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Around the League 2019-2024 Edition

While a number of former NHL players have been critical of Babcock's coaching methods, one former player offers a different perspective on this reported practice. Patrick Marleau has come forward to share that he, too, was asked by Babcock to share photos from his phone. Surprisingly, Marleau viewed this as a positive team-building exercise. He explained that he willingly shared some of his photos with a member of the organization and then elaborated on the stories behind those photos in a presentation to the team.

"It's just a way for everybody to get to know each other and their families and where they come from and their backgrounds," Marleau told Bay Area News Group this week. "I think it just brings the team closer together."


"So I think, what I'm assuming, not knowing more than what everybody else does, that that's exactly what (Babcock) was doing there again," Marleau said. "It was a great way to get to know your teammates."


It's worth noting that Marleau not only played under Babcock with the Toronto Maple Leafs but also represented Team Canada alongside him during the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympic Games. His perspective sheds a different light on Babcock's approach, suggesting that, for some, it may have been a team-building exercise rather than a negative intrusion into players' privacy.

"I had to have somebody going to bat for me to make those Olympic teams, and I'm pretty sure he was one of the guys that was doing that for me, and our relationship in Toronto was good as well," Marleau said of Babcock. "I had a role there with the younger guys and was still able to perform on the ice, so it was good."
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Marleau finally weighs in.
 
So just listened to a bit of that biz podcast and I think they pretty much said that the final straw for babs in Toronto was when a second player (the first was likely Tyson Barrie, the guy that definitely texted his very good friend biz about this; he didn't mention him by name but it's obvious since I know they are very tight and Babs definitely despised him) submitted a complaint to Babcock over his antics. Babs was not happy about the pictures he saw in Barrie's phone because he likes to party. I'm reading between the lines here because biz was trying to not give up too much, but that's the gist of it.

Apparently Barrie asked or was about to ask for a trade. He said he could not finish the year with this psychopath.
 
Preston said:
So just listened to a bit of that biz podcast and I think they pretty much said that the final straw for babs in Toronto was when a second player (the first was likely Tyson Barrie, the guy that definitely texted his very good friend biz about this; he didn't mention him by name but it's obvious since I know they are very tight and Babs definitely despised him) submitted a complaint to Babcock over his antics. Babs was not happy about the pictures he saw in Barrie's phone because he likes to party. I'm reading between the lines here because biz was trying to not give up too much, but that's the gist of it.

Apparently Barrie asked or was about to ask for a trade. He said he could not finish the year with this psychopath.
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You do wonder if those pics resulted in Barrie's actual usage in Toronto. It was so strange how he was used by Babs. And if it did affect usage, it's crazy he let's that affect his decision on how he plays a guy.
 
Marleau was just the worst signing. We got Spezza to do a better mentor job for 3 years at NHL minimum.
And BTW, Marleau had 4 kids. He was at a point in his life at 38 and 39 where his phone was likely pretty safe compared to someone early 20's. Would he be ok with it if he was 15-20 years younger?
I actually would go with the opinion of someone younger in this case than him.
 
JackBurton said:
You do wonder if those pics resulted in Barrie's actual usage in Toronto. It was so strange how he was used by Babs. And if it did affect usage, it's crazy he let's that affect his decision on usage.
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Some of it was likely to spite Dubas too. We saw the passive aggressive public comments on Kyle's decision to acquire a LHD in Muzzin. Funny that when Kyle decides to get him his RHD, it's Tyson fucking Barrie. Babs could not have been very happy about that.
 
MindzEye said:
This is why I grab people by the junk as soon as I meet them. Skip handshakes and go right for the junk. It's a trust thing, you would only let someone you trust grab your junk and I'm already grabbing it therefore you've gotta trust me, right?
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You just blew by passive and straight into aggression. Why waste time I suppose.
 
Yeah, can confirm that was all in the podcast. Some wild claims out there. They later went into detail about the Leaf that originally texted Biz and it was pretty obviously Tyson Barrie. Said that the Babs firing was more about his behavior than performance (IMO the performance made it much easier to pull the trigger).. Essentially too many complaints came in and they let him go in the middle of a roadie because it was spiraling out of control and no one was happy seeing Babs every day. Barrie was one of the complainers but when another (or multiple others) came in, that was the end of Babs.
 
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