Roundtable: Evaluating the Toronto Maple Leafs Coaching Change

The Toronto Maple Leafs appointed Sheldon Keefe head coach after firing Mike Babcock.

The Toronto Maple Leafs acted on the slow start to the season by firing coach Mike Babcock. In doing so, they pulled their long-term blueprint ahead; appointing Sheldon Keefe head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It’s probably the worst kept secret within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization that Dubas always wanted Keefe to succeed Babcock, understandable, considering the successes the Toronto Marlies held under the two.

The change, reportedly, brought a sigh of relief in the Toronto Maple Leafs locker room. Call it a “shock” effect, but 2 games in and the Toronto Maple Leafs seem to have found their winning ways again, though the game in Colorado was one they stole.

What’s ahead

The Toronto Maple Leafs, in the aftermath of it all, still have a season to turn around. Sitting fourth in the Atlantic Division, in a non-playoff spot, with most of the Eastern rivals ahead and behind holding games in hand, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in need of results.

Whether Keefe can manage to improve the play on the ice while staying in playoff contention is something that will prove itself over the following weeks.

This all was widely discussed among the Editor In Leaf, leading to this weeks roundtable question; “Was firing Babcock the right move and what will be the biggest change moving forward with Keefe?”

Let’s find out.

My Take

Firing Mike Babcock, however inevitable, was a mistake. Without implying appointing Sheldon Keefe is a mistake.

There’s no point sugar-coating it; Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan, they faltered, significantly, handling the coaching situation. It affected their credibility, making their positions vulnerable moving forward.

They chose to do the season with Babcock, backing out of that, what I assumed to be well thought out, decision when the results were poor due to circumstances out of Babcock’s control. Dubas telling the world game 5 against Boston convinced them to continue with Babcock is an absolute fallacy.

Moving forward with Keefe I expect the team to undergo a transformation, playing to their strengths. Little by little, step by step, the one game ice will improve. With the material at hand, it’s a matter of time that the results will come as well.

The most important change, however, moving forward, will be the players will rediscover their joy on the ice as they looked rather anhedonic under Babcock’s last games.

Zoë Mason

Regardless of how bittersweet the moment feels — and indeed, it should, this team owes a great deal to outgoing head coach Mike Babcock — this was the right move. This week, Leafs Nations greets the end of an era. Hiring Mike Babcock was the beginning of the rebuild that has given this team so much, but firing him is not signalling its end.

The fact of the matter is not that Mike Babcock is a terrible coach, and very few people of any authority have argued that. One of the most decorated coaches in the league’s history, he’s a nearly certainly got a spot in the Hall of Fame. However, Mike Babcock is a great many things, and stubborn is one of them. For good reason; his strategy has one him nearly every championship in the hockey world, but his strategy was at odds with that of General Manager Kyle Dubas.

The tightrope that Dubas walked in order to compose this team would’ve been wasted on another minute with Mike Babcock at its helm. Babcock’s style of play simply is not compatible with the team Dubas gave him, and it was obvious that the players felt the same way by their lack of effort in their last few contests.

This was the right move — the only move. And it better work. After firing the head coach, the only thing that’s left to give if it fails is a major trade for a top-class defenseman or another missing piece, a trade that would require the Leafs to give up a key player of their own, possibly even fan favourites like Kapanen, Johnsson, or Nylander.

This team was facing serious stagnation, and they made a serious change to address it. We should all be rejoicing.

Alex Hobson

Firing Babcock was absolutely the right move. And not because he’s a bad coach. But rather because he was a square peg in a round hole.

If you look at anything that the current Leafs say about Sheldon Keefe, you’ll notice a common trend. Matthews said; “He wants us to utilize our God-given talents”. Dermott said; “The boys want to play for him. He lets us play to our skill and that’s exactly what we needed”. Barrie stated; “you’re going to be seeing that style of hockey much more from now on”.

Everybody can voice their opinions from their couch at home. But who has more accurate opinions than the guys who are actually playing for the team and getting coached day in and day out?

The reality is, Babcock was trying to get the team to adapt to him instead of adapting to the team himself. For this group of players to succeed, they need to play their own style of game. Defensive, conservative, physical hockey is just not their style.

They will win based on offence and skill, and now they have the proper coach to lead them in that direction. I think the biggest change you’re going to see going forward is simply that they will look like what everyone expected them to look like heading into the season. And Thursday night in Arizona was a perfect indicator of that.

Spencer Teixeira

Firing Mike Babcock, although difficult, was absolutely the right choice.

Babs is a sure-fire hall of fame coach with various accomplishments ranging from NHL to international competition. He was also instrumental in bringing the Leafs to a competitive state and helped rebrand the Leafs as a respectable organization.

That being said, he simply was not fit for this team. Babs’ focus on tight defence and overly responsible hockey exhausted and demoralized the offensively-minded Leafs squad we so tightly hang on to. It was time for him to go, which is so unfortunate and depressing considering the hope that Babcock had with the organization heading into last season.

