Coach Mike Babcock

[Tigger]

No, his other "p" word is closer to reality.

Puljuj?rvi?

Is that Swedish for pain?

No, I think it's Finnish for Top-5 pick winger.

I didn't realize how similar Swedish and Finnish are.

 

[herman]

No, his other "p" word is closer to reality.

Puljuj?rvi?

Is that Swedish for pain?

No, I think it's Finnish for Top-5 pick winger.

I didn't realize how similar Swedish and Finnish are.

I'm not a linguist, so this is all by the power of Google... (and not working at work).

They have a similar alphabet (Finnish orthography is based on Swedish, German, and Latin) but completely different origins; Swedish is Germanic, Finnish is Uralic (which has more in common with Estonian and Hungarian). i.e. with only English, I can still get by reading Swedish signs, but would be terribly lost in Findland.

Swedish for pain is sm?rta. The colloquialism "that smarts!" is derived from the same Anglo-Saxon root (smeaort), cousin to the word for to strike (smitan).

Puljuj?rvi appears to be a compound word in Finnish for "group of lakes" (pulju - crowd, j?rvi - lake). As it were, Jesse Puljuj?rvi was born to Finnish parents in Sweden.

So the result of all this is that I have mad respect for Leo Komarov, who speaks Finnish, Swedish, Estonian, Russian, and English, and if the idea is to play a European puck possession style, he'd make a good lingual and cultural hub for a team of youngsters.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

No, his other "p" word is closer to reality.

Pugnacity?

Those were the days.

 

[Kin]

So the result of all this is that I have mad respect for Leo Komarov, who speaks Finnish, Swedish, Estonian, Russian, and English, and if the idea is to play a European puck possession style, he'd make a good lingual and cultural hub for a team of youngsters.

Yeah, except I think something like 90% of people in Scandinavian countries speak English anyway.

 

[ZBBM]

No, his other "p" word is closer to reality.

Puljuj?rvi?

Is that Swedish for pain?

No, I think it's Finnish for Top-5 pick winger.

I didn't realize how similar Swedish and Finnish are.

I'm not a linguist, so this is all by the power of Google... (and not working at work).

They have a similar alphabet (Finnish orthography is based on Swedish, German, and Latin) but completely different origins; Swedish is Germanic, Finnish is Uralic (which has more in common with Estonian and Hungarian). i.e. with only English, I can still get by reading Swedish signs, but would be terribly lost in Findland.

Swedish for pain is sm?rta. The colloquialism "that smarts!" is derived from the same Anglo-Saxon root (smeaort), cousin to the word for to strike (smitan).

Puljuj?rvi appears to be a compound word in Finnish for "group of lakes" (pulju - crowd, j?rvi - lake). As it were, Jesse Puljuj?rvi was born to Finnish parents in Sweden.

So the result of all this is that I have mad respect for Leo Komarov, who speaks Finnish, Swedish, Estonian, Russian, and English, and if the idea is to play a European puck possession style, he'd make a good lingual and cultural hub for a team of youngsters.

You are right, herman.  Finnish and Swedish have about as much in common as Chinese and Swedish.  They are from totally different language families.  There are tons of people of Finnish heritage around here ? the street signs are in English and Finnish ? and only very rarely can I make out a particle of a word in Finnish that bears some resemblance to English or other Indo-European languages.

BTW, you often hear announcers mispronounce Finnish names.  The accent is always on the first syllable (I believe that holds for all Finnish words).  Exceptions would be Finnish people who don't have surnames that originate in Finnish (lots of people of Swedish extraction are natives of Finland, like the yeoman leafs d-man Aki Berg; and there are a few Latinized Finnish surnames, like Huselius and Sibelius).

 

[herman]

So the result of all this is that I have mad respect for Leo Komarov, who speaks Finnish, Swedish, Estonian, Russian, and English, and if the idea is to play a European puck possession style, he'd make a good lingual and cultural hub for a team of youngsters.

Yeah, except I think something like 90% of people in Scandinavian countries speak English anyway.

I was thinking that too. Not just Scandinavia, but the hockey world in general is very anglophonic so it's not as much of a difficulty as it is in baseball for example.

