I don’t even know where to start w/ Baby McChucky…. geez….

The interviewer should have said “don’t you think you screwed yourself when you broke your first contract?”

wheres the
“how do you plan to improve upon your dismal playoff performance”

You guys are brutal. Does anyone seriously believe he is only worth $1 million?

This is so odd to have this kind of discussion when he has no contract. Can you imagine Ruutu personally announcing his expectations and declaring who is courting him (without the agent acting as go-between, saying nothing with tired cliches)? Or if we’d had this discussion with Erik Cole around 1pm on July 1 or Rosey a couple days later when he was sitting around the living room with his fiance waiting for the Canes to call?

There is something “off” here and for me, that is the crux of the problem. It may be language or cultural issues, but he just marches to the beat of a different drum as far as how he handles his off-ice (career) decisions, and that doesn’t help my ability to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Isn’t JR required to offer him at least 10% above last year’s salary? Did he do that?

i think we make a big mistake if we let babs go
He’ll go somewhere and put up big numbers at a very reasonable price. I mean jeez, how do you offer him no raise? What kinda slap in the face is that?

Yes, i did. I think i deserve better than that. and i am ready to argue my point of view. Look at my statistics. I am 4th d-man in NHL in scored goals and best in Carolina. I am best defenseman in Carolina in “+/-”. I don’t know why management didn’t take all this in consideration.

I don’t know why you didn’t take THIS into consideration, Babchuk: YOU ran away to Russia. YOU forfeited your arbitration rights. This is the way the financial system works in the NHL. If you don’t like it, I’m sure they’ll take you back home.

Also, the notion that simply giving him more ice time improved his play is ridiculous. It’s just that Maurice, unlike Lavi, is willing to force forwards to cover for deficient defensemen like him.

- Would you consider continuation of your career in Russia?
—Nothing can be ruled out.. But honestly, I would like to continue his career in the NHL In doing so, I will insist that a minimum term of my future contract is three years. If I return at this time in Russia, the losers remain "Carolina"; in two years I’m 27 years old and I’ll be a full free agent. Thus, "Hurricanes" will not receive any compensation for my next move to another NHL club. Therefore, for now "Carolina"’s best option if they are not ready to raise my salary is just to trade me.

- You, like most of your colleagues did not notice the effects of the financial crisis in America?
At least in the restaurants all the time people were eating and they were full. I was surprised to read in Russian press that NHL attendance had fallen. How then could the league have beaten last year’s reord attendance? But a family trip for one game NHL is costly. Still, out of 30 teams only 3-4 – such as "Atlanta", "Florida", "Phoenix" – did not get sellouts. And there is not in financial crisis here, it depends on the geographic location of teams – it is too southern city.

— In Russia, real estate prices fell. Have apartments for rent in Carolina also gotten cheaper?
— No. I Rent a small three-room apartment with furniture and parking. I pay $ 2800 a month in rent. A couple of years ago, the same apartment rented for $ 2200. Raleigh is a small town, the price of housing rent moderate. In New York, for the same apartment would have to pay five times as much. But the discount cannot be credited to the economy.

— After a successful second half for you championship, do you hope that your statistics will interest Coaches Team Russia?
— I am already accustomed to look philosophically at these kinds of things If I am called now or in the future to play, I will be be pleased to come. And if I don’t get the call, I’ll be just as happy to go to relax. So far though, no one has contacted me. At the end of a tense for season in Carolina, I went with my girlfriend Natasha to Greece. We have started to prepare for the future potihonechku (???) season. I’m headed to the gym.

Dude seems WAY out of touch.

I liked Babs to, but lets face it: the guy isn’t coming back. We don’t need a guy who whines about not being paid top two money when, like everyone said on here, all he is is a one trick PP pony.

I would rather pay Mathieu Schneider 1.5 to 2 mil a year than pay Babs that same amount of money. Schneider is proven, while Babs could stab Carolina in the back and run away after his paycheck back to Russia. After all the guy has done, it wouldn’t surprise me to see that happen.

Obviously there’s a lot of hurt feelings, indignation, stubborness and vitriol (at least from a few of the posters here) involved on all sides in this situation.

Babs thinks he deserves a raise based on his performance on the ice, and he is probably right (if said performance was considered in a vacuum, which unfortunately it is not). IF he WERE eligible for arbitration you can bet he would get a fat raise, but that would be one nasty arbitration hearing, OF COURSE he gave up those arbitration rights by sulking off to Russia for a year (ironically the ice time he got playing in Russia probably helped him develop more, at least from a confidence perspective, than being the 7th or 8th d-man at the time in the NHL or a year in Albany), and now Rutherford and the Canes are using their leverage to low ball him in the interest of keeping their budget in check. As is their right, and to a point a savy business move. For the short term. But looking at the long term, should Babchuk come back into the fold and be forced to play at (what he sees at least) a low ball rate, and should he continue to develop his game on the ice, you can bet he will be in a hurry to hit the road for greener pastures as soon as possible as a free agent. There would be to much choppy water under the bridge at that point from both sides (if not already).

