Sportsnet: “All bets are off” in regards to Babcock

[HamiltonNHL]

Other than "the players want to get Babcock fired" (which seems unreasonable), what else could it be?

Thats what it is.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Good memory. I recall Burke saying he wouldn't put Wilson through that so it worked.
Long road stretch before a home game however.

Michael is so oblivious he'd be wondering who this other Babcock is.

 

[The Iceman]

I think it started with the Habs comeback and they have been rattled ever since. Babcock told the team, this is your year and when they lose in epic fashion, they grip their sticks a little tighter, TB kicks their @SS, makes them grip their sticks a little tighter, every loss they start to panic and say, the boss tells us we are a great team but I'm not playing like a player on a great team. It comes down to confidence.

The TML turning point.

Kappy throwing his busted stick like a spear at the Montreal player with the puck

 

[Peiskos]

It’s not like this team is devoid of talent and skill and speed. It has Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly, guys like Kapanen and Johnsson, Muzzin etc

The team is obviously playing far below its capabilities, 99 times out of 100 when that happens it’s because of the coach and the systems he has in place.

Babcock had Lidstrom, Zetterberg and Datsyuk for years and years, he took one cup, I say 1 as if it was a disappointment because it was, the Red Wings had more talent than nearly ever team they faced in their days..yet came up short more times than not.

2010 Vancouver? - Horachek could have coached Canada to gold.

2014 Sochi? - Horachek could have coached Canada to gold.

2016 World Cup - Horachek could have coached Canada to gold.

Overrated, overpaid, in over his head. Same goes for Dubas..I honestly think he wears those glasses to make himself look more distinguished and smart.

Leafs won’t win anything with this Stone Age bum behind the bench.

 

[Lightsol]

Nobody could coach the Toronto Pokecheckers... Thats Dubas blindness to how they get bullied and abused by Boston, Ovechkin and basically any team that decides they want to bodycheck them into submission. I almost feel sorry for babcock who has to coach this softness. I blame Dubas more than Babcock, I think Babcock knows deep down this team way too soft to even be close to being a contender.

Two things:

1. If Babcock thinks the team is too soft, Babcock has f***ing options to try and fix it. We have multiple large, grinding cycle wingers down with the Marlies, all on small enough deals that the Leafs could cycle guys like Shore, Spezza and even Trevor Moore and Timashov out and try a few of them to see if changing it up helps. He instead goes with the same lineup again and again. So insisting that Dubas is the only one to blame for the soft roster is disingenuous at best.
2. "Nobody could coach the Toronto Pokecheckers" - Anybody notice that the list of massive poke-checkers includes Jake f***ing Muzzin, who was well known for his hitting abilities prior to us trading for him and him getting here? They're not poke-checking because that's what they do; they're poke-checking because that's what the coaching staff has told them to do. Same with the dump-ins and the corner bullshit they suck at. Babcock is putting most of this team in a very poor position to succeed, and that's entirely because he's a dinosaur who refuses to see when his strategy doesn't work.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Mirtle: The pros and cons of the Maple Leafs moving on from...

Toronto’s cap situation could be a factor in the Babcock decision, too. If they had more space, making a move to jolt this group alive would be easier to pull off without subtracting from the roster.

As it is, they’re limited to dollar-in, dollar-out transactions, which aren’t always easy to pull off.

Firing Babcock is simpler and cleaner, even with the term left on his eight-year contract. As highlighted above, there is also a growing case that the coaching staff is part of the problem, and that’s without even getting into the fact that some of these issues extend beyond just the first 22 games this season.

This decision is not as black and white as some want to make it. And I do not believe a decision on Babcock’s future is imminent.

That said, the bottom line is that if the Leafs continue to lose games, and GM Kyle Dubas can’t find a trade he likes, what are his other options?

Something, at some point, will have to give. There’s too much talent on this roster for this team to be this bad. There’s also too much riding on this season – with their window to contend supposed to be now – to let it fall away without attempting to turn things around.

To quote Yogi Berra, “it gets late early out here.”

