NHL: Mike Babcock resigns as coach of Blue Jackets for requesting player phone photos

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Mike Babcock's brief tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets is over before he even coached a single game for the club.

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Babcock's resignation comes in the wake of allegations surfacing over the past week that he violated players' privacy when he asked to see photos on their cellphones. The allegations were first presented when former NHL player Paul Bissonnette said on Tuesday's edition of the "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast that Babcock asked Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner to show him his camera roll before displaying those photos via AirPlay on a wall in the coach's office.

"Enough with putting guys on the spot in the coaches room asking them to link their phones up to AirPlay mode and grilling them," Bissonette said after the episode was released. "I've had tons of players confirm it."

Babcock and Jenner released statements through the Blue Jackets on the same day of the podcast that denied the photo request was anything nefarious. Babcock said that while meeting with players and staff that he asked them to share -- off their phones -- family photos as part of the process to know them better while claiming what was portrayed on the podcast was "a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive."

Jenner said Babcock asked him about his family, where he was from, his upcoming wedding and hockey-related items. Jenner said that Babcock asked whether he had any photos of his family and that he was "happy to share some with him." He also said Babcock shared photos of his family with Jenner.

"I thought it was a great first meeting and a good way for us to start to build a relationship," Jenner said in the statement. "To have this blown out of proportion is truly disappointing."

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Blue Jackets All-Star forward Johnny Gaudreau confirmed to ESPN last week that he had shown Babcock photos that were on his phone per Babcock's request. Gaudreau said that he had "a great meeting" with Babcock.

"We got to share things together, pictures of our family," Gaudreau said. "I was a little upset to see the way it was handled and how it came out. ... but nothing you can do about it. We got off to a great start, had a great meeting with him and looking forward to working together."

Former NHL defenseman Mike Commodore, who previously played for Babcock and has been critical of the coach, said he heard that behavior also occurred when Babcock was the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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