WHOA - Mike Babcock OUT | Sheldon Keefe IN

[Strangelove]

Should have fired Dubas as well

Yep.

In what world does a GM get 18 months, doesn?t get to hire his own coach and gets fired?

As in should have, obviously it would have been unorthodox for Dubas to be fired as well.

I wouldn't have hired Dubas, I would have gone with Hunter.

His 3 big re-signings were not "wins". He bungled the back up goalie situation. Both defensemen trades this summer were big misses. I have reasons why i have doubt in Dubas' ability.

As astray Babcock went in his performance, Dubas has been just as culpable.

It's too early to judge the defencemen trades as misses, though I continue to be bewildered by the fact that Ceci was signed following the trade.

The RFA signings of Matthews and Marner were both pretty inexcusable (particularly the latter).

Generally though, Dubas's approach to team-building and analytics is great. Babcock just wasn't the right person to implement the vision.

 

[Joe S.]

Who hired the new assistants? Babcock or Dubas?

I was pretty certain Dubas fired Babcock's previous guys and instilled the current ones.

That?s what I was thinking. So it would seem odd for Dubas? hand picked assistants to get fired already.

 

[AvroArrow]

I'm a little worried about going with Keefe, but removing Babcock was obvious at this point.

 

[disco]

For good or ill, Dubas has clearly added to this team with a specific style and player in mind. Now there is complete organizational buy-in. We'll truly see what they have now. It's really no ones fault, just not a good fit anymore. Sad Babs couldn't experience the next level of success here. He did a lot for developing players and installing stucture and professionalism. All the best Babs! His rep is intact, he'll land somewhere and they'll be happy to have him.

 

[lamajama]

Should have fired Dubas as well

Yep.

In what world does a GM get 18 months, doesn?t get to hire his own coach and gets fired?

As in should have, obviously it would have been unorthodox for Dubas to be fired as well.

I wouldn't have hired Dubas, I would have gone with Hunter.

His 3 big re-signings were not "wins". He bungled the back up goalie situation. Both defensemen trades this summer were big misses. I have reasons why i have doubt in Dubas' ability.

As astray Babcock went in his performance, Dubas has been just as culpable.

Obviously in hindsight Sparks was a mistake but I'm pretty sure almost everyone would logically have picked Sparks in that situation.

Mac also had a lot of historical performance stats that said he was a lower end backup. I think a lot of people think back to the great save
made to clinch the playoffs for the Leafs and overreact to it. Dubas also would have had a lot on input given to him as it appears that's a key
part of his style.

 

[Highlander]

https://twitter.com/LeafsAllDayy/status/1197291035937968130

I guess this means Kyle will not be speaking to the press today???

 

[Joe S.]

Babcock?s message there is some kind of passive aggressive.

 

[bustaheims]

Didn?t expect it this quickly, but hard to say it?s not warranted. Babcock didn?t adapt well enough when things weren?t working, and was clearly on a different page than his boss. He?s a good coach, but needs to go back to the drawing board and rethink his strategies for the way the game has changed over the last few years.

Hopefully Keefe will have a positive impact.

 

[Zee]

Should have fired Dubas as well

Yep.

In what world does a GM get 18 months, doesn?t get to hire his own coach and gets fired?

As in should have, obviously it would have been unorthodox for Dubas to be fired as well.

I wouldn't have hired Dubas, I would have gone with Hunter.

His 3 big re-signings were not "wins". He bungled the back up goalie situation. Both defensemen trades this summer were big misses. I have reasons why i have doubt in Dubas' ability.

As astray Babcock went in his performance, Dubas has been just as culpable.

Contracts aside you?re basing this on the teams and players performance the first 23 games. If they turn it around and look good are the d signings and goalie situation better? Winning fixes a lot of things.

 

[Kin]

I might be alone at this table, but I don't think this was a good idea.......

No, me neither. It feels more like a move designed to placate people who wanted a scalp than one designed with a real specific goal in mind.

Personally, I felt Babcock at least had earned the chance to actually miss the playoffs.

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/JShannonhl/status/1197289366063857666

 

[azzurri63]

Heres my take and most of you have heard it numerous times. You all know my feelings toward Babcock.

Reasons being the team in some areas has not improved since he got here.
Team system and defensive structure is just horrid. I understand players have changed but deficiencies are still there. Some blame the players some coaching.
I personally don't think he's tried to alter anything to improve this teams defensive woes.
His usage of players is mind boggling. Ice time, key situations, down a goal late using 4th line instead of top lines to tie a game.
His goaltending ways for back to back games another head scratcher.
Players are ultimately responsible for play on the ice but it's up to the coach to utilize and get the most out of them.

