How Confident Are You In Babcock?

[Jozay]

When you play your stars more, someone's icetime goes down. Raise Matthews and Tavares ice time to match Crosby and Malkin and now Kadri is only playing 14-15 mins a night instead of 16-17. What does the even more reduced icetime due to Kadri? Now people will complain Kadri isn't effective because of lack of icetime. Most of our top 9 are getting more minutes than Pitts 3rd line players. Our lack of PP time also hurts our top players overall TOI.

No, you can raise Matthews and Tavares' ice time and still have Kadri playing 17 minutes a night. It wouldnt be hard to do that at all.

 

[RLF]

No, you can raise Matthews and Tavares' ice time and still have Kadri playing 17 minutes a night. It wouldnt be hard to do that at all.

Crosby and Malkin play about 38-39 mins a night combined. Add 17 for Kadri and you are at 55-56 mins between the top 3. Leaving 4-5 mins for your 4th line centre. The only other way is to move centres to the wing for a few shifts. You do that too often and you disrupt any rhythm of your wingers as they sit too long.

 

[HOF Paul Henderson]

If you look at the playoff summary on the Hotstove from last year, how much has changed? These are the negatives mind you.....
ECQF Game #7 Review: Boston Bruins 7 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 4 | Maple Leafs Hotstove


Let’s start here: It doesn’t take a genius to point out that the Leafs defense could not transition the puck well enough against the Bruins forecheck, and that the team over-relied on the stretch pass, flip out, or high-of-the-glass play to get out of its own end. Jake Gardiner was perhaps the perfect microcosm of the stretch-pass reliance, living and dying by it in this series and in this Game 7, in particular. The flip out/high off the glass play became the go-to for Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev at the first sign of trouble. There is a personnel element and a systems element at play here. Both of the latter are slotted too high on the current depth chart and were tasked with too many minutes this season and playoff.

At the other end, the Leafs’ dump-ins were giveaways too frequently – too often, the Bruins would retrieve, go D-to-D, and off they went, tilting the ice back in their favour. You can rue the bad luck of hitting the ref in the skate off a clean faceoff win prior to the tying 4-4 goal, or the bounce off the end boards for the Patrice Bergeron goal, but at the end of the day, all you can do is set yourself up with the best possible odds and try to make your own breaks. The Leafs did not do that in this series due to their failure to tilt the ice enough in their favour.

7. The Leafs’ control over play in score close situations was second worst to only Minnesota among playoff teams – they were at 44.7% Corsi For percentage, a 42.6% Shots For percentage, and a 47% Scoring Chances For percentage when the score was within one over the seven-game series. If you organize playoff teams by score-close CF%, the bottom eight are now eliminated and the top eight are moving on to Round 2.

8. The offensive zone time issue – also known as the lack of cycle game, or one-and-done offense problem — is one the Leafs are going to have sort out this summer. It’s not a question of talent; it’s a roster makeup and systems issue. There is the issue of needing to be heavier and also the issue of puck support; it was evident how far apart the Leafs played at times compared to the way the Bruins support on the forecheck and cycle. The Leafs had similar problems after the 2013 loss to Boston and went about their off-season fixes totally wrong. The Leafs will need to address the issue without being too reactionary about it through recklessly shedding skill and speed for brawn.

9. In the defensive zone without the puck, the Leafs remain a serious work in progress. The Bruins outshot the Leafs 245-197 in this series; of that total, the Bruins defensemen outshot the Leafs’ defensemen 77-53 (the Bruins defense generated 45% more shots than the Leafs’ did). The Leafs failure to break the Bruins cycle, cover off the points, and — particularly early in the series — their struggles to box out effectively in front of their net put them behind the eight ball in this series from the very beginning. When the goaltending slipped in Games 1, 2, 4 and then 7, the Leafs couldn’t keep it out of their net. With their leakiness defensively, we knew the Leafs would need excellent goaltending and they got average to below-average netminding, looking back at the series as a whole.