You are right, herman.  Finnish and Swedish have about as much in common as Chinese and Swedish.  They are from totally different language families.  There are tons of people of Finnish heritage around here ? the street signs are in English and Finnish ? and only very rarely can I make out a particle of a word in Finnish that bears some resemblance to English or other Indo-European languages.

BTW, you often hear announcers mispronounce Finnish names.  The accent is always on the first syllable (I believe that holds for all Finnish words).  Exceptions would be Finnish people who don't have surnames that originate in Finnish (lots of people of Swedish extraction are natives of Finland, like the yeoman leafs d-man Aki Berg; and there are a few Latinized Finnish surnames, like Huselius and Sibelius).

Thanks for the firsthand info, Zanzibar! Where are you located?

At least you can recognize the letters in Finnish and sound it out. Same with Arabic/Hebrew, Japanese/Korean, Cyrillic, etc. once you recognize the letters and their associated sounds.

Chinese orthography is completely unphonetic and the characters are often more associated with the meaning of the words than the pronunciation. My favourite example is: 凸 is bulge/protrusion; 凹 is dent.

 

[Tigger]

No, his other "p" word is closer to reality.

Puljuj?rvi?

Is that Swedish for pain?

No, I think it's Finnish for Top-5 pick winger.

I didn't realize how similar Swedish and Finnish are.

I'm not a linguist, so this is all by the power of Google... (and not working at work).

They have a similar alphabet (Finnish orthography is based on Swedish, German, and Latin) but completely different origins; Swedish is Germanic, Finnish is Uralic (which has more in common with Estonian and Hungarian). i.e. with only English, I can still get by reading Swedish signs, but would be terribly lost in Findland.

Swedish for pain is sm?rta. The colloquialism "that smarts!" is derived from the same Anglo-Saxon root (smeaort), cousin to the word for to strike (smitan).

Puljuj?rvi appears to be a compound word in Finnish for "group of lakes" (pulju - crowd, j?rvi - lake). As it were, Jesse Puljuj?rvi was born to Finnish parents in Sweden.

So the result of all this is that I have mad respect for Leo Komarov, who speaks Finnish, Swedish, Estonian, Russian, and English, and if the idea is to play a European puck possession style, he'd make a good lingual and cultural hub for a team of youngsters.

Well, that kills the joke I guess.

 

[Highlander]

Good article about Babs and the way the team are playing:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs-structure-boston-bruins-jack-edwards-mike-babcock-claude-julien-defence/

 

[Bender]

So this is a bit random but I ran into Mike Babcock on Saturday afternoon. I was coming out of the Goodlife Gym at Bay/Bloor and as I walked by I noticed a familiar face. Mike Babcock! I was going to walk on by but I thought hey, what the hell, I'll never see him again. I said excuse me, Mike? He said yes, he asked my name. We shook hands, and said I appreciate what you're doing with our hockey team. He said thanks and I told him to have a good day.

Very courteous guy, seems like a class act.

 

[rdowdall]

So this is a bit random but I ran into Mike Babcock on Saturday afternoon. I was coming out of the Goodlife Gym at Bay/Bloor and as I walked by I noticed a familiar face. Mike Babcock! I was going to walk on by but I thought hey, what the hell, I'll never see him again. I said excuse me, Mike? He said yes, he asked my name. We shook hands, and said I appreciate what you're doing with our hockey team. He said thanks and I told him to have a good day.

Very courteous guy, seems like a class act.

While I don't doubt that your telling of the story is how it happened in your head, I imagine it went down more like this:

 

[Bender]

So this is a bit random but I ran into Mike Babcock on Saturday afternoon. I was coming out of the Goodlife Gym at Bay/Bloor and as I walked by I noticed a familiar face. Mike Babcock! I was going to walk on by but I thought hey, what the hell, I'll never see him again. I said excuse me, Mike? He said yes, he asked my name. We shook hands, and said I appreciate what you're doing with our hockey team. He said thanks and I told him to have a good day.

Very courteous guy, seems like a class act.

