Anton Babchuk: Another Solid Year in the KHL

Hmmm. Attitude problems, If it was anger issues i’d say perfect fit for Philly, but maybe he could join the NY Rangers? They seem to have atleast one player already with a sort of attitude problem.

Just a thought…I wonder how HARD JR TRIED to trade Babchuk in the offseason? Rutherford was working from a position of strength and was probably more than a bit PO’d. He had just come off a ECF run and was THINKING he had the pieces in place for another run, with or without Babchuk (we all know how that turned out – and I’m not trying to say Babchuk would have necessarily made a big difference, but he probably would have at least scored a few goals and could not be any WORSE on defense that A Ward). So JR could comment to the media that he was entertaining trade offers, but then he could just as easily ask for the moon when other teams called, just to make a point to Babchuk…I.E. “I hold all the cards and you will do as I say.” (And hey he had big bad Aaron Ward waiting in the wings)

My sense was that this got somewhat personal, and I don’t even necessarily think that this was between the player and the GM, as it was between the player’s (former) agent and the GM.

I have not heard any reports that Babchuk was a bad guy in the locker room or that he was not a hard worker. My take has always been that starting with his (and his agent’s) refusal to report to Albany a few years ago, he has been labeled by some in the organization, the media and the fanbase as a bad guy. And quite honestly I think that’s pretty petty.

The guy had a great season last year and improved leaps and bounds both offensively and in his own zone. And he is still a young guy with all trends pointing towards further improvement/developement in the future. He absolutely hit a rough stretch in the playoffs, but that happens to A LOT of young players. Hell it even happens to veterans – Eric Cole anyone?

The Canes/JR lowballed him on his qualifying offer to make a point. The kid (and/or his former agent) did not blink and it turns into a circus. And if I remember correctly, the issue was not $$ per say, as much as it was length of the contract. I thought the whole thing was handled VERY POORLY by BOTH sides. JR puffing out his chest and the kid taking some bad advice. Things usually can only escalate from there.

Bottom line is that I think Babchuk would have helped this team this year and could help in the future. I have no idea if either side is willing to eat a little crow and make that happen. But that is probably what it would take at this point.

I would hope that these two grown men would swallow their pride and try to work something out, but if f we do trade him/his rights I hope that he goes out west where he cannot come back to haunt us down the line. I still think his upside is pretty high.

-m

you could make the same argument about someone who comes across as being “Glum” or “Awkward” … the “opposite of Chad LaRose”… could be someone like Joe Corvo… a quiet guy who keeps to himself and doesn’t show a lot of emotion…. but all the guys seem to really like him….

Hold on to Cullen fish until the off season at least. Here’s hoping he may become relevant again.

Or you could start a second tank of previously played for the Hurricanes fish.

But if you’ve proved that your a NHLer would you go back to Albany? Not me, I’d bolt too, who wants to go down once you’ve played an entire season in the pros.

Exactly. It all began when he refused to be sent to Albany and bolted for the KHL

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Actually, he did not refuse to be sent to Albany then bolt for the KHL. He refused to go to Albany and stayed in Raleigh. The team suspended him, then re-instated him and he continued to stay in Raleigh and eventually got back into the lineup. At the end of the season when his contract was up, he bolted for the KHL and had every right to at that point.

The Canes have had two other players, Matt Murley and Dan LaCouture who were sent to Albany, then bolted for the KHL, officially breaking their contracts. Technically, Babchuk never broke his contract, that’s why JR took him back in 2008-09.

Good on you Bob! There’s no need to change a thing, I think you, Cory and HM do a great job! If people want facts perhaps they should go sit over at ch.com and wait for their sporadic updates… I personally much prefer to have something to read and discuss on a more frequent basis and you all do a very good job of doing that!

Possibly people forget this is a BLOG, meant for discussion and speculation?

  Bob, although I understand CaniacSteve’s points and concerns, I agree with you that there is a difference between CC and Canes. I am glad you are not changing the format. I do respectfully suggest you might have come down somewhat hard on CaniacSteve. He posts regularly at Canes Now and here; and always has interesting points.

   In terms of dealing with rumors and not attributing the sources, I have no problem with that approach at all. Some people do have conversations with knowledgeable people that are strictly not for attribution but give a clearer idea of what is happening with the Hurricanes. It is not easy to separate out those folks from people who have far less reliable sources; and the best test is to compare what actually happens with what was predicted.

   I think Chip would conceded Canes Now is a place for Chip to provide us with editorial opinions and hockey analysis. CC is fantastic because you, Cory, HM2, and others provide analysis and a forum for open discussion. CC is awesome.

