Maple Leafs should go big with Babcock
Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock is under contract for one more year, but it sure looks like he’s available. Bringing him in to replace Randy Carlyle is a possibility Leafs president Brendan Shanahan should explore.
by Dave Feschuk, The Toronto Star
We’ve been hearing the promises for a while now.
Change is coming to Leafland. Renovation is pending. And yet, Randy Carlyle is still dangling.
So what’s the holdup? Before newly inserted president Brendan Shanahan hauls out his franchise-fixing tool chest he’s been making like a human suggestion box. Word is Shanahan has been holding a series of meetings with players and coaches and management, learning from the past to better plot the future.
Here’s a brainwave that should be pursued in the present. The Maple Leafs ought to make a run at Mike Babcock as their next head coach.
Babcock, of course, needs zero introduction. He’s the singular bench boss who’s won a Stanley Cup, two Olympic gold medals, a world championship and a world junior. He’s the perfect candidate to replace the ill-fitting Carlyle. And yes, in a not-so-minor complication, he’s also under contract to the Detroit Red Wings through next season.
That detail, if you know anything about Leafs CEO Tim Leiweke, won’t be a deterrent to a potential Toronto recruiting drive. And luckily for the Leafs, there appears to be enough disharmony in Motown to suggest Babcock would be more than keen to listen to out-of-the-box pitches.
In a curious development in Detroit, Babcock has said it’s doubtful he will talk with the Red Wings about a contract extension this summer. There have been suggestions that he’s waiting to see what the Red Wings will do to upgrade their roster; that he’s of the mind Detroit’s Stanley Cup window may have already closed in the waning days of the Datsyuk-Zetterberg era; that the man who’s won pretty much everything at age 51 might be intrigued by the idea of new challenges. He might enjoy working in a place where playoff games aren’t taken as a ho-hum given.
We all saw Babcock lapping up the spotlight in Sochi earlier this year: he relished his time at the centre of the hubbub created by Canada’s national team. His stellar work at the Olympics, on the bench and on the podium, is only proof he’d be the perfect daily spokesman for the country’s most fussed-over NHL team.
But this isn’t simply about media savvy. Babcock is a better fit for this Leafs roster than Carlyle ever will be. For two-plus seasons Carlyle’s been trying to get a speed and finesse team to play a power game. It would be intriguing to see Babcock, a believer in the power of puck possession, trying to flip Toronto’s notoriously hopeless shot differential on its head.
What else could the Leafs offer Babcock other than a possibly impossible task? Well, he’s making a reported $2 million in Detroit; the Leafs, who have money above all things, could heap far more on his annual pay stub.
Those who know him say he’d also like more say in organizational decisions, which can’t happen in a Detroit hierarchy in which the accomplished Ken Holland runs the show. Shanahan, a self-professed consensus builder who’s heading into in his rookie season running an NHL franchise and played a season under Babcock in Detroit, could woo his former coach with the promise of input and influence.
Certainly there are less bold paths for the Leafs to tread. There are other coaches the Leafs could consider. Perhaps Todd McLellan, the former Babcock assistant who’s been the head man in San Jose for six seasons, would be seen as a fit if the Sharks’ ownership opts for a post-first-round-collapse cleansing. But many of the other available options — the likes of John Tortorella and Peter Laviolette and Barry Trotz — aren’t being seen as upgrades. Kirk Muller, fired Monday as head coach in Carolina, is a former teammate of Shanahan’s, but there are questions about his acumen as an in-game adjuster. Steve Spott, the Marlies coach, is doing fine work and building a name. But Toronto isn’t the ideal place for a first-year NHL coach.
Another alternative would be to retain Carlyle for another season and wait for Babcock’s deal to expire next summer. Maybe the Leafs swap out a couple of Carlyle’s assistant coaches so they can pay lip service to reinvigorating the staff. That strategy wouldn’t just ignore Carlyle’s central role in two historically epic failures, it would also allow any number of other teams to make a competing plan to get Babcock on board.
Going after Coach Canada now would give the Leafs a leg up. It would also be a classic Leiweke move, a big-name, big-impact addition under the watch of a CEO who hates going small. But no one’s saying this would be an easy transaction. Since Babcock is under contract, perhaps the Red Wings would demand compensation for his services. Since sports leagues don’t look kindly on trades for coaches, it could be tricky going.
Still, maybe if Holland and Babcock see their relationship heading for a mutually agreeable end — and the lack of an extension suggests this is likely — maybe Holland doesn’t put up much of a fight. Maybe the Red Wings don’t relish the idea of spending the next year with Babcock in limbo and musing publicly about the direction of the franchise. And even if it might give Holland pause to envision Babcock coaching a division rival, maybe the Red Wings are of the belief they, too, are in need of a change.
Needs are relative, of course. In Detroit, where Babcock has been instrumental in extending the franchise’s ongoing playoff streak to 23 seasons and counting, there’s dismay that the Red Wings haven’t advanced past the first round since 2009. In Toronto, were there’s blasé resignation that the Leafs haven’t made the playoffs in eight of the past nine seasons, Babcock’s Detroit run would qualify as the stuff of deity creation.
Holland recently called Babcock “one of the best coaches in the NHL,” which seems like an undersell. The Leafs, should they one day introduce him at another triumphant news conference, would be happy to call him the flat-out best in pro sports. You can make an argument he’s in that conversation. This past year he pulled off a bit of magic, taking an injury-ravaged roster largely stocked with minor-leaguers and guiding it to the post-season. Carlyle’s team squandered playoff games for night-fishing with pals.
In a spring that’s seen Leiweke promise transformative change in another debacle’s wake, Shanahan can’t pass up an opportunity to cast a line at a big catch. If Babcock’s not available, he certainly looks it. If Shanahan doesn’t see the opening and explore the possibility, he should better acquaint himself with the man who hired him.
Leafs should go big with Mike Babcock
As i've been saying all along, Tim Leiweke had a plan when he went after Brendan Shanahan & part of that plan included his best shot at landing well-respected coach Mike Babcock. Babcock would be a great fit with these Leafs! :thumb:
