Michael Babcock leaves San Diego Gulls, named Brantford Bulldogs coach

Brantford did not shop for a retread. It reached into the AHL pipeline and hired Michael Babcock, 31, after his season as an assistant coach with the San Diego Gulls, giving the Bulldogs their youngest head coach and only their sixth bench boss in franchise history.

The timing makes the move even more revealing. San Diego added Babcock and Dave Manson as assistants on June 16, 2025, and Babcock spent the 2025-26 season inside an Anaheim Ducks affiliate room before Brantford handed him the keys. For an OHL club that just won the regular-season title, this is not a maintenance hire. It is a bet that pro habits, daily skill work and NHL-adjacent structure can be imported straight into junior hockey.

Babcock’s track record fits that idea. Before San Diego, he spent two seasons as a skills coach with the St. Louis Blues from 2023 to 2025, worked as an assistant and development coach with the Ottawa Senators in 2022-23, and coached two seasons at the University of Saskatchewan from 2021 to 2023. While he was in Saskatoon, the Huskies’ power play ranked second among U Sports teams at 28.1 percent, a number that tells you the emphasis was not just on teaching, but on producing offense that held up on the stat sheet.

His own playing career followed a similar line. Babcock spent four seasons at Merrimack College, captained the team in 2018-19, then played one professional season in France with Amiens and helped it win the Coupe de France in 2019. Brantford also noted the obvious family connection: he is the son of Mike Babcock, the Stanley Cup-winning coach who won gold with Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics. The Bulldogs are owned by Zach Hyman, who played under Mike Babcock with the Toronto Maple Leafs, making the hire carry an added layer of familiarity.

The Bulldogs are bringing in that background after a demanding season on the ice. Brantford finished 48-10-8-2 with 106 points, won the OHL regular-season crown and the East Division title, then lost the Eastern Conference final to the Barrie Colts in seven games. Jay McKee was named head coach of the AHL’s Hamilton Hammers on May 29, ending a five-season run in which he went 213-91-30-6 in the regular season and won three East Division titles, two Hamilton Spectator Trophies, the 2022 J. Ross Robertson Cup and the Bobby Orr Trophy. Babcock inherits a winner, but also a team that already knows how close it is to the top.