In retrospect, perhaps I was tough on Steve and if I was, I apologize. He has the right to be ugly if he wants to be. But he does not need to post multiple times in the same thread that he does not like a particular story. We got it the first time.

When he says “Babchuk has cut his own throat”, that is his opinion. Not everyone agrees and THAT, was the purpose of the article. To ask for opinions and to spur discussion.

It always fascinates me to see how diversified opinions can be within the Caniac Nation. We can watch the same player in the same game, yet disagree how that player performed. Sometimes we can learn from other opinions and sometimes we’re surprised with the results. This is how some fans learn more about the game and/or the team.

I am not a professional writer, but that doesn’t give me a free pass to write a bunch of baloney. I have learned a lot over the past four years through my CC experience and I have improved since my early days. People give me tips all the time, so hopefully I will continue to learn and improve even more.

Finally, I am always open to constructive suggestions on how to improve our reporting or how to improve the site in general. We have an open email policy, so please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks.

I do believe that the email will answer what concerns i have & Had. and no, you weren’t or were not " hard on me. hell, eveyone gets “miffed” when rubbed the wrong way. I based my thoughts and conclutions based on what you wrote ans published here. Now you are correct you are NOT Chip. But you write like Chip you by your own bio have published things. so what is a reasonable & prudent person to think? Again you,Cory & HM2 do a great job, but and while "facts’ are boring, but they are the truth speculation & enuendos are not . have a good night sir
respectfully your Caniac Steve ( AKA esteban1949)

Or if he’s getting bad advice/guidance from an agent or friend.

in 06, the highest scoring D-man on the Canes – AWard and Kabs with 6g each
in 2009 Chris Letang lead the Penns in d-goals with 10
in 2008 Rafalski lead the Wings d-goals with 13
I don’t see the correlation between high-scoring d-men and team success.

You are right that some of RFA’s get contracts above their qualifying offers, some get qualifying offers, and some don’t get offers at all. Was the team’s budget the only factor in Babs offer, No! But it was probably a factor and did follow the rules set by the CBA. JR could have offered more, but was not required to. To call it a “nonsense” excuse is ridiculous.

If you like Babs and think he should have been offered a higher contract, fine. All I am saying is JR’s contract offer was acceptable. If Babs didn’t like it, he could go to Russia, hold out, or sign it and play for a better contract.

First off, you’ll note that nowhere in my post did I say that Babchuk “fled” to Russia during the season. But he did get pissy and refused to report to Albany, which was a violation of his contract. That is a fact. He was not under contract when he went to Russia the following season, but nearly all reports back then were that he did so because he was still unhappy about being sent down (or more generically ‘how he was treated’). And yes, the loss of that year is what cost him his arbitration rights. But he lost that year because he took his ball and went home because he was still mad over being sent down and refusing to report.

As for the Aaron Ward bit, I agree that Ward sucked out loud this year. But to imply that this team would have made the playoffs this year with the simple switch of Babchuk for Ward is just not realistic at all. In case you didn’t notice, the entire team sucked worse than disco for the first 2 months of the season. That includes Cam, Staal, Brindy, Cole, LaRose, etc. Ad infinitum. Babchuk would not have made a significant difference there. And as I said, chemistry is PART of the equation. Not all of it.

As for the Seidenberg analogy, Seidenberg was a UFA. He could do whatever he wanted. Babchuk was an RFA. He could not. That’s apples and oranges. Plus, Seidenberg never took his ball and went home when things didn’t go his way, thus hurting his value or his team.

I also agree that based solely upon Babchuk’s numbers last year, he was worth more than $1 million. But, he blew his arbitration rights by taking his ball and going home because he didn’t get his way the year before. That’s his own fault. JR did not owe him anything other than the QO. So that’s what he got. They then negotiated and he didn’t like whatever JR ultimately offered. So he packed up and went. JR held all the cards there. If Babsy didn’t like that, tough crap. He brought it on himself. Why would any GM make a QO of more than the minimum? Especially on a guy who has already demonstrated that will bolt (or otherwise thumb his nose at the team) if he doesn’t get his way? Apparently no other team wanted him bad enough to make an attractive offer either. Because if they had, I’d be willing to bet that JR would’ve pulled the trigger. My guess is that teams lowballed JR on Babchuk after last year because they knew that Babchuk wanted out and that JR wanted him out too.

People can blame JR and try to whitewash Babchuk’s reputationall they want, but that ignores the fact that Babchuk started the whole mess by violating his contract (not reporting to Albany) and publicly embarrassing this organization. He puts himself ahead of the Hurricanes, and if that’s his attitude, I don’t want him here.