Playing The "What If" Game Re: Mike Babcock

[Guilt Trip]

I've been thinking about this a bit since Tuesday and I think I'm not far off the mark when I say that Babcock's PK decisions in Game 6 were the turning point in the series.

I'm a witless palooka but even I recognize that you can't have a winger taking faceoffs against the league's best faceoff man when you have a 1-0 lead and they're on a PP.  At that point in the series, you are up at home with a chance to put your boot on their neck.  You absolutely need to get a centerman out there to take a draw, even if the plan is to get him off ASAP.  If you aren't going to do that, and (guess what) you lose the draw, the next you thing you don't do is let the puck go to Johansen or whoever it was and let him sit there 2 feet from the goal like he's at the office copying machine.  You aggressively force him to make a play, not sit back and play reactive in your end the whole 2 minutes.

And thirdly, if you go ahead and do those 2 stupid things and (guess what) they tie it 1-1, you don't do the same exact damn things the next PP.  Because it will be 2-1, you'll go on to lose G6, you'll go on to lose G7, and then you're sitting here 5 days later playing "what if."

The more I think about that the more it burns me.

Mike Babcock didn't lose us the series.  But he didn't do some pretty obvious things that would have given us a much better chance to win it.

Agree on all accounts. And game 6 downfall started with his playing the 4th line after a goal crap. And your winger taking the draw is playing on 1 leg!

 

[Zee]

I've been thinking about this a bit since Tuesday and I think I'm not far off the mark when I say that Babcock's PK decisions in Game 6 were the turning point in the series.

I'm a witless palooka but even I recognize that you can't have a winger taking faceoffs against the league's best faceoff man when you have a 1-0 lead and they're on a PP.  At that point in the series, you are up at home with a chance to put your boot on their neck.  You absolutely need to get a centerman out there to take a draw, even if the plan is to get him off ASAP.  If you aren't going to do that, and (guess what) you lose the draw, the next you thing you don't do is let the puck go to Johansen or whoever it was and let him sit there 2 feet from the goal like he's at the office copying machine.  You aggressively force him to make a play, not sit back and play reactive in your end the whole 2 minutes.

And thirdly, if you go ahead and do those 2 stupid things and (guess what) they tie it 1-1, you don't do the same exact damn things the next PP.  Because it will be 2-1, you'll go on to lose G6, you'll go on to lose G7, and then you're sitting here 5 days later playing "what if."

The more I think about that the more it burns me.

Mike Babcock didn't lose us the series.  But he didn't do some pretty obvious things that would have given us a much better chance to win it.

Babcock will tell you it wasn't his fault, blame Kadri for getting suspended as it made Mike do bad decisions

 

[disco]

Babs orchestrated the tank year superbly. A ton of structure and discipline, losing games by one goal. The next three years I think he's done a great job, but in terms of being flexible/taking risks on the fly, especially the last two years, there's a case to be made there. I think he gets another year with this group, but he's on the clock.

 

[L K]

At the end of the day it's a results oriented league.  The Leafs have an expensive team with a lot of talent.  If Babcock can't get them to win in the playoffs, that's going to be the reason he gets fired.  Three straight good regular seasons and an 8-12 record in the postseason.  They either advance in the playoffs this year or he is toast.

 

[wnc096]

At the end of the day it's a results oriented league.  The Leafs have an expensive team with a lot of talent.  If Babcock can't get them to win in the playoffs, that's going to be the reason he gets fired.  Three straight good regular seasons and an 8-12 record in the postseason.  They either advance in the playoffs this year or he is toast.

Theres at least a 50/50 chance they play Boston again.  You gotta hope that Chara/Bergeron/Krejci start to slow down

 

[mr grieves]

At the end of the day it's a results oriented league.  The Leafs have an expensive team with a lot of talent.  If Babcock can't get them to win in the playoffs, that's going to be the reason he gets fired.  Three straight good regular seasons and an 8-12 record in the postseason.  They either advance in the playoffs this year or he is toast.

Theres at least a 50/50 chance they play Boston again.  You gotta hope that Chara/Bergeron/Krejci start to slow down

I think, if that happens, and the team is exhibiting the same process-related issues that bedeviled them over the last two years, Dubas might move on from Babcock mid-season. And, obviously, if he loses a third year in a row, he's gone.

 

[ZBBM]

At the end of the day it's a results oriented league.  The Leafs have an expensive team with a lot of talent.  If Babcock can't get them to win in the playoffs, that's going to be the reason he gets fired.  Three straight good regular seasons and an 8-12 record in the postseason.  They either advance in the playoffs this year or he is toast.

Theres at least a 50/50 chance they play Boston again.  You gotta hope that Chara/Bergeron/Krejci start to slow down

Chara already has, considerably.  Krejci too, but not as much.  Bergeron, on the other hand, is still potent as ever.

 

[ZBBM]

At the end of the day it's a results oriented league.  The Leafs have an expensive team with a lot of talent.  If Babcock can't get them to win in the playoffs, that's going to be the reason he gets fired.  Three straight good regular seasons and an 8-12 record in the postseason.  They either advance in the playoffs this year or he is toast.

Theres at least a 50/50 chance they play Boston again.  You gotta hope that Chara/Bergeron/Krejci start to slow down

I think, if that happens, and the team is exhibiting the same process-related issues that bedeviled them over the last two years, Dubas might move on from Babcock mid-season. And, obviously, if he loses a third year in a row, he's gone.

Firing mid-season is a stretch but if they are struggling to even make the playoffs it's possible.  And I agree, he has to get them out of the first round next year or he's done.  Like any coach he'd never admit to something like that publicly, but he knows it.

 

[L K]

At the end of the day it's a results oriented league.  The Leafs have an expensive team with a lot of talent.  If Babcock can't get them to win in the playoffs, that's going to be the reason he gets fired.  Three straight good regular seasons and an 8-12 record in the postseason.  They either advance in the playoffs this year or he is toast.

Theres at least a 50/50 chance they play Boston again.  You gotta hope that Chara/Bergeron/Krejci start to slow down

Chara already has, considerably.  Krejci too, but not as much.  Bergeron, on the other hand, is still potent as ever.

Yeah if anything this playoff series showed that Chara isn't the force that he used to be.  He was slower during the regular season and I have never seen him knocked off his feet as much as this year.  He's always going to be hard to play against when the refs let him hook everyone that skates by him (they let him do that for his entire career) but guys were getting around on him this year.  It's just tough to avoid him when his stick is 15 feet long out from his body.

 

[Guilt Trip]

CBJ just used their 1st PP unit for 1:53 of the power play, and scored. You watching Babs? Play your best players.

 

[cabber24]

Speculation on the radio was that Dubas maybe waiting for the Marlies season to end to promote Keefe to the big club.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Speculation on the radio was that Dubas maybe waiting for the Marlies season to end to promote Keefe to the big club.

Good. Word is his contract is up this year. I don't think the Leafs can afford to lose him. Let him run the pp or pk.