Mike Babcock is not a guy that you want to mess around with.
Though he is universally loved, his poker faced demeanor has earned him a reputation that ensures he is always taken seriously and treated with the utmost respect.
This includes his impatience for wasting time.
His meetings with the media are always prompt and to the point, usually lasting a maximum of about five minutes. This all happens even faster on road games, when teams want to get home as quickly as possible.
After the Leafs overtime win in Buffalo on Tuesday night, the media had finished with their player interviews, and made their way to the hallway, where there is an available backdrop for a scrum with Babcock.
Unfortunately for TSN’s Mark Masters, road games also mean the colour balance for cameras need to be adjusted for new lighting situations, and he was in the midst of holding up a card to white balance the picture when Babcock was lurking behind him to get on with the interview.
“Are you guys, like, for real here?”
Classic Babs.
Luckily, Babcock was obviously in good spirits following his star player’s dazzling overtime winner, and joked with Masters about the time he’d be taking off of the Leafs beat to cover the upcoming World Juniors.
This wasn’t only the gem the Leafs’ bench boss provided us with tonight, and weighed in on the Nylander situation in his usual blunt manor.
Hopefully he’s right and Nylander will be in the lineup on Thursday night versus the Red Wings, and hopefully Masters is quicker with the white balance in the future.