Plus, my take from the interview (and we should all remember that the interview was done in Russian, and context can sometimes be lost in translation, not only in the answers, but also in the questions, no matter how good the translation may be), it was not so much the low-ball $$ offer that was the problem but the fact that it was only a 1 year deal. My sense is that Babs would be willing to take a bit less money (a smaller raise) for a longer term deal (3 years). But maybe I’m missing something in translation there myself? I’m always wary of translations, especially on verbs like “ask” and “demand”.

And sure, perhaps there’s a good bit of immaturity (still) on Babchuk’s part as well – you just do not give this sort of interview in this sort of situation, unless you are Keith Primeau. Of course, he might have not even considered that this particular story would be translated for the purpose of blog conversation by Hurricanes fans. Who knows? And I’m sure he is well aware of the hard line stance and less that flattering things coming from the Cane’s end as well. Either way, not a smart move on his part. Just makes him seem impetuous.

Bottom line: Babchuck’s play on the ice this past season showed great improvement, in both zones.

While he is still prone to mistakes from time to time (who isn’t on this d-corp), and needs to work on his overall positioning to make up for his lack of foot speed, I think any neutral observer would say that his defensive zone play improved by leaps and bounds this past season. He showed improvement. Which is why he was getting top 4 shifts and ice time. Will he ever be a shut-down defenseman in this league? No. That is not his game. But he made great strides in Paul Maurice’s “team defense” system, which helps cover for the mistakes so that a player can play with confidence and not in a shell of “I’d better not fuck up, not even once, or I’ll be spending the next week in the press box”. (We could probably ask Denis Seidenberg what a difference that makes as well)

Offensively he is a solid puck mover, not flashy, with a huge shot from the point. But his game expanded/improved in the offensive zone as well. Contrary to what some of you seem to want to insist, all of his goals were not just random blasts from the point. Some of his biggest goals came when he played with confidence and intuition, and read the play and snuck in from the point for a back door or rebound opportunity. In fact, I would say that it was in the playoffs, when his confidence was shaken from mistakes made in the defensive zone (getting caught out of position and being tentative with the puck) that he reverted to his old “I’ll just close my eyes, bomb it from the point, and hope for the best” predictability.

Granted he had a horrible playoffs, but I’m not willing to forget the progress he made, in his all around game, throughout the regular season. I’m willing to chalk the playoffs up to youth, inexperience at that level, and a still fragile psyche.

To be honest, I think the Canes could have gone a long way towards helping to develop that part of his game, that fragile psyche, buy at least offering him a good faith offer with a decent if not extravagant pay raise and perhaps a multiple year deal to award him for the hard work and improvement. To show that they wanted to keep him, to meet him somewhere near half-way, and not just take a hard line, stubborn position just because they could.

The thing to consider is that Babchuk, right now, today, is not anywhere near the defenseman he has the potential to be. To the same end, he is a much better denfenseman right now than he was last year at this point. Seems to me those are the types of guys you want to keep if you can.

I’m still hoping that something can be worked out to bring Babs into the fold. But a lot has to happen before that can be a reality. The Canes have to see how things shake out with Ruutu, whether or not Kaberle can/will be bought out of his contract, what other veteran defensemen are left out there at that point (Seidenberg?) and at what price – and both sides will have to swallow a bit of pride and and eat a little crow.

That might be a tall order.

-m

These post iterated a fair assessment of Babs’ talents and weaknesses. I think it is clear from the history of the relationship that JR is not trying to “stick it” to anyone. If anything, this team and GM have shown an ability to offer second chances to players with potential, sometimes hidden, and who have a history with the team. Maybe Babs is again failing to hold up his end of an opportunity and just wants too much. I would assume that the 1 mill offer had some slight upward flexibility and that the puck is on Anton’s blue line waiting for a response….oops he’s bobbling it again…and there goes Malkin and Crosby in for a tick tac toe brake away score leaving Cam out to dry….

It is also obvious that, unlike 2 years ago, this team is looking for the shut down D-man element rather than the puck moving offensive blueliner. This is evidenced by the Kaberle buy out possibility and the Anton situation.

You hit the nail on the head: we’re used to nice, stoic hockey players and Babs’ honesty and realistic (albeit inflated) point of view is a-typical. While honestly is the benchmark of a Boy Scout, it doesn’t make me like him. I used to think his (vocal) ego was forgivable what with his potential. However, I grow “weary of his insolence.” We can talk about potential all day, but unless he shows some potential maturity and swallows his 6’5" pride, I could care less and less. That’s why I thank god twice a day we have Timmy Gleason instead of Jack Johnson.

I was looking at Vancuver’s roster and the only guy I liked was Edler. No way we get him for Babs.