Toronto Maple Leafs Coach and GM Need to Get on the Same Page

The Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock is known as one of the best coaches in the NHL.

Please don’t take what I am about to say in the wrong way: I am not suggesting that the Toronto Maple Leafs fire their coach, or anything that drastic.  But the coach and the GM need to get on the same page here. And fast.

For the love of god, I would like to know what the coach of this team is thinking.

And I would pay good money to be able to find out what the GM thinks of his coach at this moment.

Because, as far as I can tell, Mike Babcock is the biggest weakness on this team right now.

What Is he Doing?

The Leafs GM, Kyle Dubas, went out and acquired a legitimate top pairing defenseman in Jake Muzzin.  (All stats from naturalstattrick.com)

This addressed the Leafs biggest weakness, or so we thought.  Instead, Mike Babcock has him on the third pairing and playing less than Ron Hainsey.  Ron Hainsey is so bad at this point that he probably shouldn’t be in the NHL, and he definitely has no business on a contending team.

Since being acquired, 12 games ago, Jake Muzzin is fourth on the Leafs in 5v5 ice time.  He should be – at a minimum – second.  What’s worse, is that if we look at total ice time, all situations, he is fifth.

That’s right, you’re reading this correctly: Jake Muzzin has gotten less ice time than Nikita Zaitsev and Ron Hainsey.

There is no excuse for this because Jake Muzzin is significantly better than either player.  It’s like comparing Phiilip Roth and Dean Koontz,  The Godfather to Dude, Where’s My Car? or Yo La Tango to the Backstreet Boys.

It’s embarrassing for the Leafs GM that he went out and made a trade so great that it should essentially guarantee him the GM of The Year Award and his coach is like “nah I’m good.”

If a coach can’t follow the game plan set out by the GM, then the team needs a new coach.  It’s clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that Kyle Dubas statistical heavy approach is the way hockey is going. If Mike Babcock can’t get on board then the solution is obvious.

I hope it doesn’t come to that, but Ron Hainsey on the top pairing is objectively stupid.  Playing Zaitsev more than Muzzin is objectively stupid.

In last night’s game Morgan Rielly played 24 minutes.  That’s good.  But Ron Hainsey was second on the team with 21, which is rage inducing.  Zaitsev was third and was two full minutes ahead of Muzzin or Gardiner.

Zaitsev was also horrible, getting the Leafs only 37% of the shots when he was on the ice.

And for some reason that will forever remain a mystery Travis Dermott, who is at worst the fourth best defenseman the Leafs have, played only 12 minutes.

And can someone tell me why Zach Hyman played nearly 20 minutes while Auston Matthews played only 16?

There is literally no player the Leafs could acquire between now and tomorrow’s trade deadline that would upgrade the Toronto Maple Leafs as much as playing their players the proper amounts in the proper order.

Mike Babcock is perhaps the wrong coach or this team.  I started this off by saying I don’t think he should be fired, but after writing the article, I’m not so sure.   A coach who understands what the GM is trying to do and is on the same page might not be the worst idea.