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Mike Babcock joined TSN1050 to discuss the beginning of his work relationship with Lou Lamoriello in Toronto.

Mike Babcock’s reaction:
I’m real excited. Lou’s a good, good man and a good hockey man. I didn’t know Lou at all until ’03 when we played them and I was coaching Anaheim. We lost to Jersey in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Since that time, I’m not trying to say we’re best friends or anything like that, but we developed a healthy relationship and a respect. I got to be good friends with Jacques Lemaire, had Jacques on my 2010 Olympic staff. I used Jacques as a sounding board, talked to him a lot about Lou. Obviously Shanny holds Lou in high regard from their experience from the draft right through to playing for him at the end of his career. I think it’s a real good fit for us and it’s a good fit with Pridham, Hunter and Dubas. We really believe, if we’re going to have success on the ice, we have to have a management team off the ice that’s capable of doing that and being successful. I really like what’s taking place since I arrived with the Leafs, and this is just one more step.

Incorporating Lamoriello’s ideas into the way he coaches:
The big thing for me – I’ve been real fortunate to be around Bryan Murray, Ken Holland and now Lou Lamoriello, and I think those are great people and great names and they make you better. Kenny Holland always had a pretty good line for me. He’d say, “I’m going coach the team right now if you don’t mind managing.” In other words, he was going to give me what he thought. And Lou’s going give me what he [thinks] and I’m going to give Lou what I think, just like I do with Shanny or Hunts or Kyle. Any of these guys, when you have a philosophy that there’s no tiptoeing around; in other words, you just tell the truth and you don’t care whose idea it is [if] it’s the best idea and that’s going to be come the Leaf way. To me, that’s what it’s all about. Lou has a wealth of experience. He’s seen it over and over and over again. He can give our passionate young guys lots of guidance and help us be better. I believe, as a head coach, it’s great to have someone who stands back, who sees it from a different perspective, that you can talk to on a daily basis. I believe talking, in this game, is so critical.

On whether he will change his philosophy in terms of how accountable the players will be to the media and the fans now that Lou is here:
We’re all going to be accountable. There’s no question about that right through. There’s no question Lou and I are going to discuss all these things and then decide what the Leaf way is going to be. He’s going to have some thoughts and I’m going to have some thoughts. Just like I said to you earlier, whoever has the best thoughts that we concur with, we’re going to go with that. I’m real comfortable with that. One thing about Lou Lamoriello is that he looks after people. He looks after the players. Now, does he expect them to play hard? Absolutely. Does he expect them to be accountable? He treats his people good. All you have to do is look at the people who played for him for a long time, and the support he’s given them. To me, that should be a real good thing for our players, but our players also got to understand – and I don’t think there’s any different message when I arrived or when Lou’s arrived – they’ve got to do things right. That’s just the way it is. You’ve got to be a good pro, and being a good pro is looking after the media as well, and looking after your obligations. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference in the way he views as I viewed it, but until we’ve sat down and talked ourselves — the two of us about this and how we’re going to handle it — I won’t know for sure.

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