Mike Babcock

[Blackhawkswincup]

Babcock since winning cup has had some notable collapses in playoffs

2019 vs Leafs = Up 3-2 and lost in 7
2017 vs Caps = Up 2-1 and lost in 6
2015 vs Lightning = Up 3-2 and lost in 7
2013 vs Blackhawks = Up 3-1 and lost in 7
2009 vs Penguins = Up 3-2 and lost in 7 (In finals)

Also there is no defending this tonight

Game 7 ESTOI

John Tavares = 18:59
Mitch Marner = 18:33
Zach Hyman = 18:15
Austin Matthews = 16:28
Kasperi Kapanen = 14:37
William Nlander = 14:33

Can someone explain to me the love affair Babcock has with Hyman?

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Hockey is a strong link game not a weak link game. Distributing talent throughout your lineup is more effective than concentrating it all on one line.
Strong and Weak Links: Talent Distribution within Teams
Identifying Playing Styles with Clustering

If you want the old school explanation, there is only one puck so the more skill players you use together the less any of them can have the puck. Unless you have 12 highly skilled forwards, you're better off using a less skilled guy as a puck retriever to get the puck for the more skilled one. It's stuff like this that had Babcock still making the playoffs with a broken down Red Wings roster that was immediately one of the worst in the NHL once he left.

So then we can say Babcocks strategy is great for taking bad teams to being good

But his strategy is terrible for playoff hockey. Playing your third line in the last 10 down two? Playing your 2nd PP as much time as the first? Matthews playing under 22minutes in game-7?

 

[RedHawkDown]

Babcock is overrated and wings fans said it over and over again when the leafs hired him. We warned you. Yet we were called jealous and spiteful and told we were making things up.

Well now you guys see it too. He won in Detroit because he had a ridiculously stacked roster with two Selke caliber Cs and likely hall of famers in Datsyuk and Z and one of the best dmen of all time in Lidstrom. Not to mention a fantastic supporting cast with Franzen et al. He won with Team Canada because, well, it’s Team friggin Canada. I could coach that team to a gold medal.

 

[foggyvisor]

Leafs can't win a playoff round WITH the "best coach in the NHL". That's a problem.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Hockey is a strong link game not a weak link game. Distributing talent throughout your lineup is more effective than concentrating it all on one line.
Strong and Weak Links: Talent Distribution within Teams
Identifying Playing Styles with Clustering

If you want the old school explanation, there is only one puck so the more skill players you use together the less any of them can have the puck. Unless you have 12 highly skilled forwards, you're better off using a less skilled guy as a puck retriever to get the puck for the more skilled one. It's stuff like this that had Babcock still making the playoffs with a broken down Red Wings roster that was immediately one of the worst in the NHL once he left.

Nylander and Matthews were great together for 2 years. You're saying that they were better off keeping them separated like they did this year? Kapanen, a third liner, was horrendous on Matthews' line, while Nylander was playing with 2 black holes in Marleau and Brown.

 

[WillTheThrill]

Please keep him for 1 more year so we can trade you Luke Glendening for an obscene price and watch Babcock play him 18 minutes a game.

Thank god babcock isnt the GM

 

[Taluss]

But could the Leafs currently get a better coach than Babs? No clue whose out there

 

[Terry Yake]

babcock is extremely overrated. not sure why he's gotten the endless praise he's received for so long

his best coaching job was taking the 03 ducks to the SCF. after that, he's appeared in 2 SCF, none in the last decade. he's had no postseason success in 10 years and he continued to be held as some coaching genius

he's won the same amount of cups as randy carlyle

 

[serp]

Hockey is a strong link game not a weak link game. Distributing talent throughout your lineup is more effective than concentrating it all on one line.
Strong and Weak Links: Talent Distribution within Teams
Identifying Playing Styles with Clustering

If you want the old school explanation, there is only one puck so the more skill players you use together the less any of them can have the puck. Unless you have 12 highly skilled forwards, you're better off using a less skilled guy as a puck retriever to get the puck for the more skilled one. It's stuff like this that had Babcock still making the playoffs with a broken down Red Wings roster that was immediately one of the worst in the NHL once he left.

It's not about concentrating everything on one line for whole games , series or a season but for a desperation push when your team is down. It makes zero sense to play offensively challenged players when chasing a lead just because well they play on that line with those offensively skilled players normally. You have 82 games to make sure everbody on your roster can play with each other so when it really counts you can switch up lines during games without any confusion.

 

[Zerotonine]

Most over rated coach in the league and is solely responsible for coaches inflated salaries now.

