Mike Babcock pushed and he pushed and he pushed.
asserted
he → push → ?
Until the sheer breadth and obduracy of his old-school nature got him run out of town.
asserted
him → get → town
Perhaps when a resurrected Babcock appears behind the visitors’ bench on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena, he’ll be received with warmth and appreciation.
asserted
he → resurrect → warmth
But he’s still intrinsically not a hugely warm fellow.
asserted
he → ’ → ?
Such shape-shifting would be too much to expect in the fifth chapter of his NHL coaching life.
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shifting → expect → life
The last one lasted only a few pages — resigning from the Columbus Blue Jackets in September 2023, just 28 days after signing a two-year contract and only four days into training camp.
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one → last → camp
Took him barely a hello-guys before players complained loudly they’d had enough of his heavy-handed ways.
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they → take → ways
The specific crime was using one-on-one meetings with players to scroll through personal photos and apps on their cellphones, even projecting the images on an office TV monitor.
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crime → use → monitor
In the world that Babcock inhabited through nearly four decades, during which he won a Stanley Cup in Detroit and two Olympic gold medals and a world championship with Canada, that would not have been an indictable offence.
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that → inhabit → Canada
But the league has changed, players can flex more muscle, their union has greater impact.
asserted
union → change → impact
In this day and age, for instance, Pat Burns would not get away with hurling a heavy ashtray at John Kordic’s head.
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Burns → get → head
“When I started out, we had one computer for four guys in Anaheim,” Babcock was recalling Friday after putting his Oilers through their practice paces.
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Babcock → start → paces
Though surrounded by veteran assistant coaches, “I didn’t even know where the dressing rooms were.
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rooms → surround → coaches
But he sidestepped the actual question, which was about how coaching has transmogrified, and the shifting relationship with players in the 2020s.
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coaching → sidestep → 2020s
“It’s a lot of years since then, obviously.
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It → ’ → years
I’ve been fortunate to get to coach for as long as I have and enjoy it as much as I have and I’m very thankful to the NHL for that.
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I → get → that
But everything changes and what won last year can’t win the next year.
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won → change → ?
It’s a lifelong learning, like anything, and you’ve got to embrace it.”
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you → ’ → it
There’s little indication that Babcock at 63 has somehow reinvented himself, yet his players speak highly of him.
asserted
players → ’ → him
They, or at least a group of them, including Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman, was behind the impetus to hire him.
asserted
They → include → him
In Babcock they saw an experience-savvy coach who could get them over their post-season agony — six- and seven game losses in the Stanley Cup final, first-round elimination last year.
uncertain
who → see → final
Babcock arrived in Toronto as bench boss of the Pacific Division-leading Oilers.
asserted
Babcock → arrive → Oilers
He doesn’t particularly want to revisit his four-plus years as coach of the Maple Leafs, before he was sacked on Nov. 20, 2019, then commanding a roster of blossoming young’uns that included Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner.
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that → want → Matthews
His ham-fisted machinations had already caused anguish for Marner, forced to rank his teammates by work ethic, the list then announced by Babcock in the locker room.
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list → cause → room
Among other incidents of pointless tyranny, he’d also scratched veteran centre Jason Spezza for his homecoming 2019 home opener game.
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he → scratch → game
Over the years, many players have spoken of Babcock’s horribleness.
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players → speak → horribleness
But Babcock greatly improved the fortunes for coaches when he signed an unprecedented eight-year, $50-million (U.S.) contract with the Leafs.
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he → improve → Leafs
The club continued to pay him for the balance of the deal.
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club → continue → deal
“In the end, they gave me a five-year holiday, which I greatly enjoyed,” says Babcock, which is as close as he would come Friday to a snark.
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he → give → snark
It’s unclear whether Babcock had so much as stepped foot in Scotiabank Arena since getting jettisoned by Brendan Shanahan.
uncertain
Babcock → ’ → Shanahan
He sounds and looks pretty much the same, not remotely chastened by the blows over these past seven years spent mostly in the wilderness, still engaging with media when in the mood.
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He → sound → mood
He shook off queries, however, about his return to Toronto as an opposing coach and how he would like to be remembered here.
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he → shake → coach
“I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about that.”
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I → spend → that
When last these two teams met, Oct. 24 in Edmonton, the Leafs were on a mini roll, kicking Oilers butt 7-2.
asserted
Leafs → meet → butt
“They fed us our lunch.”
asserted
They → feed → lunch
Now Babcock et al are facing a Leafs outfit that is reeling, on the verge of going 0-for-6 on this homestand and maybe about to take first-year coach Jim Hiller, mentored by Babcock in Detroit, down with them.
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that → face → them
If he had any words of advice for Hiller — been there, done that — he wasn’t sharing with reporters.
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he → have → reporters
“You know, the NHL, some days, isn’t kind to you.
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NHL → know → you
But you’ve got to be kind to yourself and you’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing.
asserted
you → get → what
Shut off the apps or whatever the heck you’ve got on your phone and get on with your life.”
Except there’s no joy in Leafsville right now.
asserted
you → shut → Leafsville
The Aporia
