Babcock admits he doesn't like how he was talked about after Leafs firing
After a three-year hiatus, Mike Babcock is back in the NHL as the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Many thought Babcock’s career as a head coach at the NHL level was finished after his tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs came to an ugly end when he was fired partway through the 2019-20 season. Shortly after he was fired, several allegations came out that painted him in a bad light, including a situation involving Mitch Marner in which he seemed to intentionally humiliate him in front of his teammates.
To his credit, Babcock admits that there are things he wishes he had done differently throughout his four and a half seasons with the Maple Leafs. That said, he still isn’t particularly thrilled about things that were said about him after he was fired.
“All the time I was in Toronto, I enjoyed it,” Babcock said in an interview on The Fan Morning Show. “Do I like the way I was talked about when I left? No. Do I think I did anything wrong? Absolutely. In our business, what are you going to do? When you leave, you’re gone and someone else comes in and replaces you, and you wish them good luck.”
Babcock wound up being replaced as the Leafs’ coach by Sheldon Keefe, who remains in the same position today. While the Babcock firing may have been necessary, the team hasn’t had much more success since his departure. They won their first playoff series in 19 years this past April but were eliminated in just five games of their second-round series versus the Florida Panthers.
Whether hearing from Babcock finally puts an end to this long-lasting drama between him and the Leafs remains to be seen, but you can bet the 60-year-old isn’t worrying too much about it these days. Instead, he will be looking to turn around a Blue Jackets team who made plenty of improvements this summer and could very well contend for a playoff spot next season.
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