Babcock wasn't a monumental failure. He gave this team credibility it lacked for years
As you can clearly see, its actually been the players that's been the problem. Not Babcock
I dont remember Babs team losing to a zamboni driver. That would be considered a monumental failure
Babs teams lost to stanly cup winners. No shame in that
This current management both coaches and front office has been the failure
Babcock wasn't a monumental failure. He gave this team credibility it lacked for years
As you can clearly see, its actually been the players that's been the problem. Not Babcock
I dont remember Babs team losing to a zamboni driver. That would be considered a monumental failure
Babs teams lost to stanly cup winners. No shame in that
This current management both coaches and front office has been the failure
I agree that the players are the problem. That much is obvious when you go through 2 GMs, 2 head coaches, multiple assistant coaching changes and multiple lineup changes over 5 years. But Babcock made a ton of dumb decisions while here.
-Playing washed up Marleau more minutes in a game 7 than your best player and one of the best goal scorers in the league.
- putting Komorov out to start 3on3 OT instead of our young star forwards.
- refusing to change up the goalie situation on back to backs even though our record was well below .500 on the 2nd game of back to backs. I specifically remember him starting Andersen against Columbus the first night and Hutch against the power house Bruins. We ended up losing both games. Wouldn't common sense tell ya to play your better goalie against the better team?
- he refused to play guys like Leivo and Holl even though when they were contributing when in the lineup. Both guys now very serviceable NHLers.
- would sit Spezza, who is a heart and soul Leaf, great on faceoffs and a secondary pp option for Shore? A fringe NHLer
- wouldn't play Matt Martin. We all would love to have Martin back.
- Putting tired players out on the ice for the sake of keeping his match ups he wanted in the playoffs. Bruce Cassidy was asked about match ups and he said he just puts out the freshest legs.
- playing broke back Gardiner decent minutes in the playoffs even though he had a bad back and was clearly not playing effective hockey.
- played Hyman 18+ minutes in the playoffs, putting him out in key situations with a torn ACL that required surgery.
The man was stubborn and was stuck in his ways. When something isn't working, change it up. Our team under Babcock was a run and gun style team that gave up 36 shots a game, and a 3.06 GAA and we had a hard time closing out leads. Fast forward to now, we had a solid defensive team only giving up 27 shots a game and 2.64 goals against. Our PP has been horrible though. If the PP gets going and our star players start playing with some balls we should be advancing in the playoffs. Keefe has shown some tendencies to be like Babcock when it comes to decisions but I would rather be over playing Matthews than someone like Marleau.
