Mike Babcock labels the portrayal of the Marner incident 'a complete farce'.

In spite of the fact that he is among the most decorated hockey coaches in the world today, former National Hockey League head coach Mike Babcock has yet to return to a high profile coaching gig since being unceremoniously fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs nearly 2 years ago.

Instead, since leaving the NHL, Babcock has become the head coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, a role he took in part because it would allow him to coach alongside his son, Michael Babcock III. Babcock recently discussed his new role and what life has been like for him since his departure from the Maple Leafs, but by far the most interesting comments he made were regarding some of the accusations he faced during his career.

One of those accusations is a now infamous story regarding how a young Mitch Marner was handled by the then head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Babcock allegedly asked Marner to rank the players on the roster before then allegedly showing that same list to Tyler Bozak, putting Marner in an extremely awkward position in the locker room. Babcock has since gone on to call that incident a mistake, but in his most recent comments he seemed to push back against that narrative.

"That’s a complete farce the way it’s talked about and the way it happened. It didn’t happen like that,” said Babcock as per David Singh. “I asked the kid to do something. He did it. The next player came in … So did I ever try to put Mitch Marner in a tough place? Mitch Marner played great for Mike Babcock."

There have been a number of controversies that have come up involving Babcock since his ousting as head coach of the Maple Leafs and while Babcock says he owns his mistakes he does contend that "some of this stuff doesn’t add up" when it comes to how he has been portrayed. Babcock argues that he would have been unable to achieve the success that he had as a head coach for well over a decade in the NHL and at the Olympic and international level as well.

Babcock appears comfortable with his legacy as it stands, but it remains to be seen whether or not his story will ever include another chapter in the NHL.