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Babcock took a few minutes Tuesday to talk about juggling Leafs and World Cup duties, his home province and planning a career.

Q: It’s a quick transition from the World Cup to jumping in with the Leafs. This is a thing you’ve done repeatedly during your career, but psychologically, how do you handle that shift from one thing to another thing?

A: It’s not going to be an issue whatsoever. As you work on your Leafs stuff, you’re working on your World Cup stuff, and vice-versa. It makes you better. Having a chance to be around the four coaches and five GMs I have on the World Cup team … it’s like getting back to work and reinventing yourself over the summer.

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Q: There’s six NHL coaches right now from Saskatchewan. When Jared Bednar got hired this past week (by Colorado), that made six. Were you aware of that?

A: Hmm. You’ve got McLelland, you’ve got Tippett, Gulutzan, Desjardins, Babcock, Bednar. There you go — must be something in the water.

Q: By the end of the season, that number could be cut in half; coaching isn’t the most stable profession. But does it say something about Saskatchewan that one out of every five NHL teams has a head coach from this province?

A: It’s a great thing. I don’t know what it says about Saskatchewan, but those guys are all good men who earned their way to be one of 30 coaches in the league. They’re Saskatchewan guys, and we should celebrate them, and be proud of them.

Q: You coached in Moose Jaw for a couple of years, and lost your job. In some ways, it turned your career around. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you’d stayed in Moose Jaw? Where you’d be right now?