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Red Wings hope to extend Mike Babcock’s contract soon

Mike Babcock

Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock shouts at his team from the bench in the second period of their NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Detroit News, David Guralnick) ** DETROIT FREE PRESS OUT; NO SALES; MAGS OUT; TV OUT **

AP

It’s no secret that Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock does a great job wherever he goes. He took a low seeded Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team to the Stanley Cup finals in 2003, has made two finals appearances with the Red Wings and won a Stanley Cup in 2008. He also was head coach of the Olympic gold medal winning Team Canada in Vancouver this year. It’s no wonder then that one goal of the Red Wings this summer is to get a contract extension worked out with Babcock as the Freep’s Helene St. James tells us.

“I’d like to keep him, so we’re going to sit down and talk,” general manager Ken Holland said Saturday at the 2010 NHL entry draft at Staples Center. “He likes it in Detroit, and I enjoy working with him. I think he’s done a tremendous job since he came here in 2005. I anticipate this is going to take most of the summer, but hopefully by the time we get to training camp, we’ve got something in place.”

It shouldn’t be hard, given both want the same thing.

“I’m staying if they’d like to have me,” Babcock said. “But I haven’t really even thought about it -- I just assumed I’m staying.”

This certainly doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a long, drawn out process for either side in these future negotiations and given how well Babcock has shown he can do both when the Red Wings are fully healthy and when they’re missing virtually half of the team, it’s probably in Detroit’s best interests to stick with what they know. I’m sure all Babcock will ask of Ken Holland is to make sure that mentions of former sources of frustration Ville Leino and Robert Lang are kept to a minimum. We’re pretty sure that Ken Holland would like to be spared the virtually patented Mike Babcock death stare.