Babcock claims that he knew his days were numbered when Lou left, goes off on a rant

When Mike Babcock was relieved of his coaching duties by Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas in November of 2019, he kept his head down for the most part and did his best to avoid the media and commenting on the matter publicly.

Since that time, 15 months have passed and Babcock seems to be less hesitant to speak on the matter, having already appeared on The Rod Pederson Show this week to address the abundance of public criticism he has faced recently.

On Tuesday night, Sportsnet's Christine Simpson announced that she had also had a chance to sit down with the veteran coach to discuss his time as the Buds' bench boss and how he feels about the club's success since his departure.

Though the full interview on The Big Picture will not air until Wednesday evening during the Maple Leafs' pre-game show, Sportsnet uploaded a short clip on Twitter containing some very interesting comments from the 57-year-old, particularly about how he knew his days were numbered in Toronto long before he was ever fired.

"It wasn't shocking to me. I knew when Lou left, I was getting fired. In your own mind though, that's not how I think.. I didn't - I just think you just keep on keeping on," said Babcock, who was hired to coach the University of Saskatchewan Huskies over the weekend.

"The bottom line is that I really believe it's important that every general manager and every coach have their manager and their coach.. their guy. And that wasn't me, and I have no problem with that whatsoever."

Babcock has always been a smooth-talker with a decent grasp on his demeanor and his maneurisms while dealing with the media, but something about the short clip released on Tuesday doesn't add up. While his words say one thing, his body language and his inability to stay on topic would suggest the opposite, at least in my opinion.

"Am I jealous at times?" Babcock asked himself during his rant, before failing to adequately answer the question, "Well, I mean, Matthews has become a man. Marner has become a man. Rielly's ... like - but that's the process you become involved in. I'm proud of the fact that we went there, we had no players, we ended up with all these guys, we still have the franchise record for most wins."

During his erratic speech, Babcock did touch on the fact that he and his club failed to get it done in the postseason, but quickly downplayed his lack of success outside of the regular season, citing the difficult first-round matchups that the Leafs were forced to endure during his tenure in Toronto - getting a bit de-railed and hinting at the Leafs now having a much easier path to the second round, and potentially beyond, due to the temporary division re-alignment.

"We didn't get it done at playoff time. Now, in saying that, we had Tampa and Boston and these teams too - and Washington. And now the divisions are a little bit [different] ... I actually can't remember the divisions when I'm doing this NBC thing. I have to look at them to see who's with who. No, really, it's obvious with the Canadian ones, but the other ones, it's way different than it has been."

Eventually, Babcock did steer the train back onto the tracks, finally admitting (sort of) that being fired was not a pleasant experience, but again, quickly moving on to how good things have been for him during his time away from the Leafs, praising MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum for his candor, even after his firing, concluding the clip with stating that "it's been good."

Hopefully, once the full interview is aired on Wednesday, we actually get a little bit more from Babcock on the specifics of what his time was like in Toronto and that he does touch on how it feels to see the team thriving following his departure, rather than a lengthy piece on just how good things are for Mike Babcock.

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