from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of the NHL's website,

Mike Babcock looks relaxed and happy. It’s a quiet morning in August, and he’s already worked out and water skied when he sits down at his “tiki bar,” a little piece of paradise down the hill from his house overlooking a lake. It has a roof, a bar, barstools, a fridge, a TV and wifi. There are hockey mementos on the wall.

Babcock spends a lot of time here, when he isn’t hunting on his land in Ohio or downhill skiing on a mountain in Colorado or vacationing at his place in Palm Springs, California. He and his wife, Maureen, love to visit their three adult children scattered across North America.

“My life has simply been about being around my family and hunting, water skiing and downhill skiing,” he says. “Those are the three things that I’ve done to bring me nothing but joy.”

The 60-year-old hasn’t coached an NHL game since the Toronto Maple Leafs fired him Nov. 20, 2019. He says he declined multiple opportunities until he joined the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 1, volunteering instead as an adviser at the University of Vermont in 2020-21 and the coach at the University of Saskatchewan in 2021-22.

“I said I was going to retire at 60,” he says. “I promised my wife. The 3 1/2 years early was like a gift from God. We enjoyed it so much.”

So why come back to the NHL now? Why take on the challenge of the Blue Jackets, who finished 31st in the NHL last season?

“This is a great question,” he says.

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