TORONTO — Part of the success Mike Babcock had during a decade coaching the Detroit Red Wings was built on the trust he had with veteran general manager Ken Holland.
Now that the Maple Leafs have hired Lou Lamoriello, he expects to reap the benefits from a similar relationship in Toronto.
“I really liked having a guy to talk to each and every day, to bounce ideas off of,” Babcock told Sportsnet on Thursday. “Some days (Holland) would say to me: ‘You don’t mind managing a team and I won’t mind coaching it.’ We talked back and forth. Basically we had no tip-toeing around; just told each other the truth.
“I think that’s how the business should be.”
WATCH LIVE: Leafs to introduce Lou Lamoriello at 2 p.m. EST
There will be no shortage of strong opinions bouncing around the Leafs front office now. Lamoriello joins a group that has been working by committee after spending the last 28 years constructing the New Jersey Devils from the ground up.
The initial reaction to his hiring centred largely around how he would fit among an executive team that includes assistant GM Kyle Dubas, director of player personnel Mark Hunter, capologist Brandon Pridham and Babcock, the highest-paid coach in NHL history.
The entire operation is overseen by Brendan Shanahan, who was drafted by the Devils in 1987 when Lamoriello was team president, and pursued the 72-year-old for the Leafs GM job over the last few weeks.
Babcock, for one, loves the look of the new setup.
“Strong people hire strong people,” he said. “I’m thrilled. I think it’s a real good fit. Obviously, Shanny has a longstanding relationship with Lou from the draft, from playing for him. … What I like about what Shanny’s been able to do is he’s put together a management team and has now got a senior advisor who has been all about winning and success.
“I think he’s going to add a lot.”
Babcock first got to know Lamoriello when his Anaheim Mighty Ducks faced New Jersey in the 2003 Stanley Cup final, and he had an opportunity to speak with him on Wednesday night. He has no concerns about the fact he signed a $50-million, eight-year contract a couple months before his new boss joined the organization.
In fact, he believes they have a lot in common after spending a long time working in one organization before making the jump to Toronto.
“I don’t think a little fear ever killed anybody,” said Babcock. “It gets you excited. … We have lots of thoughts on how things should be done and they’ll be different. Like-minded people, that’s great, but you need ideas. That’s what I like about Hunter and Dubas and Pridham and Shanny, we have lots of ideas.
“Like I said, no tip-toeing around, we’ve done a good job with that.”
Occasionally, Babcock anticipates the front-office setup will result in some healthy debate. He’s comfortable working in that kind of environment.
“That doesn’t mean you’re not going to have confrontation, you’re not going to have dispute, but I think what you’re going to do is, you’re going to do things the Maple Leaf way,” he said. “Whoever has the best idea, that’s the way you’re going. Lou’s been around a long time, been around winning; winning doesn’t follow you around by accident. Everyone’s worried about the on-ice product, (but) to me I always worried way more about the off-ice product.
“Once you get that looked after, the on-ice product is going to follow.”
Lamoriello’s voice will certainly carry weight after a career that includes three Stanley Cup wins and all kinds of success with the Devils.
Even though expectations remain modest for the coming season in Toronto, the construction project going on behind the scenes is clearly something the new head coach is enthusiastic about.
“I guess the way I look at this is we just got better,” said Babcock. “That, to me, is what it’s all about. We’re in for the long haul here. We want to have a team that is a real contender for a long period of time and in order to do that we’ve got to build.
“I don’t think the vision’s changed here one bit. I just think we added a great hockey man.”
