Mike Babcock Elite Coach Appreciation thread

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

It's funny how when the Leafs go from missing the playoffs to consecutive playoff births, it's the players, not Babcock that are praised. Yet when they lose in Game 7 of a 1st round series, the blame is suddenly all Babcock's. I love this fan base.

I always love when people try to put the Leafs going from dead last to a playoff team as a success for Babcock as opposed to the new players the Leafs added

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

wilson was arrogant too.

 

[stickty111]

It's funny how when the Leafs go from missing the playoffs to consecutive playoff births, it's the players, not Babcock that are praised. Yet when they lose in Game 7 of a 1st round series, the blame is suddenly all Babcock's. I love this fan base.

Its because the players can do no wrong.

 

[Bomber0104]

It's funny how when the Leafs go from missing the playoffs to consecutive playoff births, it's the players, not Babcock that are praised. Yet when they lose in Game 7 of a 1st round series, the blame is suddenly all Babcock's. I love this fan base.

Whoever coaches the Leafs always gets criticized unreasonably. But look at who's doing it at the end of the day... a bunch of dweebs on the internet and a couple of hack reporters who can't even skate.

Tell us more about how you the know the sport better than Quinn, Maurice, Carlyle, and now Babcock.

LOL

 

[Bomber0104]

I've never really had a huge problem with Leaf's coaching until Babcock came around.

I recognized that a lot of our other coaches were doing the best they could with what they had available to them.

I really don't think this is a case of us just hating on a coach for the heck of it. I probably wouldn't be complaining if we had an average coach... or even a slightly below average coach... but Babcock is truly a horrible coach at this point and I have no confidence in him whatsoever.

You seem to think the Leafs are this stacked team that's being held back by the coach. That's not the case at all.

There's a glaring issue with team defence which extends to both the forward and defence groups. That would be a personnel/GM issue, not coaching.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

You seem to think the Leafs are this stacked team that's being held back by the coach. That's not the case at all.

There's a glaring issue with team defence which extends to both the forward and defence groups. That would be a personnel/GM issue, not coaching.

Agree there is an issue with both the forward and defence groups, disagree that it's not a coaching issue. With the skill on this team, and with gudpros Babcock likes to overuse, he should be able to coach and mould a system that is successful. How is it the GM's fault that Babcock insists on stretch passes to clear the zone as opposed to having forwards coming back and accepting a 10-15 foot pass and moving in unison out of the zone...ohhhh, let's say like the group of no-names that is playing out of Vegas and is in the Stanley Cup Final?

 

[1specter]

How can someone seriously say they didn't have a problem with Leafs coaching UNTIL Babcock? What the f***? Did you only start watching hockey in 2016? My god Leaf fans sometimes...

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

How can someone seriously say they didn't have a problem with Leafs coaching UNTIL Babcock? What the ****? Did you only start watching hockey in 2016? My god Leaf fans sometimes...

This forum is a race to the bottom for who can say the most outlandish thing.

 

[drewjenks]

Lets talk about our elite coach. I know that may hurt some people's feelings, but a fact is a fact.
Its an appreciation thread. No need for Babcock is terrible because reason 1, reason 2, reason 3 to hide blame of the players.
So lets see what he has done so far
Made the playoffs unexpectedly, took a heavily favorited Capitals team to 6 games, including 5 OT's. Funny thing is the blame can go to Andersen for losing that series.

This year, the team got over 100 points, came back from 3-1 down to force a game 7, and had the lead after 2nd period, then Andersen happened.
Our starting goalie took half the series off, our 2nd best C missed 3 games, our best player Matthews didnt feel like playing, and we still got to a game 7. If that isnt coaching, then im not sure what that is.

Babcock is a great coach and a terrific motivator. He has done some great things for the team. He is a very important part of the team, and are fortunate to have him.

The honest truth:

If Babcock came to the Leafs as a no name & if he wasn't touted as 'elite' the day we signed him....his reviews would be extremely mixed at this point.

Good results in the regular season? Sure.
The team turned around? Sure.

