Babcock, who is 700-418-164 with 19 ties in 17 seasons with the Anaheim Ducks, Red Wings and Maple Leafs, said in a statement to TSN that he wished the Maple Leafs success.
"(Maple Leafs chairman) Larry Tanenbaum talked me into going to Toronto," Babcock said. "I would have never gone until I met Larry. He's one of the finest people I've ever met. Had an absolute riot and met another friend for life in (former general manager) Lou Lamoriello. I thought we did an amazing job taking a franchise from where it was to where we had 100-point seasons, we set franchise records if I'm not mistaken, got into the playoffs. I'm disappointed we didn't have the start to the year we wanted, and that's on me. I want to thank the fans, I want to thank the media, I want to thank the city. It was spectacular, I loved every second of it. And I wish the new group nothing but success. (Defenseman) Morgan Rielly has been here the whole time, I can't thank him enough. And all the players I got an opportunity to coach."
Now Toronto will look to turn things around under Keefe, who was in his fifth season with the Marlies, having guided them to the best regular-season record in the AHL twice (2015-16, 2017-18) and won a Calder Cup championship in 2018.
The Marlies are 10-2-2-1 and in first place in the North Division this season.
"There's a lot of work for [Keefe] to do, and there's a lot of work for the players to do," Shanahan said. "And they understand that, but we really believe in them. We believe in the players that we have here. We believe in Sheldon, obviously, in making this decision."
During his time with the Marlies, the 39-year-old worked with current Maple Leafs forwards Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Trevor Moore and William Nylander, defenseman Travis Dermott and goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo.
"We're still optimistic that we're going to get back on track," Shanahan said. "We think Sheldon's earned it. Look at Sheldon's track record, the amount of players that play on the Toronto Maple Leafs that have played for Sheldon with the Marlies, the job he's done in developing players for us -- some early draft picks, some very late-round draft picks. He's had success basically everywhere."