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Babcock clears air about ‘depth’ comments, talks relationship with Dubas

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As the regular season winds down, the Bruins look poised for a deep playoff run. Can the Golden Knights also make another Stanley Cup Final appearance?

When Mike Babcock entered the NHL head coaching ranks with the Anaheim Ducks his general manager was Bryan Murray. The late GM imparted some wise words with his rookie head coach that have stuck with him 17 years later.

“As a coach and a general manager, never let anyone get in between you and if you do you’re going to be in trouble,” recalled Babcock after Friday’s practice. “That relationship is so important.”

Babcock was bringing up Murray’s advice on the heels of a week where speculation was rife that there was some brewing tension between him and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas. The head coach’s comments earlier this week about a lack of depth on an injury-tested roster raised some eyebrows.

“All good players, let’s not kid yourself, you’re way better when you have all guys on deck,” Babcock said on Monday. “The thing about a team is you have 23 spots on it and you have a minor-league team, you’re supposed to build the best program you can to have as much depth so you don’t miss people. If you have enough, you don’t miss a beat and you just keep on going. There are other teams that have done a better job when different players are out than we have in keeping on going. That just tells you what state you’re at and you have to keep adding better players.”

That came two months after he said, “There’s no question about it: It’s not perfect, it’s what we got. It’s what was available and we’re going to make it work,” following the Maple Leafs’ acquisition of Jake Muzzin, adding another left-hand shot to their blue line.

The Maple Leafs are in a little rough patch having gone 8-7-2 in their last 17 games as they prepare for an inevitable Round 1 matchup against the Boston Bruins again. So when a team with such high-end talent and sky-high expectations falters, especially at this point in the season, the vultures are going to circle.

“Whatever people speculate or think, I don’t believe that’s the case,” said Babcock. “I know Dubie and I talk all the time, we’ve talked about this since this happened. If any of my comments in any way… I don’t read it [as others did], but if any of my comments in anyway hurt anybody... if anyone’s wife is reading it the next day, and they feel hurt, then you’ve done the wrong thing. That’s not my intent.

“One of the comments was about depth. Depth in the organization, we’ve got keep improving our depth, everybody knows it. … [W]e’re all trying to do it so that we can get to be like these teams. Tampa, to me, is just a model of what depth is. It doesn’t matter if you get guys hurt, not hurt… so if there was any slap at anyone, it sure wasn’t intended, that’s not what I meant to say.

“I go to the media, what, twice a day. Sometimes three times a day it seems like. There’s gonna be a s----storm once in a while. There just is. You’d like to say everything perfect, and sometimes maybe you don’t.”

Babcock added that his relationship isn’t as good with Dubas “as it’s going to be four years from now,” noting that it was the same with Murray and in Detroit with Ken Holland and with Lou Lamoriello when he was hired by the Maple Leafs. This is the first season for the two in the GM/head coach relationship, so it’s going to be bumpy, especially in Toronto and especially where the team is in regards to Stanley Cup contender status.

The Maple Leafs have eight games remaining to try and catch the Bruins for home ice in Round 1. They have a relatively soft schedule over the next week and building off of Wednesday’s win over Buffalo will go a long way in pushing the distractions aside.

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.