Mike Babcock scrummed with the media after the club announced the signing of superstar center John Tavares.
On landing the big fish in Tavares:
Babcock: As you grow your team, you’re watching guys that might come available and you always hope you can get quality players. It was great to see John make this decision. Obviously, it gives us another high, high end center to go with our group already. It makes us a much deeper team and a real threat. I think we’ve been going in the right direction for a while now and this makes us a much better team.
Kyle talked about how this week went for him. How was this week for you, from the meeting to all the talk back and forth? How did this week play out?
Babcock: When you’ve been in the league a long time, you’ve been in a lot of these discussions. Not very often do you end up with the player. Obviously, you do everything you can to present your case. I think what Kyle mentioned is key – the players, the good players you have, recruit the players. Because they want to play with good players. No different than when I was in Detroit. They attract them. When you look at our young players, they have done a heck of a job of improving so that we can be a good team and so that someone like John was enticed to come here.
From a coaching standpoint, what does it allow you to do when you can put out Matthews, Tavares and Kadri for 90% of the game?
Babcock: Obviously, it’s special. Lindholm is a real good player as well, so we’re going to be deep down the middle. That’s exciting for us. You look at the teams that have success, they’re deep down the middle. They’ve got a good D and are solid in net. We think we are set up pretty good that way. Obviously, John being older and John going through the hard knocks of the NHL already — no different than Patrick Marleau when he arrived – the impact he is going to have on our young people is going to be immense. I can’t say enough of that, either.
Your power play – you lose James and Tyler, but John has that experience on the man advantage. How much will that be a benefit for you?
Babcock: We talked to John right away about where his spot was. It just so happened to be the same place as James. That helps us a lot there. We have enough other pieces. Bozie, Leo, James – they did a lot for our organization and we thank them a lot for what they did. We wish them luck in their new spots. In saying all of that, these players… we’re going to have a good power play.
At even strength, do you see Marner on one side with John?
Babcock: That’s how we are going to start for sure, and then Willy and Matty. We’ll see how it goes. They’re good players and they want to play with good players. We’re fortunate that we’ve got lots of good players.
Did you have any kind of inkling? What was the vibe you got when you walked out of the CAA offices after you made the pitch?
Babcock: I thought we were really prepared. I thought Kyle and Shanny did a real good job. You’ve got to give Shanny a ton of credit. I don’t know how long he has been here now — four years, or whatever it is. This franchise coming from where it was to where it is now… he has surrounded himself with some really good people. Larry Tanenbaum, for that matter. Now we are set up where we can go into a meeting and present the facts. The facts are good enough to recruit a player of John’s calibre. In order to do that, you need quality, quality players. You also need to be prepared, and we were.
Does 200 feet describe who John Tavares is?
Babcock: I’ve been with John twice. He got hurt in Sochi, so he didn’t have the same opportunity. The other thing about John is he’s real serious about his craft. When you’re bringing in a pro to your room who is as good as he is and is as serious about his craft, it’s great for the other guys. He doesn’t have to say much. Just do what he does and he is going to make the people around him better. There is no question his game suits perfectly to what we want to do. He is high-end skill. He likes having the puck. He wants the puck. He can play without it. He is good in the faceoff circle, good on the power play. He is just a real good player who is going to make us better.
