Babcock: Bye week is '100 percent wrong for player safety'

Mike Babcock doesn't think the NHL's new bye weeks are in the players' best interest.

"I think it's 100 percent wrong for player safety," the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach told reporters Saturday, according to The Canadian Press.

"You've got so many games in such a short period of time and you're jamming in more. To me, the more days' rest you can have by not playing back-to-backs and jamming it in, the healthier you have a chance to be I believe."

The Leafs will play a league-high 18 back-to-backs this season. That includes the three they play this month, beginning with this weekend's 48-hour trek that put them in New Jersey on Friday night and now at home against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman admitted last week that he's heard complaints from other clubs and players about how the new bye week condenses the rest of the schedule and takes a toll over the course of the season.

After this weekend's double dip, the Leafs won't play again until Friday, when they'll begin another back-to-back - this one exclusively on the road - against the New York Rangers and the Ottawa Senators.