[Report] Maple Leafs fire Mike Babcock, name Sheldon Keefe as new head coach

[HKSR]

34 minutes ago, theo5789 said:

It's certainly fair game to decide whether to continue with Green at the end of his contract. But that's another season after this one away. I think the goal this season is to make the playoffs. But we are protected from giving up our 1st if we do not, so if we don't make it this year, then Green will be more in the hot seat. Right now, IMO coaching isn't a major issue. Green is just finally getting the players he wants for the system he wants to play, but injuries have taken that away temporarily. Green is certainly not at the level of a Gallant or Trotz yet, but he's a young coach that is also learning. The team has improved year by year during his tenure.

 

Stubbornness can be confused with consistency. Green likely wants the team to play a certain way and if players want to get more ice time, then they need to play this way. Right or wrong, I think it's better that a coach is consistent to not create confusion on what a player needs to do to make it on his team. I've seen changes in the PP. There's only so many changes that can be made on a PK, but the PK has always been pretty decent. When the lineup is healthy, the team plays pretty incredible 5v5. So he needs to learn to adapt to lesser lineups when injuries arise, but that's also a matter of depth which is coming.

 

I'm not making up my mind yet whether Green should be extended or not, but in the meantime I don't think he needs to be fired because Babcock is available. We will see who's available when his contract is up, but at the same time, the team is growing with him. He's also a BC boy, so likely he really wants to succeed here.

Consistently playing Leivo in situations where no other team in the league would do the same (ie. 3rd or 4th liner out on a 5 on 3 PP or when offence is needed most).

Consistently keeping Virtanen on the bench in OT when he's arguably the fastest player on the team and also good defensively.

Consistently juggling lines such that chemistry is never built on a line as the only tactic of coaching we have seen from him.

Consistently allowing Newell Brown to call the shots on a PP that has been stagnant for the past few years.

Consistently overplaying certain players on this team (ie. Horvat, Edler, Tanev, etc) until they're so burnt out they injure themselves.

 

When a coach consistently does things without positive results, but continues anyway, that's stubbornness. 

 

Don't blame injuries.  Every team has injuries.  Injuries to the bottom part of the lineup shouldn't result in 2 wins in the last 10 games.

[EB43]

11 hours ago, Attila Umbrus said:

The Pats love or hate em, the last dynasty! I agree, luck has a lot to do with it. I mean how do you plan on drafting a cyborg in Brady and the perfect technician in Belichick to keep him maintained. It’s been impressive to say the least. And so much more from Kraft the owner all the way down that entire team has buy in. It’s so rare to see in sports.

Did you just bring the patriots into a maple leafs thread??

 

[Attila Umbrus]

15 minutes ago, EliasBoeser said:

Did you just bring the patriots into a maple leafs thread??

 

I’ll share the blame, it was me and someone else...sorry! Like I said love em or hate em haha.

 

edit, just have to say you have me laughing my ass off right now with this gif  I love it.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Attila Umbrus

[MystifyNCrucify]

But does this mean that eastern media was wrong, and that babcock isnt the best coach in the league?

 

Or that the leafs just arent very good?

 

I already know how they will spin it without admitting fault. “Babcock is a great coach, but not for the great leaf players he was given. On the road to the cup with Keefe!!” 

 

(Think thats his name. Who cares hes gonna be fired this time next year anyway)

[milk and honey]

He was a good coach but his time had past. He is on the decline. 

 

He got gifted a quality roster in Detroit for with outstanding talent and leadership. He did well there no doubt but his last few years there and in Toronto left a lot to be desired. 

 

I know hf board isn't popular but the majority of fans say he isn't good. Especially Detroit fans the last few years. Maple leafs fans only started complaining a lot in the past few months

 

Edit 

Dubas imo is a bigger issue 

Edited November 21, 2019 by milk and honey

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Monty]

8 minutes ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

 

Barrie on the 3rd pair.

 

*Newport Agency*
”Get our client out of this sh*t hole! You’re tanking his value!”

[JM_]

9 minutes ago, Monty said:

Barrie on the 3rd pair.

 

*Newport Agency*
”Get our client out of this sh*t hole! You’re tanking his value!”

Dermott and Barrie on the same pair? the giveaway potential just went up significantly. 

[Monty]

6 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

Dermott and Barrie on the same pair? the giveaway potential just went up significantly. 

And honestly, I like all NHL teams (except the Oilers). So this isn’t an anti-Leaf thing for me. And normally, I’m not on the players side when they want a trade out of town. Play where you play. Deal with it.

 

But in this case, it’s just kinda weird. The Leafs needed to get better defensively on the backend, not better offensively. So they get a #1 PP quarterback and puck moving defenseman, and proceed to stick him on the 2nd unit PP and now on the 3rd pair defensive unit. Why in the hell did they trade for him in the first place?

[theo5789]

2 hours ago, Dazzle said:

AV had a first round exit and the team was consistently on the decline since their playoffs.

 

His firing was perfectly logical.

Babcock hasn't made it past the 1st round in Toronto. Not very logical in this sense to bring him in either then.