But how much of that was Babcock & how much was these guys showing up right after:

Matthews
Marner
Nylander
Brown
Hyman
Marleau
Johnsson
Kapanen

Dermott
Zaitsev
Hainsey
Borgman

Anderson
McElhinney

Who knows?

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

The honest truth:

If Babcock came to the Leafs as a no name & if he wasn't touted as 'elite' the day we signed him....his reviews would be extremely mixed at this point.

Good results in the regular season? Sure.
The team turned around? Sure.

But how much of that was Babcock & how much was these guys showing up right after:

Matthews
Marner
Nylander
Brown
Hyman
Marleau
Johnsson
Kapanen

Dermott
Zaitsev
Hainsey
Borgman

Anderson
McElhinney

Who knows?

Your team can be injected with lots of good young talent and still be shit. Look no further than the perennial tanking of Oilers, Sabres, Islanders. Having good players is one piece of the puzzle but not all of it.

I firmly believe the following:

1. You don’t just have good coaches and bad coaches. I think you have coaches that are strong in some areas and not as strong or flat out weak in other areas. You want to bring a coach in for a period of time to accomplish a goal. For the Leafs it was about eradicating the country club culture and I think Babcock is doing a great job there. He’s pushing the players to get the most out of them while the other half of that was getting rid of Players that don’t fit that mold. Babcock is great at pushing players to be their best, managing their time and their opposition to give them the best chance to succeed. This is paying dividends on becoming more competitive earlier and having a ton of rookies come into the line up and succeed. Also, leafs needed a coach that was open to new ideas and progressive approaches to player personnel. Look no further than measurement of heavy shifts, giving tons of power to sports science on when a players gets back on the ice. Babcock is not allowed to so much as inquire to a player how they’re feeling in order to avoid a coach-player pressuring to get them back on the ice. Leafs needed a coach who is open minded to fit into all these changes.
2. Who goes onto the ice and when in some circumstances isn’t up to the head coach as much as many think. He has assistants for a reason. He has people tracking game metrics in his ear that are giving him on the fly recommendations and he’s using more information than we have to make a decision. For example, how many heavy shifts Matthews has had so far and who the team is playing next and in how many nights with how much travel and whether the team is likely to be down in the third period probably plays into the decision of if he gets an O-zone face off against Bergeron in the second period on a given night. I don’t see any Babcock haters giving this kind of thought into their hot takes...
3. There’s a good reason Babcock is perennially the go-to coach for team Canada in pretty much all world championships. The guy knows the game, knows how to coach, and knows how to get he most of his players.

I think he’s elite, but I think lots of people thinks that means perfect, which is far from the truth. But we need to take into consideration with our opinions that we are not elite in evaluating coaches.

 

[pulfordfan]

Mike has made players better then they were before the big 3 arrived, Kadri Reily Bozak and JVR to name a few. I would dare to say that Hyman, Brown, Gardiner, Kapanen as well, and I have no doubt Nylander, Marner and Matthews although highly skilled before coming, have benefited from his coaching. Before running down probably one of the best coaches in the NHL take a second look and be happy we have him, no entitlement on his bench. That disease was rampant before he and Lou arrived. Work hard, live right is his mantra, no matter who you are.

 

[Nithoniniel]

I always love when people try to put the Leafs going from dead last to a playoff team as a success for Babcock as opposed to the new players the Leafs added

It's not an either/or situation. Everybody involved deserved credit for blowing past all expectations.

 

[GoldenGOOSE]

All I know is I don't like the guy, his manner of speech or his coaching. Never did.

 

[Liminality]

All I know is I don't like the guy, his manner of speech or his coaching. Never did.

At least you can admit your bias.

When we first got him people assumed we'd be paying him lots of money and still be in the bottom 10 of the league. Discussions of we were not ready to have a coach this good or there was no point in getting a coach this good so early in the rebuild stage if we were just going to lose. Now we're winning a lot more than we were supposed to and yes the players deserve credit to exceeding expectations but Babcock has a role in that. We wanted great development from our young players? So far we've been getting great development from our young players under Babcock. Not much else you can ask for at this stage.

