Recently, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ play has been outright ridiculous.
It looks like they’ve lost all hope and will, and with Mike Babcock preaching the same quote (“we gotta dig in,”) after every single game, I don’t see it getting better for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Players don’t look like they’re playing for anything anymore, it looks like they’ve given up.
And sure, there are many ways to help this team get better. You could start with firing the head coach, but what if that doesn’t help? At this point, I think anything they can get, will help make this team get better.
Now, this isn’t a ‘Fire Babcock’ article. While I think that yes, Toronto should fire him, that’s not what I’m trying to get at here.
There have been many points in Babcock’s tenure where I’ve thought, maybe they can win a cup under him and maybe it’ll come in the next few years. I’ve even given the thought of Kyle Dubas and Babcock being able to work together to produce a Stanley Cup contender, but I believe it won’t happen now.
There needs to be a change, but I’m going to try and find another way of helping the team have success.
A trade?
No.
I believe that, like Babcock said in one of his pressers, this team is a family, and I think nobody is going anywhere.
There’s even rumours about Tyson Barrie demanding a trade if the Toronto Maple Leafs continue down this path of losing. Where’s he going to go? There’s no where.
Then, you got people saying “trade William Nylander!!” Sure, I’ll call Dubas right now and tell him to get right on that. There’s a better chance that Dubas will take my calls than trade William Nylander.
A call up?
I wish.
Nic Petan is finally getting his opportunity to show Babcock that he’s an NHL player, and in the last two games, playing with Jason Spezza and Ilya Mikheyev, I think he’s showed it.
That line has been a top two line as of late for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Maybe switch up the fourth line a bit? Call up Pierre Engvall, who’s having a dominant season in the AHL with 16 points in 15 games.
Maybe bring some grit up along with him. But, Frederik Gauthier is finally stepping up and throwing his body around and I’ve even witnessed Auston Matthews throw a few hits in the past few games. So, that might not be likely.
Then, what can the Toronto Maple Leafs do?
That’s not for me to figure out.
I’m sure Brendan Shanahan, Dubas and probably, all of the other faces in Leafs management are having meetings. But, I’m just a fan, I want to see them get better and I don’t decide the fate of anything, including the firing of a head coach.
While I’d like a change at the coaching position, it’s not my call. And I’m thankful for that because at this point, I don’t think I could run a team.
It’s going to get interesting though, that’s for sure. The Toronto Maple Leafs have five more games on their road trip. I think that if they can’t pull off three wins, there will definitely be a change.
For now, it’s the waiting game for Dubas, but soon, if the Leafs can’t get results, it could be the end game for Babcock.