[JM_]

6 minutes ago, Monty said:

And honestly, I like all NHL teams (except the Oilers). So this isn’t an anti-Leaf thing for me. And normally, I’m not on the players side when they want a trade out of town. Play where you play. Deal with it.

 

But in this case, it’s just kinda weird. The Leafs needed to get better defensively on the backend, not better offensively. So they get a #1 PP quarterback and puck moving defenseman, and proceed to stick him on the 2nd unit PP and now on the 3rd pair defensive unit. Why in the hell did they trade for him in the first place?

dunno, I suspect this has more to do with the top 4 config the new coach wants and this pair was whats left over. 

[GB5]

21 hours ago, Ur a Towel said:

Yeah, a team that's rebuilding doesn't make the playoffs. Let's blame that on the coach.

They were never expected to make the playoffs in any of those years. They were closer last year and had too many injuries to key players that didn't help them. 

November has always been a tough month for us.

Let's let the rest of the month play out at the very least before we start panicking with "fire the coach"

Pretty sure I wasn't blaming the coach, rather I was simply pointing out an obvious problem.

[Standing_Tall#37]

Okay.... which one of you funny pricks has been editing Wikipedia today??  

 

 

[Attila Umbrus]

5 minutes ago, Standing_Tall#37 said:

Okay.... which one of you funny pricks has been editing Wikipedia today??  

 

 

Haha, my money is on mike commodore!

Edited November 21, 2019 by Attila Umbrus

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[theo5789]

4 hours ago, HKSR said:

Consistently playing Leivo in situations where no other team in the league would do the same (ie. 3rd or 4th liner out on a 5 on 3 PP or when offence is needed most).

Consistently keeping Virtanen on the bench in OT when he's arguably the fastest player on the team and also good defensively.

Consistently juggling lines such that chemistry is never built on a line as the only tactic of coaching we have seen from him.

Consistently allowing Newell Brown to call the shots on a PP that has been stagnant for the past few years.

Consistently overplaying certain players on this team (ie. Horvat, Edler, Tanev, etc) until they're so burnt out they injure themselves.

 

When a coach consistently does things without positive results, but continues anyway, that's stubbornness. 

 

Don't blame injuries.  Every team has injuries.  Injuries to the bottom part of the lineup shouldn't result in 2 wins in the last 10 games.

It's naive to think the injuries play no part in that considering it's 4 of 6 players out including two centermen critical for faceoff duty and Ferland is actually more of a top 6 guy. We have been without Roussel too who's a regular that had chemistry with Horvat (after finding out through the line mixing).

 

Leivo's job is to be a big body and retrieve pucks similar to Miller. It's a dirty job that doesn't always get rewarded with points. I imagine we are also trying to up his value because when we do get healthy, he might be the odd man out. I would say Ferland would be getting more of his current ice time if he was healthy.

 

Virtanen being fast doesn't mean he's an effective OT player. Possession is also critical. Otherwise why not complain that Motte isn't out in OT either? The reason why speed kills in OT is because those players are also skillful at that speed. Jake isn't there yet. However I do think he's worth a look occasionally just like how I think he could be a PKer as well, but even though he's improved defensively, he's not there yet likely from the mental standpoint. Not a major concern for me that he isn't played in OT, Green has been doing a lot of right things with Virtanen to get him to where he is today.

 

Line juggling is common through the league. It's easy to see when it happens. What other tactic do you wish we deployed? Consistently keeping lines together when it isn't working? Kinda goes against your point here. Lines only stick together if it's working.

 

Newell Brown is the PP coach, so why would he not let him call the shots? We are 9th in the league right now, so I think Brown is doing alright. We have seen various different zone entries (but people only focus on the drop pass) and we have seen different set ups (which people complain about not reverting back and keeping the same PP) but yet it's stagnant? Sometimes the onus is on the players for not executing as well.

 

Overplaying players is because of injuries. You can't complain about a problem where you take away the blame. We are building depth, but it's not fully here yet. If players are getting injured in game, especially dmen, then minutes will significantly go up for everyone. We lose two significant faceoff men which means Horvat's time is going to go up.

[theo5789]

3 minutes ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

 

How many think he's going to last the three years?

[ruilin96]

Best coach in the NHL currently is Barry Tortz. This guy can coach any team, player and style base on their strengths. He knows how to set up a system that works for the players he has. In Nashville and NYI, he had less offensively talented players so he was/is able to implement a system where the team plays excellent structure and team defence. In Washington, where he had elite offensive talent, he is able to utilize these high-end players to play good defensively while putting up tremendous offence. He is the best coach in the league by far.

 

Fun fact: Trots had never been fired by a NHL team in his career yet. Each time he left a team, it was at the end of the contract and they decide to move on. He was never fired.

Edited November 21, 2019 by ruilin96

[wildwood12]

Leafs management is in denial. Train wreck in progress.

[Alflives]

1 hour ago, theo5789 said:

How many think he's going to last the three years?

Who gets the axe first:  Dubas, Keefe, or Shanahan?  Or does the ownership fire those three all at once, clean house, and beg Lou and Hunter to come back?