Kyle Dubas Unexpectedly Praises Mike Babcock Despite Controversial Past

Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas had some praise for ex-Leafs coach Mike Babcock, whom he had to fire in November of 2019 after a sluggish start.

Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas fired coach Mike Babcock in November of 2019 after what was a slow start to the year for the team.

Babcock, who was hired in 2015, helped the Maple Leafs to 3 consecutive postseason appearances, all 1st round losses.

During a guest appearance on 'The Cam & Strick' podcast, Dubas had some praise for Babcock, specifically regarding how well prepared the Maple Leafs were during his 1st year behind the bench despite coming nowhere close to the postseason.

He brought in a tremendous amount of accountability, a tremendous amount of detail, and his work ethic and what he was willing to put in to be prepared was unlike anything. I still haven't seen anything quite like it. He was very crystal clear on what the team was going to have to endure in 2015-16. We weren't a good team, we ended up picking last, but I thought compared to my first year with the Leafs, we played hard, we were extraordinarily prepared each night.

The work ethic was never a question..... So I think he deserves a lot of the credit for that because he did a great job getting the team to that point and allowing the team to get to that place so quickly in 2016-17.