This whole Mike Babcock betrayal fiasco should stand as yet another indication that the Red Wings are in very good hands under General Manager Ken Holland — who saw this coming nearly a year ago and did what he needed to do to protect his club.

After 10 good years of service and a lot of talk about gratitude and loyalty, Babcock thumbed his nose at a generous contract extension that would have doubled his salary and agreed to a deal worth 2 1/2 times Detroit’s best offer to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

So while Babcock is introduced Wednesday as the 30th coach in Maple Leafs history, Holland and the Wings are doing their due diligence that more than likely will end up with Jeff Blashill — the son of a Detroit police officer — as the next Red Wings coach.

"I try to preach loyalty, and I try to live it," Holland said in an interview this afternoon. "Jeff had an opportunity to leave last year when five NHL teams called me and wanted to talk with him. He stayed, so I owe it to him to be the first interview and I’ll go to Grand Rapids in a couple of days to do that."

Holland said that and a lot more in discussing Babcock’s departure, wishing his former coach well and thanking him for "10 fabulous years."

And while he kept referring to Blashill, 41, as a "leading candidate" among 2-3 prospective candidates, it’s more likely Holland was just buying time for a guy who’s still coaching his team and doesn’t need this kind of distraction just now. There will be no protracted search to fill a gaping hole. Because of good management, the Wings had had their coach of the future under wraps long ago.

Last summer, after a conversation that lasted just a few minutes, Holland agreed to his own four-year contract extension, and the very first thing he did was go to Babcock and offer him a healthy raise on a similar deal to continue the partnership another four years.

Babcock balked. Holland got nervous, and that’s when he sat down with Blashill for a serious discussion. Holland mentioned that it looked as though Babcock was going to play out his contract and asked the Grand Rapids coach if he wanted out of his contract to pursue those NHL prospects.

Blashill’s response: "I like it here. I’m still learning. I’m still training to be a good coach."

He stayed, and tonight his Griffins will find out which team they will face — Utica or Oklahoma City, in the third round of the Calder Cup playoffs. (Those teams meet in Game 7 of their series.)

So Holland tore up Blashill’s contract and doubled his salary. The three-year-deal at $400,000 per year made Blashill the highest-paid coach in the American Hockey League.

Immediately after their third first-round playoff KO in four years earlier this month, teams started calling Holland asking permission to talk with Babcock — and we now know how that turned out. And again this spring, three teams also wanted permission to speak with Blashill. Holland again refused them — and we now know why.

Blashill, hired into the organization by Babcock, has been the heir-apparent since he left Detroit as a Babcock assistant coach and won the Calder Cup in his first year as head coach in the AHL. His Griffins defeated Tampa Bay’s top farm club then coached by Jon Cooper, whose Lightning beat Babcock’s Wings in the first round of the playoffs and are now in the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Rangers.

As one Wings official put it recently while discussing the possibility of Blashill succeeding Babcock: "Two years ago, no one knew who Jon Cooper was, either."

As Plan B’s go, Blashill’s as good as it gets. In fact, more than the 10 straight years of making the playoffs and more than the Stanley Cup Babcock’s team delivered in 2008, Blashill may well be Babcock’s lasting legacy in Detroit by vacating the bench and to allow an opening for one of the great young coaches in the game.

Had Babcock stayed, Blashill would have been released from his contract to pursue other NHL opportunities.

So this is a win-win for the Wings. They say good-bye to a guy who clearly didn’t want to be here anymore — and it showed in myriad ways down the stretch this season when the wheels fell off after 60 games or so. And they bring in a hungry, talented coach who developed more than half the regulars on Detroit roster this season.

A new era may about to begin in Detroit, but the Hockeytown tradition will continue. The Wings are in good hands — with Ken Holland and Jeff Blashill.