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Mike Babcock joined TSN Overdrive on Monday evening, discussing a wide range of topics ahead of the new season, including:

  • Expectations for the 2017-18 season
  • Frederik Andersen’s confidence to start the year
  • The decision to go with Moore and Fehr over Aaltonen to start the season
  • The ongoing battle for the final spot on defence
  • Jake Gardiner’s progression and the state of the blue line

We were just talking about a shortened exhibition season. What about 10 days with three exhibition games?

Babcock: It’s an interesting process. Players show up in such great shape now. It’s a totally different animal. The one thing the long training camp does is gets you to know your whole organization. If you had a short training camp, you wouldn’t know those kids at all because you wouldn’t even give them an opportunity. This way, you get to know your whole group. In saying that, when you’re running two teams in training camp as a coach, it wears you out a little bit. It is what it is. Let’s get on with it. I don’t set the rules.

We were just saying we were happy you guys escaped without any major injuries. How much of that is going through your mind when you play eight preseason games? Just making sure an everyday player doesn’t get banged up?

Babcock: The eight exhibition games are four exhibition games. Your big guys play four games to get ready. You could play less if you wanted. It just gives other people an opportunity. The other thing we tried to do is, by playing our big guys together the last couple, give them practice time and not game time. We spaced them out. I think they actually had three practice days in between. They would tell you that’s too much practice, but it prevents them from playing back-to-back or doing anything silly that might get them hurt. They should be ready to go now. We’ve got a real good medical science group that does a nice job with the rehab and preparation. The guys seem to be healthy.

Now that you’ve had this core group for a year, it’s noticeable that you seem to be a bit tougher on them. Is this the year, for lack of better words, to kind of drop the hammer on some of these guys to get them to that next level? It just seems like now you’ve got them to the point where they’re turning the corner and you get on top of them a bit more to make sure their details are strong and they’re able to get to that next level.

Babcock: I’d like to think I’m just fair. I think the beauty of bringing it every day, in whatever job, is you can stay in one place a long, long time. You’re not only dealing with your boss; you just come in and do your job. I think that’s the same in pro sports. If you bring it every day, you don’t get sick of the boss or coach because he’s not dealing with you all the time.

We challenge our group. We really believe we have improved our skill level here in Toronto. The only way that shows is if your work comes first. If you rely on your skill, in the end, you’re not going to win. To me, we’re going to try to make our guys accountable. We’ve been trying to do that all along. Is the expectation for some guys greater than other guys? No question about it, just because of who they are. We are going to try to treat them all fairly.

One of the things I’ve got to be real cognizant of in Toronto is if I say anything, it turns into a big deal. I’ve got to do my very best to have most of my conversations private and not in the media. When I say something to the media, it turns into something I don’t want it to be. I’ve got to be careful, and that’s on me.

With that being the case, do you plan out what you’re going to say day in and day out before you get out there?

Babcock: I don’t know if I plan it out, but I try not to put myself into too bad of a spot. I think that’s the beauty of understanding what you’re getting yourself into. You cannot take it back, anything you say. You can take it back with a player. You can’t take it back with the guy’s wife or family. It goes on and on for days. If you ever have any soundbites, they can play forever. You have to be careful of that.

What about using the media to get a message out? Do you feel like you have to do that?

Babcock: You shouldn’t do that, actually. When I do, I don’t like it. Anytime I’ve crossed the line, I try to address it the best I possibly can. I don’t know how many days a year I talk. Too many. You’re going to have some screw-ups. That’s just the reality of the situation. Would you like to be able to take some stuff back sometimes? Words come out of your mouth. I don’t care if you’re talking to your wife, your kid, whoever – sometimes you’d like to reach and grab them before they get out there. Nothing wrong with apologizing.

Going into your third season, the previous two years were drastically different. The first two years, you guys finished dead last. You were calling for pain. Last year, you were one of the surprise teams in the league, one of the most entertaining teams in the league. But people weren’t really expecting the playoffs, at least from the outside, going into it. This year, it’s a very different story. How do you feel about this season? How is your approach compared to the previous two?

Babcock: I think we’re really excited about the season. In saying all of that, you look around the league, and the parity seems unbelievable. I go through our schedule at the start of the year. There used to be, when I coached the Red Wings, teams that you just beat. Whether you were prepared or not, you beat them. That’s not the way it is now. If you’re not prepared, you’re not going to win. You always hope to get lucky with injuries. If you get lucky with injuries, and then get better each day and put our work before our skill, that’ll set us up to be a real nice team and a fun team to watch. It should be exciting here in Toronto.

