Should Mike Babcock be fired? Making a case for controversial Blue Jackets HC's future in Columbus

Mike Babcock is back in the NHL but before he has even coached a game, there is more controversy around him.

On Tuesday, Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Whitney of the Spittin Chiclets podcast claimed that Babcock got all his players to share their camera rolls with them and he then put those photos on his office TV.

However, Babcock released a statement through the Columbus Blue Jackets and denied those allegations.

"While meeting with our players and staff I asked them to share, off their phones, family pictures as part of the process of getting to know them better," he shared via ESPN. "There was absolutely nothing more to it than that. The way this was portrayed on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast was a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive."

"These meetings have been very important and beneficial, not only for me but for our players and staff as well, and to have them depicted like this is irresponsible and completely inaccurate.”

Since then, Bissonnette has doubled down on it, as did Mike Commodore who claimed he also heard the same incidents from players.

The news was surprising and many wondered if that meant Babcock would be fired by the Blue Jackets.

However, both Boone Jenner and Johnny Gaudreau, two of Columbus' top players denied the reports and said their meeting with Babcock was nice.

With Mike Babcock and some players denying those allegations, it doesn't seem likely that he will be fired before even coaching a game. However, he only signed a two-year deal, so there will be a short leash on him should another controversy come up, or if the Blue Jackets don't play well.

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Mike Babcock's controversial history

Mike Babcock is no stranger to being in the news for controversy.

When Babcock was coaching the Detroit Red Wings, he scratched Mike Modano in the final game of the season, which would have been his 1500th game.

He also was accused of verbally abusing Johan Franzen by the Swede and other players on the Red Wings. Franzen has called Babcock a terrible person and bully since then.

Then, in Toronto, Babcock scratched Jason Spezza in his Toronto Maple Leafs debut as well as the game being against his former team, the Ottawa Senators.

Yet, that wasn't the worst controversy in Toronto, as he made Mitch Marner rank his teammates on their work ethic and then shared the list with the entire team, which caused some problems in the locker room.

As of right now, it's uncertain if this later controversy is true, so with that Babcock should remain the Blue Jackets head coach. But, if it does come out to be true, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Columbus part ways with him.