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On Tuesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs were so convinced that they were the #3 horse in the two horse Mike Babcock race, that they were having dinner at a Toronto restaurant with a former NHL coach and his wife.
The Leafs reportedly had conceded that Babcock was bound for Buffalo or Detroit and that they were moving on to another hot candidate to hire to be their next head coach. Not assistant coach. Head coach. So mush so that the Leafs flew Guy Boucher and his wife over from Switzerland to Toronto on Monday to continue the substantive discussions that they had begun the week before at the World Championships. As it is being reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie, the Leafs were prepared to take the Boucher discussions to the proposal phase of their courtship. The Leafs wanted Boucher because they felt that Babcock was out of their grasp. They needed a plausible Plan B in the event that they lost Babcock to Buffalo, or Detroit, and it looked like a done deal for that to happen on Tuesday night. Would Boucher accept an assistant coach role under Babcock? Or, will he hold out for a head coaching offer from Buffalo?
The Associated Press reported Tuesday afternoon that the Sabres and Babcock were engaged in contract discussions, which would suggest that the two parties had agreed in principle to a deal. According to reports, all that was left to hammer out were the official job description. Little did the Sabres know that when the sun rose in the east on Wednesday morning that Babcock was having misgivings. Who knew that the Leafs were back in the game? Who knew that the Leafs would end up signuing Babcock to the exact same 8 year, $50 million contract that the Sabres reportedly presented to Babcock earlier in their courtship process?
Detroit GM Ken Holland briefed the press on Wednesday afternoon. He thanked Babcock for ten years of service and said it was time to move on. Holland said that at 8am Wednesday morning, Babcock drove to the GM's home where they had a conversation. Holland had to leave to go meet with a couple of players at his office. Babcock then called Ken Holland at approximately 11:15am to inform him that he was accepting the Toronto Maple Leafs' 8 year, $50 million contract offer.
Why did Babcock stall? Didn't he tell media yesterday that he would announce his decision on Wednesday morning? Why did he wait? Was it a deliberate attempt to see if Brendan Shanahan could get the MLSE board of directors to approve of the $50 million contract investment?
There are too many questions and not enough answers.
What's done is done. No point in looking through th erear view mirror. It's time to look solely through the windshield. If Babcock wanted to be in Buffalo, he'd have signed Pegula's offer and shook hands on it.
The Sabres aren't speaking on the Babcock matter. The Leafs will introduce Babcock at a presser on Thursday morning and I doubt that he will reference the Buffalo negotiations on the record. One of thse days, Tim Murray and Terry Pegula will speak about the Babcock affair. Right now mum's the word.
Tim Graham of the Buffalo News
Murray and the Pegulas should take solace in the fact that they weren't the only ones jilted by Babcock. Guy Boucher and his wife were left with the impression that he would be hired to be the next head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Talk about a crappy way to do business. You fly and guy and his wife to Toronto from Switzerland, take them to dinner, say all the right things, show them buying signals then leave them at the alter?
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TSN reporting that Mike Babcock has agreed to an 8 year, $50 million contract to be the next head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Babcock will earn as much as $8 million per year for the first three years of the deal.
Elliotte Friedman confirms that the Leafs have signed off on giving Babcock player personnel decision making power. In other words, Babcock now has the juice to back door his GM whenever he wants to. I would hate to be Toronto's new GM. Keep your head on a swivel Mark Hunter and Kyle Dubas. Babcock's ego may become intolerable in Toronto. I applaud Tim Murray for sticking to his guns and no giving total personnel permission and control to Babcock. Looks like that was the deal breaker in Buffalo.
So, Babcock's agent took Buffalo's best financial offer to Toronto and the Leafs agrees to meet it.
All the more reason for Sabres fans to hate the Maple Leafs.
Greasy move, Mike.
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An interesting development is going on in Boston right now where are the Bruins have named their new GM today.
Don Sweeney takes over today for Pete Chiarelli who was fired in April and is now the GM in Edmonton. Sweeney and Cam Neeley have been permanent fixtures in the Boston front office for some time in there may be a coaching change in Boston.
Sweeney may be firing longtime head coach Claude Julien and if he does the Buffalo Sabres would likely be very interested in the former Stanley Cup winning head coach.
Sweeney sat down a spoke with Julien on Wednesday morning. Does Julien factor in to Sweeney's vision moving forward?
Tim Murray will likely be keeping an eye on the Boston situation as it develops
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It takes a verybrave, confident man to walk away from a king's ransom and a treasure chest full of young, skilled hockey players like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Ristolainen, Zach Bogosian, Evander Kane, Zemgus Girgensons, Tyler Ennis, Hudson Fashhing, Nikita Zadorov, Mark Pysyk, Jake McCabe.
That is apparently what Mike Babcock has done today. According to multiple reports, Babcock will no be accepting the rich offer to be the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres. If the reports are true, Babcock is skating away from $40 million to $50 million of guaranteed salary, plus, the best pipeline of young talent in the NHL.
Just before 1:00 pm EDT on Wednesday, TSN's Bob McKenzie tweeted that the Buffalo Sabres were "OUT" of the Babcock sweepstakes.
Pierre LeBrun confirmed it
On May 9 Babcock met with the Toronto Maple Leafs. On Mother's Day, he met with Terry and Kim Pegula, and Tim Murray in Buffalo. After a lengthy visit and tour of the facilities, Babcock flew home to Detroit. The next day , he flew to Prague, Czech Republic to "scout" Wings prospect Dylan Larkin. While there, he and his former boss of ten years Ken Holland sat down with TSN for an interview. In it Babcock said that he would render his final decision on where he would coach next on or by May 20. He and Holland returned to Detroit on Sunday May 17.
Yesterday afternoon, the AP reported that Babcock and Sabres GM Tim Murray were engaged in contract discussions. The money was presumably decided upon. The two men were said to be hammering out Babcock's role and exact job description.
Toronto be damned. It's a greasy move for Babcock and his agent to take Buffalo's best financial offer to the Leafs for them to meet or beat it. If the Leafs are the "winner" in the Babcock race, then so be it. He won't have much fun coaching a losing team for the next 4-5 seasons. Babcock will surely have a ball tasering veteran malcontents Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel on a weekly basis to get them to play to their lofty contract statuses. More on that later.
Let's assume that the news is true that Babcock has said "Thanks, but no thanks" to the Pegulas and his "good" friend Tim Murray.
It's now time to focus 100% attention on hiring a head coach that can mentor the awesome young tealent that teh Sabres possess and will be drafting next month.
Here's my list of head coaching candidates that I would pounce on immediately, if not sooner:
1). Luke Richardson
2). Peter DeBoer
3). Guy Boucher
More to come.....
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