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Roundtable: Evaluating the Toronto Maple Leafs Coaching Change

By Wilbert Timmermans

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Sheldon Keefe of the Toronto Maple Leafs looks on from the bench during a game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on November 21, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. The game was Keefe's first game as an NHL head coach. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Sheldon Keefe of the Toronto Maple Leafs looks on from the bench during a game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on November 21, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. The game was Keefe's first game as an NHL head coach. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON - APRIL 21: Mike Babcock head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs walks to the dressing room before playing the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Scotiabank Arena on April 21, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 21: Mike Babcock head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs walks to the dressing room before playing the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Scotiabank Arena on April 21, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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.

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