Babcock, the Latest Casualty of Moneypuck

The Mike Babcock coaching era with the Toronto Maple Leafs came to a crashing halt on Wednesday. President Brendan Shanahan and General Manager Kyle Dubas made the decision to fire Babcock, a Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold Medal winning coach, and replace him with Sheldon Keefe.

People have been blindly dumping on Babcock since the start of the season. I don’t believe he lost his ability to coach overnight as many have suggested. Babcock, to me, simply never bought into the way many sports organizations have put their resources on. Some call it analytics, I call it Moneypuck. Babcock is merely the latest casualty of the numbers game. Nazem Kadri, Matt Martin, Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Jake Gardiner, all fit the prototypical hockey player: skill, size, determination. All can play for any NHL team, just not the Maple Leafs.

Dubas gave Babcock a team that he didn’t want to coach. This is the most skilled Maple Leafs team that I can remember. But they don’t hit or back check, and often lose battles in the corners fighting for the puck. Babcock understands that those qualities are just as important as skating and puck handling. But those like Dubas who rely heavily on analytics don’t see it that way.

I was rather perplexed to hear what Shanahan had to say during Thursday’s news conference about the team, and the game, going forward. He was the one who hired Babcock in 2015. What Shanahan said at Thursday’s news conference tells me is that he has ditched the old school game that made him a Hockey Hall of Fame player and instead bought into the millennial version.

The appearance of the Leafs being small is not an illusion, it is a fact. People who have begged Leafs brass to assemble a team like this are now nowhere to be seen or heard, at least on social media. And perhaps it is no coincidence that the ones who have advocated for the Leafs to get bigger (i.e. Don Cherry) are no longer on the airwaves.

Since Dubas arrived in Toronto from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 2014, the results of Moneypuck has been average at best. It did get a Calder Cup championship for the AHL’s Marlies when Dubas was the GM and Keefe was the coach. But many feel that pales in comparison to Lord Stanley. You also have to be good in order to crack the top 8 of your conference to get into the playoffs. It’s not the Maple Leafs fault that they end up getting the Boston Bruins, a team that is considered old-school by today’s standards, in the first round. But the last two early playoff exits to a team that some don’t see is as skilled or as talented as Toronto’s was, to them, the last straw.

The Maple Leafs find themselves out of a playoff spot (24 points, two back of Philadelphia for the 2nd wildcard spot, as of November 23rd). There is plenty of time to salvage the season. We have seen before where a mid-season coaching change has resulted in a Stanley Cup championship. St. Louis being the most recent example. The Maple Leafs can only hope lightning will strike twice. But unless both the personnel and the attitude changes, I wouldn’t put too much money on the Maple Leafs making the playoffs this season. And you can’t blame Babcock on that.

Also see:

The Leafs Got Babcock… Now What?
Maple Leafs Banking on Moneypuck
Maple Leafs Must Resist Urge to Build Super Team

The Last Bastion of Hockey is Silenced

Some say it was only a matter of time before Don Cherry talks his way off the air. Well that time was approximately 7:54 p.m. Saturday November 9th, 2019, two days before Remembrance Day. And just like that, the last bastion of hockey was gone from the airwaves.

Sure, Cherry is not the only one in Canada, or in the world, who can talk about hockey. But he is one of a few who knows the game inside and out, better than some so-called insiders. I would go even further that Cherry is the only one who talks about hockey the way it is meant to be played. His view of the game is not shared by others but he is championed by those who matter, ones that are involved in the game.

Cherry understands that playing hockey is always going to be rough. That’s why you have “enforcers”, the ones who do the dirty work so guys like Connor McDavid can create chances and score goals. This is the problem the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently having. Cherry was one of the first who pointed this out at the beginning of the season.

There is nothing wrong with the game of hockey, just like there’s nothing wrong with what Cherry said, or what he meant to say, on TV that Saturday night. There was no need for Ron MacLean to come on the Hometown Hockey broadcast the following night and issue an apology. MacLean was heavily criticized for it but I would give him the benefit of the doubt. I think he was given marching orders from corporate head office and was compelled to apologize on the air.

You don’t need to listen to Cherry to understand how hockey should be played. Heck, you don’t have to listen to Grapes to understand what he was talking about that Saturday night. Your everyday Joe and Jane knew Cherry wasn’t being racist. You have to be living under a rock and not recognize that a number of people in Canada refuse to wear poppies in honour of Remembrance Day. But even those on the so-called right were weak-kneed into agreeing with, who Cherry often describes them as, left-wing pinkos in condemning Cherry’s comments. It took a Hall-of-Famer in Bobby Orr to stand up for Cherry and condemned his dismissal from Sportsnet especially for them doing it on a day to honour military veterans.

Many Canadians have been politically sensitive for decades on just about everything, let alone a man who appears on television once a week. By Rogers caving in to their demands, it solidifies Canada as a snowflake country. It also goes to show people in charge have no idea who really follows hockey, and it is not the ones who called for Cherry’s dismissal.

The fact of the matter is, in a democracy, opinions are a two-way street. Don’t expect to say something and not receive any kind of backlash. To say Cherry shouldn’t have been criticized for his comments is stupid. People are allowed to say their piece and that should have been the end of it. But that wasn’t good enough for his detractors.

So chalk this one to the pacifists who fill their lungs with steroids and shouted their way to Cherry’s firing. People can justify it all they want. To me, Saturday nights in Canada won’t be the same.

Also see:

Nobody is Watching Sports Channels
Political Correctness has No Place in Sport
Don Cherry. Gregg Zaun. Separated at Birth?