It will now take a 35-17-8 (or equivalent) finish to get the Leafs back to 100 points this season. And they haven’t played .650 hockey over a sustained stretch like that for nearly a calendar year.

It’s not just Babcock who may be running out of time to fix this. They all are.

 

[Leafsman]

Mirtle: The pros and cons of the Maple Leafs moving on from...

Right now, a coaching change will hopefully suffice.

Wait, let the season slip. The fanbase will be asking for far more than a coaching change. All the heads will need to roll.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

That said, the bottom line is that if the Leafs continue to lose games, and GM Kyle Dubas can’t find a trade he likes, what are his other options?

Nothing can be realistically added to help this team.

The players aren't working with the coach.

They dont care.

Babcock has to go.

 

[Drew311]

#FreeKeefe

 

[A1LeafNation]

#freeBabcock

Nah

#f***Babcock

 

[Teeder Keon]

Bobcock just needs to get Dubas to trade Ceci for Gardiner and Barrie/ Kerfoot and a 6th for Kadri and a 3rd.

Reilly/Barrie
Muzzy/Dermott
Holl/Ceci

Thats what we don’t ever see and that is a coaching Flaw

Mikheyev/Matthews/Nylander

Thats another thing we don’t see and that is also a coaching flaw

The drop pass once twice and three times on every breakout on the powerplay what the hell and where the hell did this skill kill playbook ever come from? Best skating team in the league last couple years intentionally drop passes the speed right into complete standstill for our forwards standing at the blue line??? Wtf is that.

This power play is the work of a imbecile! Its like a 1 defense and 4 forwards where ever the hell they want to be???? Wonder why we has shorties against us!!! Useless coach who comes up with or even agreed with this. Blame the entire coaching staff

Rielly/Barrie
Muzzin/ Dermott

Thats the point on powerplays and play the hell out of Tavares/Matthews/Nylander/Marner/Mikheyev Johnsson

Johnsson/Kerfoot/Kapanen

So much not even tried! Fire the hell out of the entire coaching staff. They are rotten stinkin bad. Nothing is good or even mediocre anymore. Its plain bad. We have a .500 points % today and that ranks about 25th in the league. Wow this is a horrible display Dubas has let happen and lets continue!

You really whipped your waffle here amigo
Great points .. I literally can’t disagree with you on almost anything here other than the Kadri and Garda thing
Ship has sailed and hate going backwards
Also sometimes things just don’t work out
Not even the great Sam Pollock made bad after the case trades and moves
They all do
Now on your points regarding player usages and special teams , I’m right there with you and on top of that
Fire everyone’s ass who is responsible for the ice game plans and schemes
The worst I’ve ever seen is that Pp drop pass Crap
Who in the hell came up with that wtf
Your absolutely right , we are a team of speed and skill and we are literally ( shaking my head and face palming and the same time here ) sabotaging our strengths you know like neutering ...
How does that pass anyone’s knowledge of hockey 101
Also that shiiiiiite about drawing up plays on the pp BULL SHOoooooT to that
I’m not going to let more out than I should here wink wink ....
But
No one with skill and skill and talent ever ever ever wants to be castrated hen it comes to hockey and those bogus set ups and illustrations
Believe me in hockey and if your elite , the ouch drops and you go free-styling I mean free styling and let your talent and skill of not only you but also the skill and talents of your teammates just naturally flow ..
And MOVE around everyone , all 5 of you
Mooooooooove around and find someone open by having your opponent get it of position and exploit that
Flack this shhhhhooot
Fire Babcock and everyone else on this coaching staff ...

 

[Teeder Keon]

 

[HamiltonNHL]

The players are unhappy.
They are showing up for work but the team isn't playing for the coach.

 

[DALLER66]

Hyman is good eh !!

 

[Ciao]

Kind of miserable being a Leafs' fan now.

I don't know what the answer is, but I'm doubtful that a new coach will fix whatever is wrong.

When the young brats tire of the next coach, what then?

I'm almost inclined to let them suffer under Babcock, as ineffective as he is, until they separate the wheat from the chaff. Frankly, I just don't like to have players who quit on a coach, but if that's the case I don't yet know which ones they are. If and when it becomes clear, there could be some surprises in there.

Then again, we're unlikely to ever know what's really happening on the room.

PS Babcock is a first-class asshole for rubbing the Leafs' noses in Ovechkin's shitty remarks. He shouldn't have done that, and I suspect it has come back.on him now.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Hyman is good eh !!

LMAO...what a tool he is...does he say this stuff just to piss off other players on the team? The fact that everyone thought we would all of a sudden start scoring because "stone hands" came back from injury is too much...and this is from someone who likes the Hebrew Hammer...

 

[Legendary]

A poorly assembled team by an incompetent GM and Babcock will take the fall for it. Though when they continue to stink with a new coach almost everyone will scratch their heads in confusion.

 

[Bluelines]

The TML turning point.

Kappy throwing his busted stick like a spear at the Montreal player with the puck

You could be right on that, that distracted lack of focus is the team identity.

 

[RomanianLeafs]

A poorly assembled team by an incompetent GM and Babcock will take the fall for it. Though when they continue to stink with a new coach almost everyone will scratch their heads in confusion.

Almost the same team as last season where we sucked from january on..and this is the same core that Lou had and we added a Top Center in Tavares plus Muzzin..Dubas made some small mistakes but this is not on him, this is because of this arrogant coach..

 

[HamiltonNHL]

PS Babcock is a first-class ******* for rubbing the Leafs' noses in Ovechkin's ****ty remarks. He shouldn't have done that, and I suspect it has come back.on him now.

Babcock is desperate. He's lost the room.

 

[Bluelines]

A poorly assembled team by an incompetent GM and Babcock will take the fall for it. Though when they continue to stink with a new coach almost everyone will scratch their heads in confusion.

They say GM's get to fire one GM, you can't fire the players.

 

[MSZ]

It’s not like this team is devoid of talent and skill and speed. It has Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly, guys like Kapanen and Johnsson, Muzzin etc

The team is obviously playing far below its capabilities, 99 times out of 100 when that happens it’s because of the coach and the systems he has in place.

Babcock had Lidstrom, Zetterberg and Datsyuk for years and years, he took one cup, I say 1 as if it was a disappointment because it was, the Red Wings had more talent than nearly ever team they faced in their days..yet came up short more times than not.

2010 Vancouver? - Horachek could have coached Canada to gold.

2014 Sochi? - Horachek could have coached Canada to gold.

2016 World Cup - Horachek could have coached Canada to gold.

Overrated, overpaid, in over his head. Same goes for Dubas..I honestly think he wears those glasses to make himself look more distinguished and smart.

Leafs won’t win anything with this Stone Age bum behind the bench.

You forgot to mention his 2003 run in Anaheim...The Ducks were outshot by the opponents in ALL but THREE playoff games but JSG pulled an all-time goaltending performance (two 60+ saves games)to make it all the way to game 7 of the Finals and won the Conn Smythe.

 

[Guy Boucher]

Honest question...

The leafs made a franchise record in points under babcock while this same core was 2 years less experienced and didn't have Tavares.

I'm not so sure the 3rd and 4th lines were better 2 years ago. I'm also not so sure that the D was any better 2 years ago.

Sure, Mcbackup was much better than Sparks/Hutch... but it's not just that.

The team looks lost under Babcocks system... while 2 years ago they thrived from it.

Other than "the players want to get Babcock fired" (which seems unreasonable), what else could it be?

It's not the same system.

 

[Lightsol]

You forgot to mention his 2003 run in Anaheim...The Ducks were outshot by the opponents in ALL but THREE playoff games but JSG pulled an all-time goaltending performance (two 60+ saves games)to make it all the way to game 7 of the Finals and won the Conn Smythe.

That was the team where Babcock bumped Paul Kariya down to the bottom line because he wasn't playing the "Babcock way". And that plus Babcock sticking around had a lot to do with Kariya hitting free agency at the end of the year, which lead to the team not being able to score the next season and ending up in the basement.

 

[Marshy]

They fired Carlyle on my 45th birthday.

Leafs play the Oilers on my 50th bday.

Just sayin'....