 

[lomiller1]

As a Wings fans the one thing I always hated about him was his tendency to underuse players like Datsyuk and Zetterberg so lesser players could get more PT. Seems that is still the case in Toronto.

I would much rather PM used his lines like Babcock does. In Particular:

Scheifele 21:52 per game on 24.0 shifts
Wheeler 20:43 per game on 24.1 shifts
Connor 19:15 per game on 21.3 shifts

vs
Marner 19:45 per game on 25.2 shifts
Tavares 19:05 per game on24.0 shifts
Matthews 18:33 per game on 23.4 shifts

Babcock is putting his top players out as often or more often than PM does in Winnipeg, he's just insisting they don't stay out for as long so they can play a higher energy game. It's the shorter shifts that accounts for "low ice time" not how much or how often they are being used and it shows up in the pace at which they play.

 

[Zerotonine]

He's got $25M left on his contract.

Apparently he does not .he was paid heavy bonuses and his salary is next to nothing for the remainder of the contract as per friedman

 

[KCC]

So overrated. He’s not a bad coach by any means but hey, he got a big pay day out of it.

 

[Ishad]

But could the Leafs currently get a better coach than Babs? No clue whose out there

A plank of wood with a a scowl drawn on it is available and likely about the same worth.

 

[Zerotonine]

It's been said many times before. The game is a young man's game and is starting to be the same when it comes to coaches .

Need some new faces as opposed to the blender of recycled coaches that continues to go on in the nhl

 

[syz]

Still always funny to remember when he criticized the Oilers for playing McDavid too much.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

The Wings teams he coached were far from the greatest of all time.

He inherited a stacked Allstar Wings team in 2006 that blew it against Oilers (A series he was outcoached in) and team that won cup in 2008 was still a deep team

Datsyuk
Zetterberg
Lidstrom
Osgood
Rafalski
Hudler
Fillpula
Franzen
Kronwall
Stuart
Holmstrom
Samuelsson
Cleary
Chelios
Hasek

- Guys like Dats , Zetterberg and Lidstrom were no doubt top 10 players in NHL at time
- He had kids like Hudler and Fillpula emerging
- And many of the vets were damn good at time before injuries derailed careers such as Franzen and Stuart
- Hasek and Chelios were in twilight of career but still were functional that year

Those first few Wings teams he had were easily among the deepest of the post cap NHL rosters

 

[lomiller1]

So then we can say Babcocks strategy is great for taking bad teams to being good

It's great for a cap league where you can't afford to put 3 elite players on every line, which pretty much describes the NHL.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

It's great for a cap league where you can't afford to put 3 elite players on every line, which pretty much describes the NHL.

So then where is his success?

 

[X8oD]

the guy hasnt won a play-off series since 2013. He has an abysmal record in game 7s. And its a farce that he only won 1 cup with the wings team he inherited. He throws away skill for grinding/mucking it up. But not physical/hitting grinding. Just, grinding. The last few years of his wings time was notorious for dumping the puck in, and sending in Glendening, Helm or Abelkader to go along the boards and just hold the puck. It was absolutely infuriating to watch.

 

[Goalie guy]

We told you!!!!!

 

[wingsnut19]

the guy hasnt won a play-off series since 2013. He has an abysmal record in game 7s. And its a farce that he only won 1 cup with the wings team he inherited. He throws away skill for grinding/mucking it up. But not physical/hitting grinding. Just, grinding. The last few years of his wings time was notorious for dumping the puck in, and sending in Glendening, Helm or Abelkader to go along the boards and just hold the puck. It was absolutely infuriating to watch.

People really need to give Babcock more credit for the Wings 2008 win than they are giving him. That was one of the best coached teams I have ever watched. They were incredibly disciplined and clearly bought into a system set out by Babcock, which just won games. Yes, he had an excellent team, but he had a plan and executed it perfectly. The job he did in the playoffs, especially against the Penguins, was fantastic.

Not defending his recent results, but I still believe he was instrumental in the Wings 08 win.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

If Toronto does not want him. Someone will. Maybe even the Jets or Buffalo? And he will improve those 2 teams immediately. He's a very good coach, top 5% in the NHL IMO. But if Toronto needs a scapegoat, they may want to find someone better, easier than it sounds, before they make any rash decisions here.

 

[Coffey]

He's a very good coach, top 5% in the NHL IMO

Based on what?

 

[lomiller1]

So then where is his success?

He took an old broken down Wings team to the playoffs multiple times after it had no business getting there anymore and did the same with a young Leafs team that had no business getting that far yet.