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Red Wings sign head coach Mike Babcock to four-year contract extension

Mike Babcock

Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock watches the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock will get to deliver his death stare in Detroit for four more years. The Wings announced they’ve signed Babcock to a four-year contract extension. Babcock has been instrumental to getting Detroit to stay on top of things in the Western Conference and brought Detroit their most recent Stanley Cup championship in 2008.

Helping to make sure that Babcock stays in Detroit is the sweet paycheck owner Mike Ilitch cuts for him each year. Babcock is the league’s highest-paid coaches making nearly $2 million a year. Babcock’s history as a head coach in the NHL has been a very successful one, coaching both the Wings and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to the Stanley Cup finals. He brought the Ducks there in 2003 and Detroit in back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009.

Babcock has been instrumental in getting Detroit to be a tough out in the playoffs once again. He took over in 2005-2006 after Dave Lewis caused Detroit fans to pull their hair out with the team’s inability to do much of anything in the playoffs under his leadership. It took Babcock a couple of seasons to make things work out in Detroit, but their patience paid off in 2008.