than they started. I don’t think that helps the guys in any way.
There were emails from fans who were quite upset they paid top dollar for a non-NHL roster.
Babcock: Well, what do we do about that? Exhibition is what it is. We’ve got to play our NHL guys together. I think they want our team to be ready, right? That’s what I would say. I apologize for that, but we play eight exhibition games and we’ve got to have our team ready.
We’re going to have two NHL games here coming up. We are going to do the best we can that way. Montreal might be kind enough next year to let us have the game in our building. We played the game in Detroit last year. They are playing the game in our building on Friday.
The difference is that this was one of the designated season ticket holder games that they had to buy, as opposed to the other preseason game where you played a more representative roster that they didn’t have to buy. People paying good dollars might look at it and say we got cheated.
Babcock: I don’t know what to say. You’d have to talk to someone else in the organization about that. I am getting the team ready and doing what I can to pick the team. I am not spending one second on this.
You do the home and home with Montreal and Detroit. Do you talk with Claude Julien and Jeff Blashill about what you’re going to do?
Babcock: Well, they want the same thing — they want an NHL game. If you go there and you have an NHL roster and they don’t, what do you think happens to the game? Zero. Nothing. You get nothing out of the game.
I get the fans in the short term. You know what the fans want us to do [at the end of the year?]?
In a game as scrambly as this, how much use is there in assessing the type of netminding that you got?
Babcock: You get paid to stop the puck, too, right? So…
Does waiver status come into play when you’re making a decision on the goaltenders?
Babcock: I think everything comes into play when you are making decisions on your players. The beauty of it is if time is on your side, we don’t have to make a decision right now, so we’re not going to make one. We’re just going to keep watching them and keep watching them.
Tonight was an opportunity. You come here tonight, and what I wanted to see, I didn’t see any of it. You are hoping someone grabs a hold of something and just makes it so obvious you don’t have any decisions to make. That is what is supposed to happen. No decisions have to be made. Tonight is just… I mean, you guys were at the game. You didn’t see anything. It was nothing. The puck just went in the net and the game was over.
