Leafs get buried again - is this the end of Babcock ??
 

The title say's it all, the leafs got spanked in Pittsburgh tonight, I think Babcock is on thin ice ??? he might be joining Cherry in the unemployment line

Bob McKenzie on the 1260 Nielson show Friday claimed Babcock is SAFE... We'll see... LAFFS need a coach more like Hitchcock (bet this gets edited) :sHa_sarcasticlol:

Players ain’t skating. Players ain’t listening to Babs no more. I like babs. I guess he has to go.

I have heard that Matthews isn’t a huge fan of Babcock. Not sure what the truth is but Babcock is a coach who has his favs that he runs a lot, more than some would prefer. Especially 3rd/4th line guys

According to some former players babs isn’t popular with many players at all. It’s all about him, if you get on his bad side you’re done and he will bury you. His stubbornness will be his demise.

The Leafs are only "good" because of the hype that Toronto media builds up which unfortunately is spread across Canada through every national sports publication and broadcast who are based out of there.

They have no defense and spent all their money on overrated forwards that has left them crippled for the foreseeable future. When they needed cap space they ditched a good value rat in Kadri instead of trading Nylander. No amount of coaching will fix a poorly assembled team, like the Oilers have learned over the last twelve years.

Well if BABCOCK ever says "you guys" better pick it up..Don Cherry will be the next Coach of the LAFFS :sHa_sarcasticlol:

It's been a weird season so far and the Leafs don't even make the list in my opinion. They only made the playoffs last year by 4 pts. Sitting two points out at this point doesn't strike me as panic time.

-Tampa Bay won the Presidents trophy last year with 128 pts, essentially the same team, currently out of the playoffs;

-Nashville won the Central last year with 100 pts, added Duchene and subtracted PK Subban, currently out the playoffs;

-Calgary, San Jose, and Vegas finished 1, 2, 3 in the Pacific, of the three, Calgary is holding down the only playoff spot, the 2nd wildcard;

-Dallas sign Pavelski, Perry, and Sekera, have Seguin, Benn, Radulov, Pavelski, Klingberg, etc. on the roster, Benn and Seguin are on pace, combined, for 21 goals, last year they had 60, are in a Wild Card spot; and,

-New Jersey finished last season with 72 pts, acquires Subban, Hughes, Simmonds, and Gusev, are on-track for 78 pts this season.

To many individuals on the Leafs team right now. Combine that with a lack of skilled defenders and you have a recipe for disaster. That falls on Dubas. There PK and PP are dreadful. Super stars are whining about not getting the ice time and falling out of Favor with the coach cause they think they are smarter. News flash they are not. Babcock’s success’s was not a fluke. Players need to buy in and they may have success. Unfortunately for Babcock, Dubas gets one free firing as per the NHL unwritten rules. See ya latter Babcock.

^ Pavel Datsyuk was more often than not getting about 13-14 minutes of ice time per game under Babs. I have never heard the guy complaining about anything.

Leafs is a weird team. Not that long ago, it seemed that any good player who joined the team would become worse. I always wondered why that was the case. With the Wings it was the opposite.

As my friend, a die-hard Leafs fan, tells me every year for a decade or longer now, they are just not ready this season :sHa_sarcasticlol:

Also, not to take anything from Babcock, but his success was built on the most solid team in the league at the time, a team solid to the core, something that was there before he joined the club. He left as the demise was starting to happen. Would the Wings be better off now with Babs at the wheel? I am not so sure, to be honest. Same goes for team Canada he won Olympic golds with: both solid teams. Would the 2018 team do any better with Babs? I don’t know but one could speculate and I don’t think that speculation would be in his favour. I am not putting Mike down, by the way; the guy knows what he is doing and his record shows it.

I guess what I am saying is that it is the players and the coach working together that makes things happen. I have never been to one, but I bet it is the atmosphere in the dressing room, the “I belong” part that matters. That’s why the Wings were what they were for a couple of decades and that’s where Mike built his success. Maybe the Leafs will get there, with or without Babs.

Could be worse though. Could be the Oilers drafting number ones for years just to end the following season picking yet one more, lol.

As a Flames fan, I have never thought that "Mike Babcock" was all that. As other's mentioned, he had a stacked roster in Detroit. The Olympic teams? Anyone could have taken those teams to gold. I think there are a very few coaches who make a difference, and it shows in turning teams around. Like Bowman. Trotz...look at before and after records at NYI. Quinville now with FLA. Babcock is a legend in his own mind IMO.

