So Babcock needs to go

[ACC1224]

This I agree with. I personally do not think Babs is the problem, but I would sure like to find out. If they continue to be a mediocre team after the coaching change, than Dubas would need to go.

After the Coach it will be the Players moved. For better or worse, Dubas is going to be here for a while.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Actually there's volumes of evidence which suggest that switching coaches mid-season results in worse team performance - the opposite of what we're after.

So yes actually replacing one of the best coaches in the game with a rookie from the AHL is quite likely to make us worse off.

Highly debatable, 1 Stanley Cup and 2 gold medals with rosters I could have coached to gold. In fact you can make a case the fact he only got 1 cup out of that Detroit group as a huge disappointment.

I'd roll the dice with a new coach at this point. Remember that beauty Brucey Boudreau turning Caps into a playoff team when they were trailing in season, think they went from last to playoff berth (also a rookie coach from the AHL)). Berube (not a great run in Philly) just took a team from last to a Cup. Believe Chicago also fired Yawney (might be a different coach & my memory sucks) but they hired Q and did alright after that.

 

[Drytoast]

This I agree with. I personally do not think Babs is the problem, but I would sure like to find out. If they continue to be a mediocre team after the coaching change, than Dubas would need to go.

Dubas would make a great assistant GM. He's not main GM material. He was bullied by every single star he had to sign.

 

[Bomber0104]

Who's our coach again? The guy who has been a first round exit 5 of his last 7 trips to the playoffs?

The guy who's won every single piece of hardware in professional hockey.

 

[ToneDog]

After the Coach it will be the Players moved. For better or worse, Dubas is going to be here for a while.

If the experts who think you cannot win in the NHL without physicality are right, Dubas should be the first to go. This team has been trending down since he took over. And after adding JT at that.

 

[ACC1224]

If the experts who think you cannot win in the NHL without physicality are right, Dubas should be the first to go. This team has been trending down since he took over. And after adding JT at that.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, just stating how I see it playing out.

 

[DarkKnight]

After the Coach it will be the Players moved. For better or worse, Dubas is going to be here for a while.

Here that, but once the coach is gone and Dubas has “his” guy in place, the media focus will turn to him. If we turf Babcock and Keefe comes in and we have another early playoff exit, Dubas will be under tremendous heat. He’s built a team with a philosophy in mind, should that fail, it’s all on him after he fires the coach.

 

[Apotheosis]

The guy who's won every single piece of hardware in professional hockey.

The guy who needed Niedermayer and Pronger anchoring his D?
The guy who couldn't win a cup without the best two way forward of all time, the best goalie of all time AND a top 5 D of all time?
The guy who won with the second most stacked Canada of all time (the same team that had 4 first lines)?

He's not a good coach. Especially now.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Perhaps no worse off but another year or two will be wasted.

I do think if they need to make a change, it's better to do it now why the season is still young.

I'd interim Keefe, if he sucks, then don't proceed next year with him, not sure Dubas is smart enough for that though. Boudreau is ideal but Minnesota likely waits it out until end of the year.

Dubas does need to improve the roster. Accept that he needs more then skill/speed, address the defense (I like PMD, but not every guy needs to be that) and get an adequate back up. Hutchinson is what 700k buys you in the NHL.

 

[Twowingcantfly]

The year is 2019. Most teams deploy 23 players that can be interchangeable on the fly. The top teams demand this. No matter how high your hockey IQ, or how often the media hype your name, you're not making their team if you cannot skate. Babcock have a number of players that cannot do more than two backward crossover strides Not his fault when he is handed players he has no use for.

 

[egd27]

Wasn't able to watch last night, but I see we lost another B2B with Hutch in net.

What did Babs do last night to get this thread bumped to the top of mountain again?

 

[Bomber0104]

The guy who needed Niedermayer and Pronger anchoring his D?
The guy who couldn't win a cup without the best two way forward of all time, the best goalie of all time AND a top 5 D of all time?
The guy who won with the second most stacked Canada of all time (the same team that had 4 first lines)?

He's not a good coach. Especially now.

There's a reason he gets the call from Team Canada and that's because he's one of the single best coaches in the world.