In terms of Keefe, the biggest change I see is the pace. I believe that Keefe will preach a game more in line with what Dubas and the players believe in. I expect fast-paced plays and overwhelming offence from Keefe’s Leafs. Other than that, I go into this with an open mind. I’d like to see what Keefe can bring to the table.

D.J. Llewellyn

Firing Mike Babcock was, ultimately, the right decision.

Anybody watching the Leafs this season could clearly tell that something was not right with this group, and when you have a roster with the stars this team has, you have to ask yourself did these players all forget how to play at the same time, or is something else going on?

Night after night, the players looked defeated, the special teams and goaltending stunk, at best on a line or two on the team would play well during the game. Even when they won, they never looked very good, and all their wins came against non-playoff teams anyways.

Despite all this poor play, Babcock did little, if anything, to adjust the team’s play during or in between games. For Dubas and Keefe, this is their moment to put in place their vision of how this team was meant to play. The opportunity to take over a team with the likes of Auston Matthews and John Tavares must be very exciting for a coach. Keefe’s first order of business should be to focus on defence and the penalty kill, which are the team’s biggest problems at the moment.

They have to stop allowing so many high danger chances against and give Andersen a reasonable chance in net. He also needs to try and get Barrie going, which we will start seeing tonight when Keefe added him to the top power-play unit. When the goals against go down, it’ll be much easier to let the offence run wild and do its thing. For now, Keefe just needs the guys to buy in, and they’ll have to do it quickly if they want to be playing hockey in spring.

Keefe will be here for the next few years, Dubas has his coach for the first time. Now we can finally see how this vision pays off at the NHL level. Half these players know Keefe and speak highly of him. Time to show it or be shipped out.

Nick Barden

Firing Mike Babcock was the only decision that Maple Leafs management could make.

He lost the team. They weren’t playing how they usually do. Their offence was almost silent, and while we saw flashes of it, there had to be a change somewhere. Unfortunately, the change is the head coach.

With Sheldon Keefe coming in, of course, he’s going to change the styles, systems and lineup (which is a lot better now). A new look on the power play with Tyson Barrie finally on it, and Jason Spezza playing 3rd line centre.

It almost feels like it’s not real yet. Babcock was with this team for four years and he’s helped get this team to where they are today, and nothing would’ve been possible without his knowledge. But a coaching change was going to happen eventually, we all knew it was coming – we just didn’t know when.

Now, what happens? Well it’s going to take time and the Leafs won’t look good coming right out of the gate, but I say by the end of this season, they will look very good and hopefully in a playoff spot.

Even if they aren’t, people should understand, since it’s Keefe’s first coaching stint in the NHL. Toronto will benefit from this, though.

A different coach, different personality and hopefully he can bring a new, and exciting outcome that we’ve all been waiting for, the Stanley Cup.

Okay, I’m getting way too ahead of myself, and I need to stop. I think all of this will work out in the long run, but for now, I think it’s time to be patient, but also be a little excited for the future that’s coming.

Eric Cruikshank

While Sheldon Keefe’s coaching experience in the NHL is about as small of a sample size as it can get, the Toronto Maple Leafs made the right decision firing Mike Babcock.

There is no question that the morale has drastically changed in the locker room since Babcock’s firing, and it has translated on the ice. Against Arizona, the Leafs seemed to play with way more confidence, so much so that it felt as if some of the players were being held on a tight leash while under Babcock (no surprises there).

Sheldon Keefe brings a fresh, winning mentality behind the Leafs bench who I think we will begin to see, is going to take the extra time to focus in on each individual on this team in order to make them better.

Keefe is widely regarded as a great player’s coach, and that is what this team needs right now. He knows the majority of this team better than anyone, having previously coached 11 of the current 23 players on the roster within the Toronto Marlies organization, and will be able to quickly transition into coaching this NHL roster better than anyone out there.

The Leafs have a tough road ahead, to say the least. There is absolutely no room for error, especially with this roster being plagued with injuries this early into the season, but I have full confidence in Keefe’s ability to put this team in the best possible position to win.

Who knows, he might even get really crazy and let Andersen play a back-to-back.

Matthew Rodrigo

Let’s face it, the Leafs were slumping with Mike Babcock. Something needed to change because nothing was improving. The worst that can happen with Sheldon Keefe is that the Leafs could continue to slump.

The potential to benefit from a coaching change outweighed the risk of a coaching change (which could have possibly been to keep losing). So I definitely think the coaching change was a good move. I won’t say it was needed necessarily, but it was appropriate.

The biggest change with Keefe will simply be how he mixes up the lines. It’ll take Keefe a few games to find a lineup that he’s comfortable with, but he most definitely will try some new things out.

