Nazem Kadri Sounds Off On Former Maple Leafs Coach Mike Babcock in New Book

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Liam McCormick
October 30, 2024 (4:39 PM)

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Nazem Kadri has recently released a memoir of his life and hockey career, and in one amazing segment, he sounded off against former Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock.

Kadri's book is titled «Dreamer: My Life on the Edge», and contains many insightful passages into some dramatic NHL locker room moments, including one famously tense exchange between Mitch Marner and Mike Babcock.

The story as a whole had been public knowledge for years. Mike Babcock asked a rookie Mitch Marner to rank Leafs players based on their work ethic, and then shared the list with everyone to embarrass Marner. A fan on social media shared the following from Kadri's book:

»What a bulls**t position to put a player in, let alone a rookie . . . Mitch obliged, feeling pressured - forced, really - to do what Babs wanted. When Mike Babcock is your coach and it's your rookie season, if he tells you to do something you're probably going to do it.

When we found out, Tyler Bozak and I stormed into Babcock's office and laid into him . . . After that he apologized to Mitch. We'd pretty much made him.»
- Nazem Kadri, Dreamer

Even when Mike Babcock was still in the NHL, there were rumours and stories from players of incidents like this where it seemed like the coach was waging psychological battles on his own players. Many former players like Mike Commodore, Johan Franzen, and Mike Modano all had horror stories about dealing with him.

After the incident in Columbus where Babcock asked players to go through their phone pictures, enough players had spoken up about him that the Blue Jackets fired him before he coached a single game. Now, Babcock would need a miracle to get back into the NHL. It'll simply never happen again.

As for Kadri, he's don't pretty well for himself after being treated like a liability for his entire time in Toronto. Kadri won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche after being traded there, and has since signed a contract for the rest of his career with the Calgary Flames. Now 35 years old with 912 games played, Kadri's had an incredible career.