The Maple Leafs are enjoying some down time in the off-season, but the break taken by modern hockey players is increasingly short. Soon – if they aren’t already – the team will head back to gyms and arenas across North America and in Europe, all with a focus on one thing: impressing head coach Mike Babcock to the point they lock up an NHL job with an up-and-coming, increasingly-competitive Toronto organization this coming season.
And those Leafs players who got to know Babcock in the 2015-16 campaign know they’ll be given every opportunity to succeed under the meritocracy he established in his first year in Toronto.