All the trophy's and hardware speak for themselves.

Without sounding so bitter about it, try comparing your successes in life with all those wins and then get back to me.

 

[GoonieFace]

The guy who needed Niedermayer and Pronger anchoring his D?
The guy who couldn't win a cup without the best two way forward of all time, the best goalie of all time AND a top 5 D of all time?
The guy who won with the second most stacked Canada of all time (the same team that had 4 first lines)?

He's not a good coach. Especially now.

He obviously is considered a good coach, or they would not have picked him to coach those teams.

 

[GoonieFace]

Wasn't able to watch last night, but I see we lost another B2B with Hutch in net.

What did Babs do last night to get this thread bumped to the top of mountain again?

Matthews didnt see the ice in the last few minutes. Leafs had Washington hemmed in for a good minute and a half. Matthews was garbage all night anyway, but the optics aren't good, and all the basement dwelling coaches roared out of their caves.

 

[ErnieLeafs]

The guy who needed Niedermayer and Pronger anchoring his D?
The guy who couldn't win a cup without the best two way forward of all time, the best goalie of all time AND a top 5 D of all time?
The guy who won with the second most stacked Canada of all time (the same team that had 4 first lines)?

He's not a good coach. Especially now.

It’s this kind of nonsensical, hysterical hot-takery that makes people say this fan base is whack.

I agree with them

 

[ErnieLeafs]

Matthews didnt see the ice in the last few minutes. Leafs had Washington hemmed in for a good minute and a half. Matthews was garbage all night anyway, but the optics aren't good, and all the basement dwelling coaches roared out of their caves.

I’m not coming at you with this, but in general, **** optics. If he’s not playing well, put the guys out who give you the best chance.

 

[egd27]

Matthews didnt see the ice in the last few minutes. Leafs had Washington hemmed in for a good minute and a half. Matthews was garbage all night anyway, but the optics aren't good, and all the basement dwelling coaches roared out of their caves.

Oh so the Matthews ice time issue?.....yea that's a huge one with the keyboard coaches.

Thought maybe he pulled the goalie mid game to allow those 3 goals in 78 seconds.

 

[Gary Nylund]

There's a reason he gets the call from Team Canada and that's because he's one of the single best coaches in the world.

All the trophy's and hardware speak for themselves.

Without sounding so bitter about it, try comparing your successes in life with all those wins and then get back to me.

When you hire someone to do a job, you may do so based in large part because of his resume. However, if the performance isn't what you had expected, there comes a time when you have to put the resume aside, understand that what he did in the past isn't helping you today and take a close look at the performance today.

If you don't do that, then you'd be a 100% incompetent GM, period.

 

[WTFMAN99]

When you hire someone to do a job, you may do so based in large part because of his resume. However, if the performance isn't what you had expected, there comes a time when you have to put the resume aside, understand that what he did in the past isn't helping you today and take a close look at the performance today.

If you don't do that, then you'd be a 100% incompetent GM, period.

This needs to be stickied at the top of every page. Some people just don't get it.

 

[Dreakmur]

The guy who needed Niedermayer and Pronger anchoring his D?

If you're talking about his time in Anaheim, his top defenseman was Keith Carney.

The guy who couldn't win a cup without the best two way forward of all time, the best goalie of all time AND a top 5 D of all time?

Datsyuk and Zetterberg were excellent two-way forwards, but lets be real, they are definitely not near the best of all time.

Dominik Hasek is the best goalie of all time, but he was way past his prime in Detroit.

The guy who won with the second most stacked Canada of all time (the same team that had 4 first lines)?

A lot of the Olympic teams have 4 first lines. Yeah, Canada was probably the most talented team, but the gap wasn't that large. They've been the most talented team in every Olympics that the NHL has sent players, yet they only win half the time. Babcock hasn't lost yet.

 

[showtime8]

I can see this trend occurring for the rest of the year.

Babcock makes a couple changes in a win against a brutal Minnesota team, that's in the 2nd game of a back to back . Crickets in this thread.

Babcock makes a couple changes in a loss to a good team, on a back to back night with the back-up tender... Everyone loses their mind.