Of course the expectations will continue to grow as it gets closer to the end of his contracts but that's to be expected with the explosive start in his contract.

 

[Griffin76]

I wasn't a country music fan till Babcock came along. Now I am. So I appreciate that. The ladies like it too. So that makes me appreciate it even more.

 

[Bluelines]

Why do you think all of these accomplishments are due to the coach, and not due to the roster?

Why does it have to be one or the other?

A team is a sum of its parts.

 

[Bluelines]

I wasn't a country music fan till Babcock came along. Now I am. So I appreciate that. The ladies like it too. So that makes me appreciate it even more.

Country music? Buy a pick up truck, dog and guitar and you got the trifecta of mid-life crisis completed.

I got 2 of the 3 and I'm looking for a good dog.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

It's not an either/or situation. Everybody involved deserved credit for blowing past all expectations.

if the coach is the same but the roster is vastly overhauled, I would give most of the credit to the roster. he's right that Babcock doesn't deserve the sole blame for the playoff defeat though

 

[Gary Nylund]

This forum is a race to the bottom for who can say the most outlandish thing.

So people like CyNick are merely tanking. Mind blown!

I wasn't a country music fan till Babcock came along. Now I am. So I appreciate that. The ladies like it too. So that makes me appreciate it even more.

Reminds me of an old joke I heard Dolly Parton tell - what do you get when you play a country song backwards?

 

[Griffin76]

Country music? Buy a pick up truck, dog and guitar and you got the trifecta of mid-life crisis completed.

I got 2 of the 3 and I'm looking for a good dog.

That's all I'm lacking too.

 

[Bluelines]

So people like CyNick are merely tanking. Mind blown!



Reminds me of an old joke I heard Dolly Parton tell - what do you get when you play a country song backwards?

You get your dog back, your trailer back, your wife back.

 

[Griffin76]

So people like CyNick are merely tanking. Mind blown!



Reminds me of an old joke I heard Dolly Parton tell - what do you get when you play a country song backwards?

You get back your wife, dog and truck?

It's kinda funny when I look back on it now but a few years ago my wife left me, my dog died shortly after (I think she missed me) and she wanted the truck and my guitar. I still have the truck and guitar and an appreciation of country music.

 

[Gary Nylund]

You get back your wife, dog and truck?

It's kinda funny when I look back on it now but a few years ago my wife left me, my dog died shortly after (I think she missed me) and she wanted the truck and my guitar. I still have the truck and guitar and an appreciation of country music.

I saw Dolly tell this joke to Johnny Carson on the tonight show many years ago (he laughed hard) and yes, I believe this was the answer (though not 100% sure of the order ).

Sorry you had to go through that and as animal lover I completely believe that absolutely may have been why your dog died. If you can look back on it all as being kind of funny I guess that means you've survived, good for you!

 

[DarkKnight]

if the coach is the same but the roster is vastly overhauled, I would give most of the credit to the roster. he's right that Babcock doesn't deserve the sole blame for the playoff defeat though

So the roster gets most of the credit for success, but failure you concede sole blame doesn’t fall on the coach. Absurd, illogical. This is what happens when people paint themselves in a biased corner, you’ll never reconcile the contradictions. Man.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

So the roster gets most of the credit for success, but failure you concede sole blame doesn’t fall on the coach. Absurd, illogical. This is what happens when people paint themselves in a biased corner, you’ll never reconcile the contradictions. Man.

I didn't really go into detail about how much blame/credit I think he deserves versus the roster. Coaching plays a much more important role in the playoffs than in the regular season though. Adjustments and preparation become essential for success, so I don't think it's unreasonable to hold the coaches to a higher standard in the postseason compared to regular season performance. If the Leafs do happen to have a terrible regular season next year, I'd place most of the blame on the roster. If the Leafs have another very strong season and a quick exit, then I'd look to coaching again as well