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Top 4 Concerns About the Toronto Maple Leafs

By James Tanner

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 2: Connor Carrick #8 of the Toronto Maple Leafs battles for the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at the Air Canada Centre on January 2, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 2: Connor Carrick #8 of the Toronto Maple Leafs battles for the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at the Air Canada Centre on January 2, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
NEWARK, NJ – APRIL 05: Mike Babcock of the Toronto Maple Leafs handles bench duties against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on April 5, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Maple Leafs 2-1 to clinch a playoff position. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Mike Babcock

Mike Babcock is not my biggest concern about the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he does worry me a bit.

I don’t doubt that he is a great coach, motivator and person.  I love to hear him talk and I consider him to be one of the most interesting and respectable people in the NHL.

But I worry about if he’s the proper coach for a team in today’s NHL.  The game has changed a lot in the last several years and Mike Babcock is old-school and conservative (with his strategies and lineups, I don’t mean politically).

At the same time, you couldn’t get to where Mike Babcock is or earn the respect that he has if you weren’t willing to listen to other people, and to change your ways.  I have no doubt he’s willing to adapt.  He’s shown he can.

But will it be enough?

Can the coach of the league’s most progressive front office be such a an old-school guy? I think he can be. I think the balance is important.

But I still see the Leafs making non-optimal lineup decisions.  I still see them banging the puck off the glass.  I see veterans getting placed higher in the lineup than players that are better. (Marleau is arguably not as good as Leivo, Brown, Kapanen or Johnsson, for insance).

He still dressed Polak whenever he could.  Kapanen looks like he’s on the fourth line and Ron Hainsey hasn’t been demoted.

Mike Babcock is a concern.

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