Babcock fired by the Leafs discussion
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Suntouchable13
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I am with you, it's just very disappointing he put a season where we actually were supposed to contend in jeopardy because of his ego.
Agree with you. I think we can salvage things...It may be a blessing in disguise NOT to play Boston in the first round
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It's funny to me that there is a rush to label Babcock as outdated and overrated based on the way he treated people.
He may have been stubborn. A jerk. But his job wasn't to be liked. It was to win and get the most from his players. His situation is no where near the level of Bill Peters.
The NHL is filled with stories of famous coaches that were miserable. Scotty Bowman is one.
Ironically, Jack Adams, the man who had the Coach of the Year trophy named after him is another. He sent players to the minors for trying to organize a union. He traded and spread false rumours about Ted Lindsay hating his teammates and earning more than he was. Lindsay was organizing the Union.
Ironically, I don't believe a coach has that much of an impact on team results. But the same guys falling over Keefe for a winning streak and lauding the improvement they see... cannot raise an ounce of character and admit that Babcock got results.
He's the 8th winningest Coach in NHL history. Went from worst to playoff spot. Set a franchise record in points. Established the record for most Away wins in a season. Had players like Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly and Nazem Kadri develop under him.
Some even use Ageism in their diatribes in some ironic twist in their moral parade.
You may not have liked it... but he did what he was hired to do
willmma
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- Jan 5, 2017
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Babcock was good but he declined.
He was either unwilling or unable to adapt.
You're right, he took us from last to playoffs. This year he was taking us from playoffs to bottom 10.
Average coach at best. Got some good things out of a few players and got a lot less out of others. Couldnt run a lineup/make adjustments to save his life sewered players and burned bridges consistently. Incredibly happy he is gone and any person with eyes can see the players/system/in game adjustments/special teams have taken leaps forward. This has a ripple effect and has made it far easier for our goaltending and the results show just that.
Also please stop talking about our "franchise records" they are all literally awful and every single year multiple teams beat our records. Nobody gives a crap
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Totally fine to highlight that part of the story without cancelling the other parts.
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C'mon man... if coaching makes a difference... the only 105 point season in the history of the Club should mean something.
Gary Nylund
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- Oct 10, 2013
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Exactly. Every time someone says something about franchise records I just wanna puke.
BLONG7
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Babs was put on some sort of pedestal by the TO media. He rode that wave for a few years...
It means nothing. 3 teams beat it last year and like 5 the year before that. Its just some lame ass record babcock will hold til next year when the team is coached properly from October on.
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Gary Nylund
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Actually, before he did anything else Babcock took us from 27th overall to dead last.
ToDavid
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- Dec 13, 2018
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In Babcock’s defence he took an unwatchable 27th place team and turned them into a halfway decent last placed team that lost all its talent to trades or injuries and still finished a point ahead of the prior year. I definitely felt a lot better as a fan in 2015-16 than I did in 2014-15.
I don’t think anyone should take anything away from what Babcock did in those first couple of years. But he got in his own way after that and the players lost trust in him.
The saddest part of that record is how long into the super-amazing loser point suddenly apparating 3 point game era it stood.
Edit: words
Moonman
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Yeah it seems he's good at taking guys with minimal talent and elevating them. But on the flip side he's better at taking highly skilled players and making them worse so....
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This team couldn't win six shifts in a row with this ass at the helm, let alone 6 games in a row.
The more time passes, the more one realizes how poor a fit Babcock was for this group.
The more time passes, the more one realizes how poor a fit Babcock was for this group.
Stephen
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- Feb 28, 2002
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Agreed.
I also wonder if Babcock's message works better for a veteran team, family men, guys who came up through the minors and a semblance of that blue collar identity.
Polaris1010
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This is really funny.
Especially since Lou built the core on the back of Hunter’s drafting.
