Mike Babcock
Mike Babcock
Michael "Mike" Babcock, Jr.is a Canadian professional ice hockey head coach, currently serving as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League. He previously spent 10 seasons as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2008 and helped to the Stanley Cup Playoffs every year during his tenure. He holds the record as winningest coach in Red Wings history, surpassing that of Jack Adams. He has also served...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth29 April 1963
bear came dallas exception good looked mini philly played playoff rangers winning
I looked at this as a five-game mini playoff series. We played Nashville, Dallas, Carolina, Philly and the Rangers and came out of it winning 3-2. With the exception of the Dallas game, we played real well. When we bear down and have a good focus, we're a good team.
expect good hard playoffs prepare shocked team
Just like everyone here, I'm shocked at our situation. It's hard to look at our team and think we didn't do a lot of good things to prepare for the playoffs and you would expect to have success.
battle everybody excited foundation great hard huge hung last locker nice opportunity people pictures playoffs quickly saying trying work year
I think everybody realizes that we had a great opportunity. But you find out quickly that last year was last year. There are now nice pictures of the playoffs hung up around the locker room, and people were saying nice things about us and patting us on the back all summer. But now we are trying to reestablish work habits, foundation and identity. I think it makes you more hungry, because we all know how hard it is to get there. It will be a huge battle for us and we are excited about the opportunity to try to get back there.
again ethic far fire guys playoff playoffs race record starts telling win work
We need to reestablish our work ethic and get back the fire we need to win games. As far as I'm concerned, the playoff race starts Oct. 8 in Dallas. You can't make the playoffs in the first 20 games, but you can be out of it after 20 games. So for me, it's all about establishing that work ethic again in a hurry. I just keep telling the guys that, too -- so much that they think the record is stuck.
excited good playoff
We have an eight-game playoff series. We're excited about it. They have a real good team. Let's get there and get going.
ask discussion fly obviously safe
I'm very concerned. I can only ask so many times. I don't fly the plane. But I am really concerned. There's been lot of discussion about what's going on, are we safe -- obviously that's the first priority.
less liked neutral played plays zone
I liked to see less plays through the neutral zone and more plays around the net, but he (Hudler) played well tonight.
carry good knows momentum somewhere
Everyone knows that they're going somewhere and everyone's going to do their own thing, but they're poised, they're going to play. They play good teams. We want to carry momentum into the break.
believe biggest difference knows quicker team
The biggest difference to me was we're a little deeper. We think we have a real intelligent team that knows how to play without the puck. We really believe that the better we play without the puck, the quicker we are on offense.
lose stud teams
Not many teams can lose a stud like that and keep going.
among great guy leader phenomenal rallying
It'll be a rallying cry. This guy hasn't done anything wrong. He'll do a great job. He has a phenomenal reputation, and he's a leader among men.
found net shoot
It's disappointing. They found a way to shoot it into the net and we weren't as good.
absolutely adjusted attack dominant figure period second took
It took us the first period to figure out how to attack it. But we adjusted and I think we were absolutely dominant in the second period.
adds dimension good hank obviously speed
It was good to have Hank back. He adds a dimension of speed and he hounds the puck. He's obviously going to make us a better team.