10. There will be much more to sort through in the days and weeks to come as far as the individual and team performances in this series, what it means for the offseason, and much more. For now, I’ll leave you with this Babcock quote from the end of the regular season:

“Pain… normally what happens with a young team is, you get into the playoffs, and then you start thinking you might be one of the favourites… You end up having some playoff failures and everyone is telling you how bad you are, and then you fight through that and find a way.
This winning the ultimate prize is not an easy thing. As much as we are now a team in the league that looks like a good hockey club, you’ve got to do it year after year after year, and you’ve got to be a team that can win at playoff time. Lots of times, the teams that win in the regular season aren’t the teams that win at playoff time. There is only one team that gets to win. It’s a grind. I’m prepared for that totally. It’s not going to be easy.”​

The issues with Babcock do not seem to be going anywhere. He will keep playing Hainsey no matter how often he dumps the puck in and it leads to an offensive charge by the opposing team. And he seems to rely on the same systems and plays.

Defensive/size problems have been addressed to a degree by Dubas. Not solved, but we have improved defensively and size wise because of Muzzin and Babs trusts Muzzin enough to keep him in there for long stretches so that should bode well in the playoffs. In a close series, that might make the difference.

Which means Anderson should have better support this year. He hasn’t gotten any better, or worse. He’s the same.

In short, not really. We have many of the same problems. But! We have better players now.

 

[Mr Hockey]

No, you can raise Matthews and Tavares' ice time and still have Kadri playing 17 minutes a night. It wouldnt be hard to do that at all.

Leafs are top 5 in the league already, why not just spread the minutes like he has been doing, it keeps everyone on the team happy for now. Why risk wearing out or injuring the top 2 centers?

 

[GoldenGOOSE]

If Ron Hainsey were 29, I would agree with what Babcock is doing. But he is closer to 39. Regular season is far to too important to him.

He is an oldster, Babcock, 55 or something, those types rarely believe in the young. He should be playing Muzzin more, Dermott more and saving the mercurial Hainsey for the playoffs, but he.......

Hainsey understands setups better than anyone on the Leaf D, I get that, but save the guy will ya for the playoffs?

 

[Mr Hockey]

 

[Jozay]

Crosby and Malkin play about 38-39 mins a night combined. Add 17 for Kadri and you are at 55-56 mins between the top 3. Leaving 4-5 mins for your 4th line centre. The only other way is to move centres to the wing for a few shifts. You do that too often and you disrupt any rhythm of your wingers as they sit too long.

Yeah, I dont think either of those things are legitimate concerns.

 

[Jozay]

Leafs are top 5 in the league already, why not just spread the minutes like he has been doing, it keeps everyone on the team happy for now. Why risk wearing out or injuring the top 2 centers?

Cause maybe they'd win more games?

I dont really care about the regular season, I'd like to see it happen in the playoffs.

 

[moon111]

Can you imagine how many coaches out there wouldn't be able to resist playing kids like Matthews and Nylander more? What do they leave for want? The only carrot to dangle in front of them is ice-time and the Cup. They've getting their fair share of offensive ice-time for sure, they're naturals. But if they want more, they have to steal it from 'bottom six' by playing 'bottom six' hockey when it's required. No free passes with Babcock, and that something a lot of coaches wouldn't have the balls to do, especially in Toronto.

 

[Legendary]

Can you imagine how many coaches out there wouldn't be able to resist playing kids like Matthews and Nylander more? What do they leave for want? The only carrot to dangle in front of them is ice-time and the Cup. They've getting their fair share of offensive ice-time for sure, they're naturals. But if they want more, they have to steal it from 'bottom six' by playing 'bottom six' hockey when it's required. No free passes with Babcock, and that something a lot of coaches wouldn't have the balls to do, especially in Toronto.

Not many coaches have the balls to purposely underachieve but Babcock does! So glad we have him!

 

[DarkKnight]

2nd overall in the NHL, when is the last time a Leafs team was this high, this late in a season. Decades?

#firebabcock lmao.

Losers losing.

 

[GoonieFace]

Babs outcoached Gallant...

 

[GoonieFace]

2nd overall in the NHL, when is the last time a Leafs team was this high, this late in a season. Decades?

#firebabcock lmao.

Losers losing.

Its amazing how clueless people really are. Im hoping they are doing it for fun.

 

[SwollenGoat]

Not many coaches have the balls to purposely underachieve but Babcock does! So glad we have him!

Checks standings, re-reads post, laughs at clueless poster.

 

[DarkKnight]

Its amazing how clueless people really are. Im hoping they are doing it for fun.

