Feel absolutely free to knock some of Babcock's personnel decisions, but you can't overlook the areas where he's done his best work.
Morgan gets tough minutes the last few years and learns on hard difficulty, he gets PP time this year and boom, now he's a good number one D.
Gardiner still has his moments but a lesser coach would staple him to the bench and force him to watch game tape daily, but he didn't and boom, competent number two D.
Kadri had his issues, babs nurtured his tenacity and gave him a sense of importance to the process, boom, back to back 30 goals.
Willy has elite skill but sometimes plays too passively, he gets a little tough love and a larger harder role which he gives him piecemeal and boom, 60 points again and hot when we need it.
Mitch comes out cold and does his bid on the 4th line but babs likes how he plays there even in the absence of production, so he moves him up and boom, he's easily our 2nd half MVP.
Auston was always good.
...
Feel free to knock his on ice judgment at times, but he has a knack for developing guys and knowing when to criticize and when to praise. He knows the players better than we ever will. He knows how to best use them, while also positioning them for future success. He is a player's coach.
We made the last wildcard last year, this year we've clinched with a few weeks left.
The team is improving year by year.
Teams who have been built well do that. Teams who are coached well do that.