If you haven't heard yet, details of a story that may explain why so many of his former players seem to despise Mike Babcock is making its rounds in the media. The story, which we reported here, outlines an incident between Babcock and then rookie Mitch Marner, where Babcock had Marner list the players on the team from hardest-working to those who, in the eyes of the rookie, didn't have a strong work ethic. The rookie did so, not wanting to upset his coach, but was taken aback when Babcock told the players who had been listed at the bottom.
Ian Tulluch, with The Athletic and host of the Leafs Geeks podcast, claims to have heard of this story when it first happened, but sat on it because he wasn't able to corroborate the details. Now he's saying he has. The players Babcock shared the list with, according to him, were Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri, two people Marner placed at the bottom when it came to work ethic. Here's what he writes:
According to multiple sources, Marner was in tears after the details of his list were shared, while his teammates were furious — specifically with Babcock. They couldn't believe their head coach would put a 19-year-old in that situation, especially considering how well-liked Marner was in the dressing room.I've spoken to numerous connected sources over the past few hours to break down exactly how Babcock has done similar things to other players he's coached in the past.
According to one source, a nearly identical situation happened during Babcock's time in Detroit, involving a young Red Wings forward. The source explained that Babcock asked the player questions about his teammates that were similar to the ones he would ask Marner, and then promptly shared the answers with the rest of the team.
Babcock was apparently frustrated by what he felt was laziness with Marner's play in his rookie season, hence the reason for the list, which Marner placed himself at the bottom of. There are some rumblings that Marner was ready to demand a trade out of Toronto following the incident, but that his agent convinced him to stay.
With these stories floating around and the hatred many seem to have towards Babcock (Mike Commodore, Mark Fraser, Chris Chelios and the report that most of Toronto's current roster was relieved to see him go), you have to wonder if the man many have considered one of the best coaches of the modern era will have difficulty landing another head coaching job in the NHL. While this sort of behaviour may have been common at one time, things have changed and it's not likely you'll get players following your plan when you're willing to create so much animosity between them. Time will tell. Babcock has stated he intends to take a lengthy break before considering possible job offers.
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