from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

On Wednesday morning, ahead of Shero’s Devils taking on Babcock’s Maple Leafs, the two caught up in the stands at the Air Canada Centre, and allowed me to hang out for it.

They began their conversation asking other about each other’s families before the conversation shifted to hockey, specifically what it’s like to break into the NHL as a rookie head coach when you’re not a former player:

SHERO: I talked to (Devils head coach) John Hynes about that. I said to him, you want to earn the veterans’ respect but you don’t want to overdo it. I had told him the story about Mike Babcock and his first year in Anaheim as a rookie coach in the NHL and how he handled some of the veterans.

BABCOCK (smiling): They were mad right away. But you know what, I say to coaches all the time, when you first arrive in the NHL, the No. 1 thing has to be confidence. When you walk in the room, they got to know. Now, if you’ve played in the NHL for 15 years, you’ve got a better resume than us guys. No matter how much winning, even if you’re a serial winner, you haven’t been in the league. They don’t care. If you didn’t play in the NHL, you didn’t play hockey.

SHERO: After we talked about Tony Granato that year, you also called me about John Hynes. I remember saying, ‘The guy in Wilkes-Barre?’ And you said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘How do you know him?’ And you said, ‘I don’t. But everyone I speak with tells me he’s a guy I should get to know.’

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