While I don't doubt that your telling of the story is how it happened in your head, I imagine it went down more like this:

I was like a raging schoolgirl watching the Beatles in the 1960s.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[hockeyfan1]

So this is a bit random but I ran into Mike Babcock on Saturday afternoon. I was coming out of the Goodlife Gym at Bay/Bloor and as I walked by I noticed a familiar face. Mike Babcock! I was going to walk on by but I thought hey, what the hell, I'll never see him again. I said excuse me, Mike? He said yes, he asked my name. We shook hands, and said I appreciate what you're doing with our hockey team. He said thanks and I told him to have a good day.

Very courteous guy, seems like a class act.

Very nice encounter.

Reminds me of the time when my brother and I, back in the '80's, nearly raced across through traffic across Carlton St. like two fanatics, calling the then coach Mike Nikolyk, attempting to flag him down with flailing arms (*laughing*).  The poor man must have thought we were nuts but after catching up to him, panting, we desperately tried to give him some tips on making the Leafs better.

Oh Lord, the Leafs back then were dreadful.

 

[herman]

I was semi-wondering who the other guys were behind the bench, and their specific roles. Lo, and behold:

Adam Proteau: Leafs Assistants Playing A Key Role
http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=793128

The Leafs? primary assistant coaches ? the men who are out on the bench during games and on the ice regularly during practice ? are veteran Jim Hiller and first-year NHL assistant D.J. Smith. Hiller is the man in charge of Toronto?s power play and works mainly with Buds forwards, and Smith runs the Buds? penalty kill and looks after the team?s defense corps. Both are former NHL players, but each has his own approach to day-to-day work: where Hiller is a laid-back man who tries to get to know each roster member as best he can, Smith is appreciated for his sense of humor.

[...]

Toronto has a slew of other important coaching figures, including goalie coach Steve Briere and assistant coach Andrew Brewer, who focuses on faceoffs and video analysis.

 

[herman]

Yay! Systems Analysis!
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2016/01/04/mike-babcocks-swinging-centre-breakout/

and Anthony Petrielli is back!

When young players are growing up through minor hockey, they all learn a variation of a standard breakout: D-to-D pass, up to the winger, and across to a swinging centre or the far winger who releases wide.

In previous seasons, the Leafs have run similar breakouts while also stretching the zone for long-bomb passes or putting it off the glass and out when in danger. In no particular order, those were their three primary breakouts.

That has changed with Mike Babcock in charge, as the first and ideal breakout option is to hit the centre cutting low up the middle of the ice. There is more risk directing play up the middle, but there is also more reward. An errant play up the wall can be covered up defensively with players retreating to the house or holding their positions, while an errant play up the middle is going to result in a high-percentage scoring opportunity.

Mike Babcock, via Justin Bourne/Sportsnet:

Yeah, for sure, when you think of forechecking in today?s game in the National Hockey League, or any other league, you?re looking to take away the walls. They?re coming hard with one, they?re taking the wall with two, and probably the other side with three, there?s a space that you can execute in front of your net.

Obviously the problem is when you turn the puck over in front of your net sometimes it ends up in your net. But I?m a big believer in getting back and executing fast so you don?t have to play in D-zone coverage at all. You turn pucks over by keeping it along the wall and you end up in the D-zone, and we?d like to be in the offensive zone by making that good first pass.

The old system tended to stack the deck against our favour, forcing low-percentage, low-option passes (stretch, cross-ice); the current one favours high-percentage, high-risk, high-option plays which encourages a cycle of possession.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Mirtle has an article about Babcock today as well.

He highlights some of the team improvements from last season:

Under Babcock, the Leafs have improved from one of the worst possession teams in the NHL (45 per cent) to league average (50 per cent), making one of the biggest jumps in the league (along with Buffalo and Montreal).

The Leafs have also gone from allowing the most high-quality scoring chances against in the NHL (14 a game) to the fourth fewest.

On special teams, they are first in shots attempted on the power play (up from 25th last season) and second in shot attempts allowed on the penalty kill (up from 26th).

The list of improvements is longer than that, but that?s a glimpse of how dramatic some of the shifts have been. In every case, the progress is primarily a credit to systemic and deployment changes brought in by the coaching staff.

They also deserve credit for the fact so many players look better than the past few aimless seasons. James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Tyler Bozak and Jake Gardiner lead the way there, but it?s been a nearly team-wide transformation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/maple-leafs-making-case-for-mike-babcock-as-nhls-coach-of-the-year/article27989580/

 

[ZBBM]

Mirtle has an article about Babcock today as well.

