As the team’s biggest name, what makes Babcock tick?
Nothing quite equals his passion for hockey, parlaying a low-level career as a defenceman into the highest of highs as a major-league coach
Drew Doughty was just 19, the youngest player on Team Canada’s Olympic entry heading to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
Mike Babcock was the coach, and he took the young and budding defenceman star aside. Babcock told him he’d start as the seventh defenceman. Doughty — as any teenager might be — felt slightly overwhelmed and was perhaps a bit distracted.
“Then we go into the first practice — and I’m the young guy — and he throws me out to do the first drill. And I have absolutely zero clue what to do with this drill,” said Doughty. “This is in front of all these guys: Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, guys I looked up to growing up.
“I messed up that drill. After that moment, I listened to him perfectly.”
All of Toronto is listening to Babcock now. Because of his accomplishments — he has won the Stanley Cup and has twice won Olympic gold — the coach is the biggest name on the Maple Leafs.
His eight-year, $50-million contract means he is earning more and will be a Leaf longer than any of his players. He has more credibility than any Leaf coach before him, to at least as far back as Pat Quinn. All that makes him the latest saviour of the historically muddled franchise.
“I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that,” said the coach. “I’m Mike Babcock from Saskatoon. That’s who my kids know, that’s who my wife knows. If my dad was alive he’d tell you, ‘Remember where you’re from.’ ”
Though born in northwest Ontario, Babcock self-identifies as a western Ca- nadian, keeping a home on Lake Emma in Saskatchewan. He’s there in the summer with his wife Maureen and his three children to get his batteries recharged. Water-skiing is a passion. He took the Cup water-skiing for his day with it after the Wings won in 2007.
Big-game hunting — he’s been on safari in Africa — is another passion, as is fishing.
But nothing quite equals his passion for hockey, parlaying a low-level career as a defenceman to the highest of its highs as coach.
“The word I use is passionate,” says Ken Holland, Babcock’s long-time friend and former boss with the Detroit Red Wing. “Passion and lots of energy. You love what you’re doing. He loves hockey.
“We’d come home from a road trip at two in the morning and he’d say to the assistant coaches, ‘See you at 6:30.’ They’d be there in the morning, like clockwork.
“He brings lots of energy. He’s on top of everything. He puts in long hours.” Though the Wings won the Cup in 2008, Holland thinks Babcock’s best year as a coach was 2013-14, when the injuryriddled Wings — no Pavel Datsyuk, no Henrik Zetterberg — made the playoffs with a bunch of call-ups from Grand Rapids.
“He gave them structure, he supported them, he gave them confidence,” says Holland. “Mike’s hand on the rudder was a big factor in us making the playoffs.”
It’s not just energy and passion that helps him get the most out of players, he also breeds loyalty.
When Babcock took the job with the Maple Leafs, he promised to make Toronto a “safe” place to play. He meant that he was going to find a way to keep the media off the backs of players as much as possible. So far, he’s done that, deflecting questions that criticize players, and taking the blame himself.
“I believe leadership is about modelling, not about talking,” says Babcock.
“I try to model every day in my preparedness and my energy and my enthusiasm and my human side.
“I believe to be the best coach you can be, players have got to know you love them. Then you’re allowed to make them more accountable,” he adds.
His energy level is infectious. Everything is go-go-go. Practise at a high tempo. Work out at a high tempo. If he could, he’d sleep at a high tempo.
“When you come to the rink, you get dressed fast, you eat fast, you talk fast, you play fast, you practise fast, you go home,” says Babcock. “You’ve got to do things fast.”
When Babcock emerges to talk to the media, there are usually beads of sweat pouring down his forehead. He may have just come off the ice, where he works as hard as the players. Or he may have just finished a workout, where he works just as hard as the players.
Why? “Because I don’t need as much sleep and I can be more energized,” says Babcock. “To me, that’s important to do my job. If you’re 52 and you’re not in shape, you won’t be doing it at 72. I plan to be doing this at 72.”