Mike Babcock’s office is just as you’d imagine it.



It’s organized. There doesn’t appear to be a single item out of place. His desk at the team’s practice facility in Toronto’s west end is dotted with notebooks, loose sheets of paper covered in plastic, a book, and pictures of his family.



It’s what you’d expect for the uber-prepared, hard-charging head coach of the Maple Leafs.



The 56-year-old enters the season in a place he hasn’t been much before, if at all in the NHL, on something of a hot seat, following back-to-back disappointing first-round exits. In his office earlier this week — prior to the news of Auston Matthews’ disorderly conduct charges — Babcock spoke to The Athletic about his critics, stealing from CEOs, soccer and the NFL, working for Kyle Dubas, managing ice time for his top players, and whether or not he’s become a different coach in hockey’s age of...