What the hell happened to the Maple Leafs? This team has gone from being in the top five in the standings all season to something you find in a horror show.
The Leafs played their best game in a while tonight, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 in a game where a couple bounces finally went their way and Garret Sparks did enough to earn the W.
Within the previous week, they did win one game in this stretch, a 7-6 game where the Flyers blew a 5-2 lead at Scotiabank Arena.
Mike Babcock is very frustrated with this team. I'm under the belief that if the Leafs don't make it past the first round of the playoffs, Babcock is gone. The friction in this dressing room between general manager and coach is becoming apparent. However, I would argue it has existed since day one. I don't think Babcock respects the decisions Dubas is making. And in reality I don't think Dubas respects the way Babcock is coaching. Dubas wants to build the team his way, and Babcock feels with the amount of money he's making, he should have the input to build the team his way. It's obvious there is zero compromise in the way this time has been built: it's the way Dubas wants it.
Who is right here? The way I see it, the coach is at the bottom of the totem pole and has to do with what he's given. But take into account why Babcock signed with the Leafs: he'd have more control of what players he would have. Being this the case, Babcock has every right to be upset that Leafs management isn't committed to what was originally agreed upon. But when Babcock was signed, Kyle Dubas wasn't the GM. Dubas is coming into this team and looking to take them to the next level. To his credit, he got Jake Muzzin, a respectable and dependable d-man from the Kings. Babcock didn't like that he's a left-handed D when they needed right D. Originally, that was my only issue with the deal, because of Babcock's stubbornness that players need to be in that position. Babcock isn't one to venture off what he likes, and to his credit he's won everything imaginable in hockey, he feels he's earned the right to decide what he likes and wants from a team.
This reminds me a bit of Jose Mourinho. When you've won everything you could possibly win, you want to have control of a team to do exactly what you'd like to it. You decide the players, the strategy, the line-up day-to-day. Unfortunately, in today's era, coaches don't have that sort of power because general managers want to assert themselves and choose their people. What's the point of having a manager if the coach is making all the decisions?
But top coaches want to have this sort of power. In a city like Toronto, while nice on paper, is not practical for a coach to demand more than a manager. On a team like the Arizona Coyotes or Florida Panthers, you might get away with it. For me, it just doesn't work for a coach to demand things like perfect right-hand, left-hand shot D-men and lots of depth in the farm team. There will soon be 32 teams in the NHL, you'll never have lots of depth, especially in a salary-cap era. I like the job Dubas has done. He got Babcock one of the best forwards (Tavares) and a consistent D-man (Muzzin). Criticize all you want, but any other coach would dream to coach this team. I'm going to give this argument to Dubas. Sorry Babs, you're right to be upset but your ego is getting a bit in the way of success. You're too stubborn and I think it may cost you your job at the end of the year if you don't beat the Bruins Round 1.
In other news, Benfica had a great recovery game against Moreirense. It's the national team break, so we now have right rounds to go to see who will be champion of the league. Huge congrats to Bruno Lage who has done an incredible job with this team.
All the time for today was spent on the Leafs, and everything has to take a back seat when the Leafs are the topic of discussion.
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