Moving forward, the important thing is to look at the progress for a little while to come, overlooking at progress in the standings. Keefe needs to be given the proper time to bring the game of this team to a new level.

With some time under Keefe, the results will follow soon enough.

Philip Van Riesen

As of right now not only Leafs nation as a fan base but the whole Leafs team’s mood seems to have been boosted drastically with the firing of Mike Babcock and the new addition of Sheldon Keefe.

As Tyson Barrie quoted “He came in with a really fresh attitude … we felt excited. It was almost like a fresh start. He was really positive & made a couple of changes that helped us big time.” Barrie basically summing up the new feeling in the room.

When I look at the whole situation the biggest argument in favour of firing Babcock was his inability to change and his high degree of ignorance to the point where he thinks he invented the game of hockey and rules above all critics.

Here is a quote from Babock that basically sums up what I’m alluding to, “I’ve always bet on Mike Babcock, I’ll continue to bet on him”. My favourite example I always like to point out is Babcock benching guys like Holl or Levio who have proven to be successful NHL hockey players, Babcock did not even give these players a chance for a whole season.

It was also pointed out by James Mirtle of The Athletic that almost 90% of the Leafs players did not like Mike Babcock, and his message in the locker seemed to be dry. This alone should warrant that Mike’s time was up with Babock losing the room. Moving forward with Sheldon Keefe, the Leafs front office will share the same vision that seemed to be lacking with Babcock in the fold.

There are many new bright ideas that I could see Keefe implementing to the Leafs brought from previous success in Keefe’s coaching career. Personally I am most excited for the emphasis on puck possession through short passes to gain over the opposition blueline rather than deferring to dumping the puck.

Another tactical change that I found when watching the game the other night against Arizona was I noticed the Leafs forwards forechecked as a team rather than one man on the forecheck and as a result, they gained more puck possession that leads to high-quality chances for. Right now it is a glorious time in Toronto and there is certainly a big bright side to this coaching change and a new era.

Michael Mazzei

It still feels surreal to think that the Toronto Maple Leafs actually went through with the firing of Mike Babcock and replacing him with Sheldon Keefe. I knew that changes were on the horizon given the teams recent struggles, but no one could have foreseen the swap to go down the way it did on Wednesday.

After reflecting back on Babcock’s time in Toronto, there’s no doubt he made quite an impact on the team. Transforming them from basement dwellers to playoff contenders is no easy task, and he pulled it off in strides. I’m not alone in being grateful for that, plus the foundational aspects he instilled in the organization from his hiring in 2015.

However, his tactics were going stale and it appeared there was a divide in both the locker room and with management in terms of how the roster should be implemented. For that reason alone, moving on from Babcock now was the right call for the Leafs to make. It may have been better to pursue this during the offseason (since Kyle Dubas didn’t spring forth confidence in Babcock following another early playoff exit), but it’s better that this was done now than never.

In terms of what Keefe can do with this team, the biggest change we will see is the style of play. Thursday night’s game was proof that under the new directions, the Leafs will be playing with the puck a lot more, allowing their defenceman to pinch in, and emphasizing the forwards to collapse to the slot when defending. You’ll also see a lot more sequences of the Leafs playing off the cycle and getting scoring chances down low.

Considering the success he’s had with the Marlies using tactics such as these, I don’t think the Leafs will have too much trouble adjusting to Keefe’s system. Especially with 13 players on the active roster having played under the new bench boss.

As much as the Leafs will miss Babcock’s teaching and lessons learned from the early days of the rebuild, the time was ripe for a new voice to bring the team to the next level. It’s now up to Keefe to help get the team towards their desired goal.

James Tanner

Mike Babcock is a terrible coach, whose abilities are at odds with his reputation.

Maybe he was a good coach once upon a time, but by today’s standards he’s a relic.  Yelling at people, treating them badly, and using humiliation as a power tactic might have been good tactics back when Charles Dickens was writing novels, but those things have been outdated since before I was even born.

If it came out tomorrow that Mike Babock also believes in phrenology, I wouldn’t bat an eye.

Don’t give me any crap about ‘sensitive millennials’ because anyone with any background in education for the last 30 or 40 years knows this kind of bullying garbage has only negative effects.

Babcock won a Cup with a hall of fame roster. If he’s so good, how come that’s all he won?

His awful personality aside, it’s been clear for quite sometime he wasn’t a good strategic coach for the modern error.  From overplaying Patrick Marleau to refusing to acquiesce to the philosophy of his general manager, it’s been clear since the day Kyle Dubas was hired over Lou Lamoriello (he wanted to stay on) and Mark Hunter that his days were numbered.

As the guy who wrote (as far as I know) the first Time to Fire Babcock story last March, I’ve got to say, I was right then, and I’m right now.

From his personality to his in game strategy, and his refusal to adjust (anything, ever) firing Babcock was the right move.  The reveals in the last couple days about his antics only strengthen the case.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were right to switch coaches.