Unfortunately no. I mean critique the guy, but thinking he should be fired or he's doing a bad job, goodness me go outside once in a while.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Checks standings, re-reads post, laughs at clueless poster.

Without babcock we would be in first boys

 

[justafan22]

Brown's playing top 6 with Johnsson gone, ugh.

 

[Joedoggy]

Mikey knows all..just ask him

 

[zeke]

Crosby and Malkin play about 38-39 mins a night combined. Add 17 for Kadri and you are at 55-56 mins between the top 3. Leaving 4-5 mins for your 4th line centre. The only other way is to move centres to the wing for a few shifts. You do that too often and you disrupt any rhythm of your wingers as they sit too long.

let's say we average 6pp and 6pk minutes per game, so 48 es min.

Matthews 16es, 4pp, 0pk = 20min
Marner 16es, 4pp, 0pk = 20min
Nylander 16es, 4pp, 0pk = 20min

Tavares 14es, 4pp, 0pk = 18min
Kapanen 14es, 2pp, 2pk = 18min
Johnsson 14es, 2pp, 2pk = 18min

Kadri 12es , 2pp, 0pk = 14min
Hyman 12es, 0pp, 2pk = 14min
Marleau 12es, 2pp, 0pk = 14min

Brown 6es, 0pp, 2pk = 8min
Goat 6es, 0pp, 0pk = 6min
Moore 6es, 0pp, 0pk = 6min

 

[RLF]

let's say we average 6pp and 6pk minutes per game, so 48 es min.

Matthews 16es, 4pp, 0pk = 20min
Marner 16es, 4pp, 0pk = 20min
Nylander 16es, 4pp, 0pk = 20min

Tavares 14es, 4pp, 0pk = 18min
Kapanen 14es, 2pp, 2pk = 18min
Johnsson 14es, 2pp, 2pk = 18min

Kadri 12es , 2pp, 0pk = 14min
Hyman 12es, 0pp, 2pk = 14min
Marleau 12es, 2pp, 0pk = 14min

Brown 6es, 0pp, 2pk = 8min
Goat 6es, 0pp, 0pk = 6min
Moore 6es, 0pp, 0pk = 6min

Three main things.
1. I doubt we will play our 4th line 6-8 mins a night when right now they average closer to 10 mins. Not sure there are many teams that only play their 4t h line 6-8 mins.
2. It would be great to get 3PP a night, but until recently, we have been getting 1-2 per night.
3. It was about giving Kadri his same minutes at around 16-17 per night while upping Matthews and Tavares. You have him down at 14. Not sure how this relates, as the point was how do you do it AND give Kadri the same type of minutes.

 

[zeke]

Three main things.
1. I doubt we will play our 4th line 6-8 mins a night when right now they average closer to 10 mins. Not sure there are many teams that only play their 4t h line 6-8 mins.
2. It would be great to get 3PP a night, but until recently, we have been getting 1-2 per night.
3. It was about giving Kadri his same minutes at around 16-17 per night while upping Matthews and Tavares. You have him down at 14. Not sure how this relates, as the point was how do you do it AND give Kadri the same type of minutes.

1. they should.
2. true, but that should balance out.
3. to get Kadri those 16 minutes, just flip him back onto the 1st pp unit (i have him n the 2nd unit).

 

[RLF]

1. they should.
2. true, but that should balance out.
3. to get Kadri those 16 minutes, just flip him back onto the 1st pp unit (i have him n the 2nd unit).

1. Regardless, they won't
2. Hopefully
3. Then you are cutting Nylander's ice time, which is what I said would happen to a winger and then we will here how Nylander deserves more ice time.

 

[zeke]

1. Regardless, they won't

they have, though.

2. Hopefully
3. Then you are cutting Nylander's ice time, which is what I said would happen to a winger and then we will here how Nylander deserves more ice time.

Actually Willy would get 18min in that setup, which is a substantial increase.

 

[RLF]

they have, though.



Actually Willy would get 18min in that setup, which is a substantial increase.

Very seldom have they played 6-8 mins. I would not expect it as a regular thing.

Yes it would. But it will be 2 mins less than Matthews and Marner and same as Kappy and Johnsson. There will be complaints about that for sure.

 

[crump]

a lesser man would have let this team slump badly in Dec-jan when Andersen went down..