We know what this team is comprised of. Offensive minded guys with little to no grit. So don't expect a team to act like a physical team, when they're not built that way. That's not on Babcock. If you're expecting a quality back-up performance & for someone to steal you a couple games, you aren't going to get that from Hutchinson. That's also not on Babcock.

The things that he can control are the structure of your team, the style in which they play & how ready they are to start the games. Given the way their team is built, I believe Babcock is right in doing the stretch pass. These are guys that aren't going to win you 50/50 battles in the corners, but would rather try to keep the pace at a high rate for 60 and have the opposing team try to adapt to their style. I think that they can be better structured throughout the neutral & defensive zone. I'm not sure how many odd man rushes they've given up in the last 2 games, but it doesn't look pretty some nights. And I don't think that Babcock has them ready to play this season. I believe they've given up the first goal multiple times within the first 5-6 minutes of a game (Tkachuk - 28 sec/Domi 1:08/Point 2:28/De la Rose 3:44/Kunin 5:30). When you're fighting the entire game uphill, it will make for a long season.

 

[Bomber0104]

When you hire someone to do a job, you may do so based in large part because of his resume. However, if the performance isn't what you had expected, there comes a time when you have to put the resume aside, understand that what he did in the past isn't helping you today and take a close look at the performance today.

If you don't do that, then you'd be a 100% incompetent GM, period.

Weird because I think a lot of the players on the team as well as the current GM aren't helping today either...

At least Babcock has actual success to fall back upon unlike everyone else in the organization (save for Shanahan as a former player)...

 

[Metroid]

I don't know where to put this, and I dont really want to make a new thread so hopefully It gets answered in here other wise I may start a new thread....
Hypothetical (this isnt cuz i thinking sky is falling) just a curious thought that came to me couple days ago...
Our next 1st rounder belongs to Carolina in the Marleau deal. It is top 10 protected.. If things keep going the way it is, and we dont make the playoffs (still think we will), what happens if the leafs somehow get 11-16th place and Carolina gets the pick, but then the leafs win the lottery and end up drafting top 3, does Carolina still keep the pick because of where we finished in the season, or does it get protected because it became "top 10" ?

 

[egd27]

When you hire someone to do a job, you may do so based in large part because of his resume. However, if the performance isn't what you had expected, there comes a time when you have to put the resume aside, understand that what he did in the past isn't helping you today and take a close look at the performance today.

If you don't do that, then you'd be a 100% incompetent GM, period.

This needs to be stickied at the top of every page. Some people just don't get it.

I can see this trend occurring for the rest of the year.

Babcock makes a couple changes in a win against a brutal Minnesota team, that's in the 2nd game of a back to back . Crickets in this thread.

Babcock makes a couple changes in a loss to a good team, on a back to back night with the back-up tender... Everyone loses their mind.

We know what this team is comprised of. Offensive minded guys with little to no grit. So don't expect a team to act like a physical team, when they're not built that way. That's not on Babcock. If you're expecting a quality back-up performance & for someone to steal you a couple games, you aren't going to get that from Hutchinson. That's also not on Babcock.

The things that he can control are the structure of your team, the style in which they play & how ready they are to start the games. Given the way their team is built, I believe Babcock is right in doing the stretch pass. These are guys that aren't going to win you 50/50 battles in the corners, but would rather try to keep the pace at a high rate for 60 and have the opposing team try to adapt to their style. I think that they can be better structured throughout the neutral & defensive zone. I'm not sure how many odd man rushes they've given up in the last 2 games, but it doesn't look pretty some nights. And I don't think that Babcock has them ready to play this season. I believe they've given up the first goal multiple times within the first 5-6 minutes of a game (Tkachuk - 28 sec/Domi 1:08/Point 2:28/De la Rose 3:44/Kunin 5:30). When you're fighting the entire game uphill, it will make for a long season.

I'd prefer we sticky this one.....it's much more balanced and objective

 

[ShaneFalco]

Saw this on another board

"Babcock called a timeout after the third (insert the opposition 's name here) goal in under two minutes, and passionately urged his team to remain settled, calm and disciplined" said no announcer, ever....