As much as I've harped on Babcock and he should go Dubas has f'd up as well.
He's built a team of skill and skill only which some here say is fine but you have to add a little grit and blend it in with the stars.
Team has no backbone and someone to stand up to opposition when a star player is hit. Team has none of that.
Other area and I've said it before the contracts he gave out were a mistake strictly for the fact that he left himself hogtied.

Be interesting to see how they play moving forward and once healthy.
One thing I think will happen is we'll see the team play a more structured game.

Whether you agree or not less talented teams are ahead of us and that boils down to systems that work, better coaching or players that compete all the time.
Like I said last week that's what they should be targeting either through trade or draft.
Players with a lot of heart. Can have all the skill in the world but heart trumps skill when you're floating for half a game.

Unfortunately seems like the PP and PK are killing us and scoring seems to be a concern.
Probably going to continue till Keefe gets his system in and when everyones back.

Interesting weeks ahead.

 

[Frank E]

I might be alone at this table, but I don't think this was a good idea.......

No, me neither. It feels more like a move designed to placate people who wanted a scalp than one designed with a real specific goal in mind.

Personally, I felt Babcock at least had earned the chance to actually miss the playoffs.

I agree.

I think he earned that.

I also think that this mess isn't mostly on Babcock.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I might be alone at this table, but I don't think this was a good idea.......

No, me neither. It feels more like a move designed to placate people who wanted a scalp than one designed with a real specific goal in mind.

Personally, I felt Babcock at least had earned the chance to actually miss the playoffs.

I feel like this was more of a sign that Dubas wanted to do this in the offseason but Shanny blocked it.

 

[Hobbes]

I might be alone at this table, but I don't think this was a good idea.......

No, me neither. It feels more like a move designed to placate people who wanted a scalp than one designed with a real specific goal in mind.

Personally, I felt Babcock at least had earned the chance to actually miss the playoffs.

I don't think the Leafs brass (Rogers/Bell/Tannenbaum + Shanny moreso than Dubas) are willing to risk that big a step back without doing everything possible to try to fix it before it went completely off the rails. If they still end up missing the playoffs, at least Keefe will have had 3/4 of a year NHL coaching experience going into next year. Sticking with Mike all the way they obviously felt wasn't going to give them any chance of salvaging the season. [EDIT: I don't know if they're right but they wouldn't be making this move unless they were convinced that's the case.]

I'm in general agreement with you that the move is probably to get some of the fan/media pressure off the team's back for a (short) while and I'm not entirely sure what they think Keefe will be able to do considering the roster is more or less unchangeable at this junction (other than minor moves). I guess if they felt that the bulk of the team's core were tuning Babcock out, maybe this is what's needed. At least Keefe knows many of them from having coached them with the Marlies.

I'm glad I'm not Shannahan...wouldn't have been all that pleasant going to the Board to get them to sign off on what it's going to cost them to have Babcock sitting at home still collecting paycheques from them for the next 3 years

I'm not terribly optimistic at the chances of us seeing a Bluesian type of turn-around, but at this point I'd settle for some half-decent up-tempo hockey with pace, and that's Keefe's MO so if nothing else at least it ought to be watchable.

 

[Kin]

I feel like this was more of a sign that Dubas wanted to do this in the offseason but Shanny blocked it.

Could be. I still don't think Babcock is really what's wrong with the team though and I think his past success earned him more than this.

 

[Highlander]

I might be alone at this table, but I don't think this was a good idea.......

No, me neither. It feels more like a move designed to placate people who wanted a scalp than one designed with a real specific goal in mind.

Personally, I felt Babcock at least had earned the chance to actually miss the playoffs.

I feel like this was more of a sign that Dubas wanted to do this in the offseason but Shanny blocked it.

Exactly CTB, been saying this in a lot of posts today.  Its up Keefe and by extension Dubas to turn this around.  So how much rope will Keefe be given a)is they miss the playoffs b) if they are eliminated in round 1?

 

[Bates]

I feel like this was more of a sign that Dubas wanted to do this in the offseason but Shanny blocked it.

Could be. I still don't think Babcock is really what's wrong with the team though and I think his past success earned him more than this.

Gotta go a long ways back now to see that success.

 

[Kin]

I'm not terribly optimistic at the chances of us seeing a Bluesian type of turn-around, but at this point I'd settle for some half-decent up-tempo hockey with pace, and that's Keefe's MO so if nothing else at least it ought to be watchable.

I'm pretty bummed out that the lesson people took from the Blues seems to be "Fire a coach mid-season and anyone can win the cup!" and not "In the modern era of parity, no team is good enough to overcome bad goaltending and no team is bad enough to stink with good goaltending".

 

[Kin]

Gotta go a long ways back now to see that success.

I'm referring to his success with the Leafs.