A second chance to bring the cup to Toronto. This is truly the first year that we could be labelled as a cup contender (IMO). Arguments could be made perhaps for last season too... but regardless... We had to play a top 3 team in the NHL in the first round.... this is no easy task...
1) Hockey players are human... you can't just expect them to play every other shift over long durations of play. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but with having one of the biggest sports science departments in the NHL, I'd imagine that some of these ice-time decisions are influenced by the organization. Who knows.
2) I don't recall game 6 exactly, but last night's empty net goal / pull was every bit as much on the players as it was the coach. We DID have possession, but gave it away too easily (a common theme this season). This is every bit as much on the players as it is the coach...
3) Babcock didn't refuse to adapt though... that is a false narrative around here...
Simply put, if we won the special teams battle, we'd be in round 2. I think Babcock's history... bringing us to back to back 100 point seasons (for first time ever?)... watching our young players develop successfully under his guidance... etc, etc. all warrants another chance.
1: you do not play Matthews less than 20 minutes in an elimination game. I can play the sports science department game as well as you can. in the regular season. sure - but in must win scenarios, why aren't you shortening the bench? why aren't you doing everything in your power to ensure a goal. Patrick Marleau -
and i really really like him - is not the person you toss over the boards with minutes to go. I'm sorry.
2: We
barely did, we weren't even really set up. When Joe Bowen, he who has apologised for a lot of crap that he has seen in this organization is amazed that Babcock did it twice and questions it. it wasn't just a "we gave it away." they weren't properly set up for a goalie pull.
twice.
3: Really? he adapted? When?
Our powerplay has been stagnant since November. What did he adjust? For three years it's been the
worst powerplay in the NHL in the playoffs. Three. years.
Our penalty kill has has been awful pretty much the same period of time. Did he try
at all to put Tavares or a different centre on the PK just to even win a draw? Doing it in game seven - is not adapting. He forced hyman to do a centres job all season and it didn't work., so why are we surprised it didn't work again (Oh by the way? we had the worst PK in the playoffs three straight years too).
The Leafs for 6 weeks haven't won a game back to back. so are we
really surprised the Leafs couldn't win two in a row in the playoffs? People want to dismiss the regular season as being meaningless, but honestly - the struggles that we saw then are what we saw here magnified.
Now. this is Babcock's thread so I am not even going to start with the stupidity that is Nazem kadri who pretty much removed any chances of actual adjustments we probably could have done, but there were a lot he could have done that he didn't do. and I have handwaved/ignored a Lot of babcock's crap so it's not "oh no, we lost, blame someone." He's making the same mistakes over and over again and not making changes fast enough as in. If the Special Teams are the reason why we lost - and the special teams - has been struggling
all year then
WHY DIDN'T HE DO ANYTHING TO CHANGE IT? If Hiller and Smith were the problem (hello, defense woes ) why did he retain them. If anyone with eyes could see what the issues were, why Babcock, who is paid a
hell of a lot of money can't go "wait this isn't working. let's try something else."
So. if you wanna believe this is a false narrative, okay. I am still seeing the same issues that were prevalent from three years ago. we can hand wave it that "oh they were rookies." but the issues were there and they haven't been corrected.
and honestly.
the thing is. sure. the points and the records and all of that are really great - but the goal is to progress every year. and the team - when it counts- isn't progressing or improving where it matters most. and honestly - I rather not waste another year praying and hoping that the issues that the team has will magically disappear when we all know it won't.