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A 102 Year History of Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coaches

By Peri Gallacher

TORONTO, ON - JUNE 8: Toronto Maple Leafs' Assistant General Manager Kyle Dubas announced today that Sheldon Keefe has been named head coach of the Toronto Marlies. (Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JUNE 8: Toronto Maple Leafs' Assistant General Manager Kyle Dubas announced today that Sheldon Keefe has been named head coach of the Toronto Marlies. (Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
TORONTO, ON – NOVEMBER 5: Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock returns to the locker room before playing the Los Angeles Kings at the Scotiabank Arena on November 5, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Mike Babcock

On May 8th 2015 the Toronto Maple Leafs hired their 39th coach, Mike Babcock, the former Red Wings coach with pedigree.

Babcocks storied career included guiding Team Canada to gold medals in the 1997 world junior championships, the 2004 IIHF world hockey championships, two Olympics wins in 2010 and 2014, a Stanley Cup win in 2008 with the Red Wings and a World Cup of Hockey win in 2016.

Babcock received a hefty contract in exchange for his loaded resume and carried on to be the highest paid coach in NHL history, with 50 million over 8 years (an AAV of 6.25 million dollars).

In his first year as coach the Leafs finished last overall but all clouds have a silver lining and for a team in the midst of a rebuild it earned them a chance into the Draft Lottery and ultimately Auston Matthews- a wonderful addition to the teams continuous rebuild.

Matthews would join young faces like William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly on the team through the 2016-2017 season.

The young talent paired with newly acquired Frederik Andersen got the team a qualifying spot for the playoffs. Toronto faced the Washington Capitals in the first round and defied odds when they pushed the series to 6 games before being eliminated.

Overall, Babcock did a lot of wonderful things for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he came into a mess and salvaged a great team and deserves praise but ultimately his own stubbornness and frigid play-making ended in three back to back first round playoff exits and suspected tension between management.

The 2019-2020 season started full of hope, with the team set as Stanley Cup contenders, but that quickly dissolved as the Leafs went 9-10-4 and were immediately projected out of the playoffs. A six game losing streak ultimately ended Babcocks job with the organization.

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