“They never say anything at these things,” a colleague muttered next to me, frustrated by a long day of giant player scrums and limited access on the first day of Maple Leafs training camp on Thursday.



“We’ll see,” I responded, pointing out that surely Mike Babcock — who was about to take the podium — had a few things to get out there after months of reflection.



He did. He loves this stage, in Toronto. It’s perfect for him, given his experience and, well, his ego. Babcock is never intimidated by what’s there in front of him. He also doesn’t make the missteps that some of his predecessors did, creating controversy when there need not be any. (Who can forget the hot head helmet scrum?)



But Babcock says things.



“Well, we’re not going to do anything silly (given the logjam at forward). The right people always end up on the team. Sometimes they don’t end up on the team right...