Mike Babcock’s experience as a high-profile coaching free agent is a process unlike anything he’s experienced before. It also won’t drag out.

That’s the plan, anyways, so the timing of a scouting trip to the Czech Republic in the middle of it seems a little odd. Free agents are supposed to go tour cities and meet with owners, not take off for the World Championships.

So why go now?

“Dylan Larkin,” Babcock answered when I posed the question on Tuesday.