Who is a better coach, Tortorella or Keefe?

[slimbob8]

How are we supposed to compare a rookie coach with less than half a season under his belt to a two time Jack Adams winner whose been a head coach in the league for 20 years? I fully believe Keefe is and will be a great coach with a long career, but this poll was created for the sole purpose of making him look bad IMO.

 

[Evergreen]

Keefe is better than Babcock isn’t he?

Babcock has a Stanley Cup, 2 Olympic Golds, 2 World Championship Golds, 8th most wins all time, etc etc. Keefe might be a better fit for the Leafs where they stand currently, but to say he's a better coach than Babcock is at the very least extremely premature.

 

[Morgs]

The only way they'll look silly is if Keefe gets back to back Cups or something.

Leafs are top 5, arguably top 2 roster in terms of talent. Getting anything less than major playoff success is failure.

What I learned from Babcock is that being a "better" or "good" coach is subjective because having success, doesn't always mean you're the right coach for a particular team.

To me a good coach is a guy that looks at what his GM gives him and figures out how to get the most out of it. Look at Sullivan in Pittsburgh with all those injuries and lack of good defensemen (yes Letang, Dumo, Marino are good). How is that team one of the best defensive teams in hockey this season? What about RBA in Carolina. That team last season was one of the best teams at creating high danger and good chances of any team ever. Sure he's got an insane defense, Aho, Svech, etc, but you still need to have the right coaching for the right players.

Torts has done a good job in CBJ, especially this season with Bob, Panarin, Duchene, etc leaving, but I was completely unsurprised that he was fine because his coaching strategy has pretty much always been "play defense, wait for the other team to make a mistake". That's a great way to coach an unskilled team. Him coaching the Leafs though would give us the same issues that we had with Babcock because no matter how you try and force it, our team isn't made to be traditionally defensive. I've been saying it for years, we need to be a team that plays defense by almost never being in the defensive zone.

It's why I love Keefe so much because his style (reminds me of RBA in many ways) meshes almost perfectly with our GM and it's perfect for the team we have. When he took over we became a top-half of the league defensive team (Fred was horrible) while still being able to keep up our insane offense.

 

[Brobust]

How are we supposed to compare a rookie coach with less than half a season under his belt to a two time Jack Adams winner whose been a head coach in the league for 20 years? I fully believe Keefe is and will be a great coach with a long career, but this poll was created for the sole purpose of making him look bad IMO.

No. The people here would never do such a thing. I refuse to believe it.

 

[67Leafs67]

It kind of seems too early to say Keefe, no?

I mean he doesn't even have a full NHL season under his belt, whereas Torts has been in the league for about two decades.

I really like Keefe, and am a fan of what he's done with the Marlies, and the Leafs so far, but he has a long career ahead of him before we can start comparing him to a veteran coach like Tortorella.

 

[robertmac43]

These seems incredibly premature...

 

[The Moose is Loose]

Torts extremely easily. Even if Toronto wins the series, its not because of the coaching, its because they're a more talented team.

 

[LeafChief]

What a silly thread. Tortorella is an all-time great coach. Keefe hasn't even coached a full season.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Torts AINEC he is the best active coach in the league, by a fair margin.

 

[joe dirte]

Torts AINEC he is the best active coach in the league, by a fair margin.

Lol what???

No chance....

Torterella seems to have a year or 2 of decent play then loses the room everywhere he goes.

 

[Dutronc]

Torts is the best coach in the league. Keefe is another Guy Boucher.

 

[qqaz]

It's almost impossible to not pick Torts here. I mean, the guy was just nominated for the Jack Adams. He's one of the longest tenured coaches in the league.

Keefe is completely new and unproven.

Even if (and that's just a supposition) Keefe wins this series, or out does Torts in some of the games, the answer is still Tortorella. Objectively, it's almost a fact.

 

[LeafsNation75]

What I learned from Babcock is that being a "better" or "good" coach is subjective because having success, doesn't always mean you're the right coach for a particular team.

To me a good coach is a guy that looks at what his GM gives him and figures out how to get the most out of it. Look at Sullivan in Pittsburgh with all those injuries and lack of good defensemen (yes Letang, Dumo, Marino are good). How is that team one of the best defensive teams in hockey this season? What about RBA in Carolina. That team last season was one of the best teams at creating high danger and good chances of any team ever. Sure he's got an insane defense, Aho, Svech, etc, but you still need to have the right coaching for the right players.

Torts has done a good job in CBJ, especially this season with Bob, Panarin, Duchene, etc leaving, but I was completely unsurprised that he was fine because his coaching strategy has pretty much always been "play defense, wait for the other team to make a mistake". That's a great way to coach an unskilled team. Him coaching the Leafs though would give us the same issues that we had with Babcock because no matter how you try and force it, our team isn't made to be traditionally defensive. I've been saying it for years, we need to be a team that plays defense by almost never being in the defensive zone.

It's why I love Keefe so much because his style (reminds me of RBA in many ways) meshes almost perfectly with our GM and it's perfect for the team we have. When he took over we became a top-half of the league defensive team (Fred was horrible) while still being able to keep up our insane offense.

Babcock also said he would bet on himself right before Toronto fired him.

Babcock betting on himself to turn around Maple Leafs

"I'm going to do it as hard as I can, as long as I can," Babcock told TSN on Monday. "I've always bet on Mike Babcock, I'll continue to bet on him."

 

[spiny norman]

Lopsided result.