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WHOA - Mike Babcock OUT | Sheldon Keefe IN

OldTimeHockey said:
The last two periods of last night's game looked an awful lot like Babcock hockey. I wouldn't be so quick to say the players have suddenly started buying in again. Different boss but its the same employees. I'm betting they regress after the initial "we got a new boss" effect wears off.

And I'll eat my hat if they don't.

In what way was that Babcock hockey? I'm not even trying to be funny - the Leafs have had few (if any?) multi-goal leads all year. Being ahead is foreign territory right now.
 
Who knew that Babcock was the personification of evil?  And incompetent on top of it?  By golly, if only they had had Keefe on board the last two seasons, they would have racked up 110 and 105 points instead of 105 and 100.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Who knew that Babcock was the personification of evil?  And incompetent on top of it?  By golly, if only they had had Keefe on board the last two seasons, they would have racked up 110 and 105 points instead of 105 and 100.

Maybe even a series win.
 
If this is true, it is very disturbing that this was not dealt with by Shanahan. I'm not sure how he couldn't know or even that Mngmt didn't put two and two together during negs with Marner.

Obviously the Leafs wouldn't want this out and in the same breath how there were seemingly no apparent repercussions as this happened 3 years ago. Given Babcock's antics over his tenure maybe he banked (some pun intended) on Leafs not wanting to be embarrassed. 

Would love to know just how true or not this is.

The knives have been out for him since he left, and some deserved for sure but it now seems like a massive piling-on.
 
For what it's worth, when I posted the Fraser thread I wasn't doing so to say "Babcock isn't liked by his players, therefore he's a bad guy and deserved to be fired" but rather that it seemed to indicate he was the kind of guy who might develop unreasonable tendencies and maybe be stubborn about it.
 
lamajama said:
Obviously the Leafs wouldn't want this out and in the same breath how there were seemingly no apparent repercussions as this happened 3 years ago. Given Babcock's antics over his tenure maybe he banked (some pun intended) on Leafs not wanting to be embarrassed. 

I would guess he banked on winning and believed this sort of stuff is how he gets the team to win. He's a good coach, whatever shabby treatment he inflicts on players, as long as his team's winning -- when it's not, no one's inclined to give anyone like that a break.

Sounds like his antics did the Leafs no favors in locking up their core.
 
Strangelove said:
OldTimeHockey said:
The last two periods of last night's game looked an awful lot like Babcock hockey. I wouldn't be so quick to say the players have suddenly started buying in again. Different boss but its the same employees. I'm betting they regress after the initial "we got a new boss" effect wears off.

And I'll eat my hat if they don't.

In what way was that Babcock hockey? I'm not even trying to be funny - the Leafs have had few (if any?) multi-goal leads all year. Being ahead is foreign territory right now.

The lack of ability to break the puck out of their zone. The lack of offensive opportunities. The idiotic passes across laterally across their own zone when they've already been trapped for 1:30.
Perhaps Babcock hockey is the wrong term, as no coach would teach the above tendencies.  My point is; in the second and third period of the game in Colorado, the Leafs played exactly how they were playing the 23 games before Keefe showed up. Sloppy and irresponsible.
 
disco said:
https://twitter.com/IanGraph/status/1198770855691591681

NHL executives are stupid.

This is right up there with teams asking draft eligible players if they'd be willing to take a pill that would kill them in 10 years if it guarantees them winning a Stanley Cup.  Stupid sh!t like this just needs to get out of hockey.
 
Keefe has been receiving the credit for a lot of the recent upswing due to his tweaks, but he has stated pretty clearly he?s just trying the stuff that Dubas, R&D, and the remaining coaching staff have been wanting to try.

Something as simple as carving out a small chunk of practice for skills dev was not previously allowed.
 
https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/1199001102701731840

Heavy emphasis on skill development at practice today. Beat reporters have been saying that 8-9 coaches have been present. Nik Antropov, whose new role with the organization has been kinda low-key at this point, was apparently one of them.
 
Defensive skills coaching could go a long way. A better foundation or tools in the toolbox could help cover over the penchant for slow reads at times.
 
I would really like to see both Rielly and Ceci closing gaps a lot better, not backing up at the D blueline all the time into the Goalie, taking the body and learning to angle attackers into the boards..not asking so much.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Wonder if anyone tries asking Marner about this (once he's healthy and available to the media again).
According to Kristen Shilton He was asked today about it. Said it was true but it's in the past and he's put it behind him. Said he was happy the guys didn't hold it against him. There's an interview somewhere with Mitch. Apparently the media heard about this months ago but didn't believe it.
 
herman said:
https://theleafsnation.com/2019/11/24/tulloch-why-the-leafs-needed-to-fire-mike-babcock/

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only current player who's played for Babs and spoken publicly is Nazem Kadri.  The one who this Tulloch guy says was trashed by Babcock and who, by reasonable inference, would have been among the unnamed players who were "furious," according to him.  Kadri, who would have no particular reason to offer a glowing statement on his former coach. 

But he did.  How does that square with this article?
 

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