Leafs’ Shanahan comments on NHL teams looking to speak with Babcock about job

It was last month that the Toronto Maple Leafs fired head coach Mike Babcock, but the echo from the dismissal remains loud after abuse allegations were made against the bench boss during his time in Detroit.

There was also the whole incident with his player Mitch Marner in Toronto. As you know, it was revealed that Babcock forced a 19-year-old Marner to make a list of all the players on the team, singling out the players who he viewed had the worst work ethic. Since the incident was made public, many have denounced Babcock, condemning the former head coach for putting Marner through such an ordeal and even accused Babs of trying to put his players against one another.

When Leafs president Brendan Shanahan met with reporters on Tuesday following the governors’ meeting, one dare to ask if the Maple Leafs had been reached by teams interested in hiring Babcock. 

Elliotte Friedman reports how Shanahan broke this down in his latest 31 Thoughts column on Sportsnet: 

“Brendan Shanahan, asked what he would say if another club wanted to talk to Mike Babcock: “I think that’s sort of a hypothetical I wouldn’t want to get into, quite honestly. Much was made of the incident with Mike a few years ago with Mitch Marner, for instance, and I know our general manager at the time (Lou Lamoriello) had called me and let me know about it right away and had addressed it right away with Mike. Mike apologized to Mitch and there was communication with (Lamoriello) and the agent and the family. It wasn’t something that was appropriate or acceptable to us. Since then, my general manager — whether it was Lou or Kyle — had never come to us with a situation like that. Is it a highly charged atmosphere, is it an atmosphere where players and coaches, where we can all sometimes want to go back and do things a little bit better? Absolutely. But I think that this is a good starting point. I think some of the league’s plans and some of the education that we should all have available to us can certainly be a help.”

The Maple Leafs feel strongly that Babcock should not be grouped with the other recent incidents. We’ll see how he’s willing to evolve, but, unless he declines to coach again, there’s going to be interest.”

There has been reported that some teams have been interested, especially if there is the sense that Babs is willing to evolve. 

It remains to be seen which team will be the first to touch base and convince Babcock to return behind an NHL bench.