Leafs have no defence, and will never go anywhere!

The Leafs... contenders every year since '67 lol

Look for a podcast Mike Commodore did regarding babcock although it's one persons opinion, he played for babcock and gives an insight into him as a coach and the type of person he is.

I would post but being a podcast Commodore doesn't hold back on the language....

Now that’s funny $@&? Right there.

Detroit was a good team Babcock got one cup out of it. As far as international success that is good experience and and great accomplishment but any body that represents Canada will probably stand a great chance to win. What does a coach do maybe Stamkos, Crosby, Mcdavid ect with players like that on the same team it’s kind of hard to get that wrong. Scotty Bowman won multiple cups as well as many other coaches they had consistent success. Some times a coach wins one cup which is great and people think the got the magic formula (Mike Kennan).
Babock is a good coach I’m sure and when a team gives up on you that sucks it’s pretty much Over.
As far as his credentials one cup I don’t really think makes all star coach as some think the international play in my opinion don’t really count for much.

Exactly. They left their goalie high and dry last night. Poor rookie and his first game. And that has nothing to do with Babcock. That is all to do with the boys on the ice.

leafs
 

Leafs one thing--We got problems of our own--The flames slide not so fun-----

The phony has been fired.

He will be working again by years end if he so chooses.

I don't think he's a phony, but his rigid, hard, intense style does not seem anymore suited to today's young players than Ken Hitchcock's did.

Definitely not a phony. Has won at every level. CIS, Olympics, World Cup, Stanley Cup, World Juniors and World Championships. No other coach has done that.

What has Detroit done since he left?

He’s a actually a pretty nice guy. First time I was ever in Pincher Creek with a buddy to help him scout fit the Fernie Ghostiders junior hockey team, we sat right next to him in the stands as we was scouting for the Pronghorns.
Really nice, genuine guy. I didn’t see no ego there at all man. Pretty humble genuine fellow.
Spent about 4 hours chatting g with him in the stands.


Seemed like a real decent guy.

The game has changed so immensely in the last 5 years or so.

These A-hole no bs, my way or the highway coaches don’t work anymore.

Babcock likes to hunt, He'll be heading out to get the rest of November in. He'll worry about a job after that...maybe.

Maybe he goes back to Detroit?

BW

I do find it a bit ironic that Toronto would fire the coach of their hockey team before they would fire Trudeau.

A trained primate could've won the Olympics and World Cup with Canada's roster. His tenure with the Leafs showed that he wasn't the same coach when he didn't have an all star line up.

I would hope that he didn't have an ego while scouting Jr. B hockey! I'm sure that he's not a terrible person, but for every positive story about him, there's a negative one.

I see you conveniently never mentioned a few of the other mentioned leagues.

-Red Deer Collage (3 years), won the provincial collegiate championship and Coach of the Year;
-CIS (1 year), Won the University National Title and coach of the year;
-WHL (6 years), twice named West Coach of the Year;
-AHL (2 years), lead the team to a franchise high;
-NHL, Stanley cup, multiple SCF appearances, multiple Jack Adams nominations;
-World Junior gold;
-Two Olympic golds;
-World Cup of Hockey gold;
-Highest paid coach in NHL history; and,
-Only coach to have won the Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal, a World Cup, a World Championship, and a World Junior Championship.

I don't think he just got lucky with skilled teams. That's alot of luck over a 20 year run.

I'm more interested in what he's done lately as opposed to what he's done with Red Deer College.

I did mention the Olympics and World Cup. I would also have to say that winning the World Juniors with Canada (their fifth straight title), isn't exactly a monumental "against all odds" achievement.

Additionally, he joined the Wings at a time when they had made the playoffs for 15 straight seasons.

I'm not trying to say he isn't a legitimate NHL coach, because he obviously is. I've just never seen him as a coach that completely turns around franchises and gets everything out of a weak roster (I wasn't around to watch Red Deer College and U of L).

I can admit that I've been a little facetious, but the fact remains that he's getting paid $25 million to not coach the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Crazy. I’m assuming O’Keefe gets his trial in the NHL after being a good soldier coaching the Marlies. But, I also wonder if he’s just going to be a stop gap until Dubas can get his guy... never was his hiring.