It’s just preseason, but you kind of have to be happy with where Frederik Andersen is at. He quietly had a really good camp, didn’t he? He just looks really confident in the net.

Babcock: He’s one of the most impressive stories over the course of the summer with the amount of work he did. He really was a good pro and got to work. He’s come here way more confident. Knows the situation. Knows what Toronto is like. Feels good about his teammates. That showed in training camp. Now, like all of us, it starts [for real]. What you did in training camp or exhibition doesn’t much [matter]. To tell you the truth, I rather win some games in exhibition. You lose them all and the doubt starts creeping in. Confidence in sports is so important. I think our group feels good.

You mentioned the scheduling. Would you prefer early on to be home a lot, or get some of the nasty trips out of the way, like out to California and some time changes? What is your preference?

Babcock: The first thing I look at is back to backs. I don’t want to play back-to-back. You try to get the best schedule you possibly can. Now, TV controls some of those things. I don’t want back-to-backs early. I think you can handle back-to-backs as the year goes on. At the start, your body doesn’t recover the same and injuries are always a concern for me. I like the guys to get a good Christmas break. I think that’s important for people.

Other than that, I don’t much worry about it, to be honest with you. To me, if you can get out and get started and feeling good about yourself, suddenly the schedule isn’t bad. I thought the schedule last year was so tough down the stretch. We went 14 and something. Lots of wins and hardly any losing. To me, if you build confidence, the schedule doesn’t matter as much.

Let’s go through some of the battles coming into camp. There was a lot of focus on that fourth-line center position with a couple of veterans in Dominic Moore and Eric Fehr, and you brought over Miro Aaltonen. Where does that battle sit as of today?

Babcock: I don’t want to say we bailed out, but in some ways, what you do is: Here you are. If the kid didn’t win the job, give it to the veteran. He’s here, he knows where to stop, he knows how to avoid minuses. The kid might have more skill. They tend to find a way to get minuses early in the season as they learn how to play. We have an opportunity to put them with the Marlies. It’s just detail. He’s competitive. He makes plays. He can play the game. He needs to know how to box out, how to play without the puck. I think he can continue to learn that.

Fehrs and Mooresy are real good pros. We like them as people and like how competitive they are. They go in and win faceoffs. That, to me, is why the situation worked out the way it did.

Do you know who is going to be playing in that role Wednesday night?

Babcock: Yeah, one of them.

The backend was another point of conversation. People presumed Rielly, Hainsey, Gardiner, Zaitsev and Carrick would be a part of the top six, and then you had guys like Borgman and Rosen and Marincin and Travis Dermott. Take us through that battle in camp and where it stands.

Babcock: We really liked that battle. I thought that was fantastic. Gardiner has turned himself into a really good player. He’s maybe improved more than any other Leaf. Rielly has established himself and is getting better and better and better. To acquire Zaitsev – it took him a bit, but he became a real good player for us. Now, Hainsey is newfound gold for us; just his approach and the way he can skate. His stick is always in the right spot. The confidence he has oozes for our group. Connor Carrick’s game evolved last year. He got hurt and lost his confidence, but seems to be back. I really think Rosen’s skating and his hockey sense are elite. Borgman is a huge man – 230 pounds – and he can really shoot the puck. He’s got unbelievable edges. Dermott really is coming. Marincin is a big, long guy who is a good penalty killer. That’s where the battle is.

I think the battle continues. I don’t think it’s set in stone by any means. I think the first ten games will get that figured out a little better.

What did you work on with Jake Gardiner? What were some of the points of emphasis with him to help him become a better player?

Babcock: The first we did is talked to him every day. I learned a lot as my kids became athletes who left home. You go to junior hockey and you’re not a great player; you’re just a good player. No one talks to you for two months. That resonated with me every single day. You’ve got to talk to these guys. You’ve got to communicate with them. You’ve got to build a relationship with them so they trust you, and then you can help them. To me, as much as tell them where to put their stick or where to stand or how to box out and gap up and how to play, it’s just as much building relationships with the guys so they can have confidence. Confidence isn’t something you can give a player, but if you build a relationship with them and they trust you, they can earn it easier.

That’s what we tried to do. By having my kids get older and leave home and they’re trying to survive out there in their first couple of years, you learn from what’s going on with them. The things you hear that you don’t like, you take a look at yourself and say, “I’m doing the same thing. Why aren’t I dealing with this better?” I think one of the best things is building a relationship with the guy.

His hockey sense is off the charts. He makes a play almost every time. The swagger of the guy is night-and-day different.