He highlights some of the team improvements from last season:

Under Babcock, the Leafs have improved from one of the worst possession teams in the NHL (45 per cent) to league average (50 per cent), making one of the biggest jumps in the league (along with Buffalo and Montreal).

The Leafs have also gone from allowing the most high-quality scoring chances against in the NHL (14 a game) to the fourth fewest.

On special teams, they are first in shots attempted on the power play (up from 25th last season) and second in shot attempts allowed on the penalty kill (up from 26th).

The list of improvements is longer than that, but that?s a glimpse of how dramatic some of the shifts have been. In every case, the progress is primarily a credit to systemic and deployment changes brought in by the coaching staff.

They also deserve credit for the fact so many players look better than the past few aimless seasons. James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Tyler Bozak and Jake Gardiner lead the way there, but it?s been a nearly team-wide transformation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/maple-leafs-making-case-for-mike-babcock-as-nhls-coach-of-the-year/article27989580/

While I think he manages to oversell the (low, as he eadmits) possibility of the team making the playoffs, the general point is right on the money.  But Babcock won't win the Jack until the team makes the playoffs.

 

[ZBBM]

Mirtle has an article about Babcock today as well.

He highlights some of the team improvements from last season:

Under Babcock, the Leafs have improved from one of the worst possession teams in the NHL (45 per cent) to league average (50 per cent), making one of the biggest jumps in the league (along with Buffalo and Montreal).

The Leafs have also gone from allowing the most high-quality scoring chances against in the NHL (14 a game) to the fourth fewest.

On special teams, they are first in shots attempted on the power play (up from 25th last season) and second in shot attempts allowed on the penalty kill (up from 26th).

The list of improvements is longer than that, but that?s a glimpse of how dramatic some of the shifts have been. In every case, the progress is primarily a credit to systemic and deployment changes brought in by the coaching staff.

They also deserve credit for the fact so many players look better than the past few aimless seasons. James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Tyler Bozak and Jake Gardiner lead the way there, but it?s been a nearly team-wide transformation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/maple-leafs-making-case-for-mike-babcock-as-nhls-coach-of-the-year/article27989580/

While I think he manages to oversell the (low, as he admits) possibility of the team making the playoffs, the general point is right on the money.  But Babcock won't win the Jack until the team makes the playoffs.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

While I think he manages to oversell the (low, as he eadmits) possibility of the team making the playoffs, the general point is right on the money.  But Babcock won't win the Jack until the team makes the playoffs.

I'd bet everything that I own on Babcock winning the Jack Adams the first season he gets the Leafs into the playoffs.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Mirtle has an article about Babcock today as well.

He highlights some of the team improvements from last season:

Under Babcock, the Leafs have improved from one of the worst possession teams in the NHL (45 per cent) to league average (50 per cent), making one of the biggest jumps in the league (along with Buffalo and Montreal).

The Leafs have also gone from allowing the most high-quality scoring chances against in the NHL (14 a game) to the fourth fewest.

On special teams, they are first in shots attempted on the power play (up from 25th last season) and second in shot attempts allowed on the penalty kill (up from 26th).

The list of improvements is longer than that, but that?s a glimpse of how dramatic some of the shifts have been. In every case, the progress is primarily a credit to systemic and deployment changes brought in by the coaching staff.

They also deserve credit for the fact so many players look better than the past few aimless seasons. James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Tyler Bozak and Jake Gardiner lead the way there, but it?s been a nearly team-wide transformation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/maple-leafs-making-case-for-mike-babcock-as-nhls-coach-of-the-year/article27989580/

While I think he manages to oversell the (low, as he admits) possibility of the team making the playoffs, the general point is right on the money.  But Babcock won't win the Jack until the team makes the playoffs.

I definitely enjoyed this more the second time.

 

[Kin]

I think we're sort of seeing the best case scenario here for the impact of coaching on a team. Going from a pretty terrible coach(Carlyle/Horacheck dealing with the mess Carlyle made) to a very good one is probably as extreme a swing as you're likely to see.