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
advice group guys jimmy leadership league national played possibly team training tried
I wanted to have a competitive training camp. So we went through and put the lineup together. We used Jimmy Nill's advice on all the young guys because I don't know the young guys, and then we tried to get the guys who played in the national league and played on our team to be as competitive a group as we possibly could be, with leadership in all groups.
focus lead open shut start teams
Teams can shut you down if they get a lead and then they check, check, check, check, check. Well if we come out and get going, they've got to open it up to try to score. So that's a real focus for us - we have to start good.
battle behind came good group guys played ready short talked team
We have a good team and the guys came out and played hard. With a short group you don't want to get behind and battle back. We talked about being ready right from the start.
blue good job passion played power putting specialty team
We just did a good job on the specialty teams. They (the Blue Jackets) played with a lot of passion and urgency. (But) what do you do when your (the Blue Jackets') power play isn't putting them in, and the other team is?
defensive five four games good nights playing team
Four games in five nights and playing a good defensive team on the road, we must be doing something right.
expect next success supposed team veteran
We've got veteran, veteran guys. They know what they're supposed to be doing and they just do it. They expect to win. The other thing I like about this team that I like ... when we don't have success, you know we're having success the next night.
found hard optimistic played team ways
We've played hard as a team and found ways to win. We've done that a lot, and you're optimistic those things can continue.
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.
evaluate team
We're going to have to evaluate our team this summer. And if we have to make changes, we will make changes.
benchmark bunch cups detroit earn everybody good great hang jersey looks measure player recognized teams test three winning
There are a whole bunch of teams right now that think they have an opportunity. Everybody looks at us and says, 'If they did it, we can do it.' The measure of a great coach, player and organization is the test of time. Being recognized as good isn't a one-time thing, so you have to hang around to earn that. That's what Detroit and New Jersey have done by each winning three Cups in a 10-year span. If you want to be a benchmark team, you have to do it again.
bit excited fear team
When you're on a roll, the opposing team comes in a little excited and a little bit fearful. We have to fear the opposition, too.
allow best bottom challenge game handle line system teams
That's what the new (salary-cap) system is all about, isn't it? It makes everyone the same. The teams that play the best will win. The bottom line is how do you handle it, and compete, and how do you allow your game to come out. That's the challenge for everyone.
anybody finished guys regular scores season team
Anybody who scores during the regular season and hasn't finished now, you need more out of him. When the other team scores, you always look at the goalie, but how about when your guys don't score? The shooters have to score, too. Guys that score have got to score.
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.