“The coach just doesn’t like him for some ungodly-known reason,” said Roenick.
“I think he’s got a grudge against American players. But he does not like Cheli at all.” here’s the video of Roenick’s phone interview, in which he speaks about Chelios and Babcock: We love Roenick because (a) he’s the and (b) he has a complete inability to self-edit and avoid Joe Biden-level verbal candidness like “Mike Babcock hates American people” (to paraphrase in a quasi-Kanye way). But he stepped in it this time, and the backlash has been palpable from Babcock, from Red Wings players and from Chelios himself. First, Roenick’s statements from The Monsters of the Morning program, in which he dances around the notion that Babcock hates Chelios:
“I will say this, and I talk to Cheli [who is] one of the greatest friends I’ve made in the game. If you would know some of the things that Babcock says to Chris Chelios, it would make your stomach churn. Just total disrespect for not even just one of the best Americans, but one of the best defensemen to ever play the game. The way he is talked to is just unacceptable. I wish I could elaborate, but that’s not proper. It’s just disrespectful …