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Babcock a Leaf - What does it mean for the Habs? |
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As we all know by now, Mike Babcock has followed the money to Toronto having accepted the Maple Leafs $50 million 8 year contract offer. On one hand, this should not come as a surprise as many who were close to Babcock stated that he felt a great responsibility to raise the salary bar for NHL coaches.
On the other hand, Babcock told Darren Dreger last week that
“I’m a big picture guy, but I’m an immediate-gratification guy too because I like winning”
Everything we saw from the Leafs this season said the opposite of “winning”. The Leafs fired Randy Carlyle despite being in a playoff position. Perhaps this was Brendan Shanahan’s plan all along, we’ll never know.
Besides the Leafs hiring Mike Babcock, the Sabres seem to have shifted their focus to Dan Byslma who one would imagine to be an excellent fit in Buffalo with presumingly Eichel and Ennis. Terry Pegula will not want to miss out on their 2nd choice. Don Sweeney, the new GM of the Boston Bruins hasn’t exactly given Claude Julien a vote of confidence, potentially leading to another opening in the division:
So what does this all mean for the Montreal Canadiens? Babcock remains in the division and so having to face him doesn’t change very much. What will change will be the competitive nature of the Leafs themselves. Babcock will not accept any passengers on the bus, his players will be forced to raise their level of play and dedication. Hopefully this means for a renewed and true rivalry between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs. The last time these two clubs met in the playoffs was in 1979, before many a fan’s time. The way the playoffs are now formatted, the chances would greatly increase as it will be only a matter of time until Babcock is able to return the Leafs to playoff hockey. Montreal-Toronto is a natural rivalry and the league will be a better place if this can rival the Montreal-Boston one.
Another way that Babcock’s hiring affects the Canadiens is that it will make the division that much more competitive, meaning there will be even more competition to make the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Lightning should be set for playoff hockey for years to come. One can only imagine that this season was an anomaly and Boston will return to the playoffs with or without Claude Julien. There is an excellent chance that Jeff Blashill, coach of Detroit’s farm team will get the call up to the big leagues. Do not make the mistake of discounting Detroit’s chances without Babcok. Their system is a well-oiled machine and they don’t want break their current streak of 24 consecutive playoff appearances. Ottawa is just getting better. Florida narrowly missed out. The Atlantic division is one tough division and only 3 teams are guaranteed to make the playoffs. The Montreal Canadiens are coming off a 110 point season, nothing to sneeze at. Many were calling for the Habs to pursue Babcock even with Therrien’s winning record. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet had an interesting point in his weekly 30 thoughts column:
22. Another NHL coach on all the complaints after Bergevin backed Michel Therrien: “If those players had quit on him, they would have lost Game 4. He didn’t change the lineup and they delivered.”
A second coach did wonder, though, if he would tweak his system for next season. The Canadiens brought their defencemen above their own blueline when defending in the neutral zone, a small but important tactic. “It’s a good system and you can win with it,” he said. “But it adds 10-15 feet of skating every time. Their guys got tired.”
The determining factor probably is re-signing Jeff Petry or the development of the youth to ease the load on Andrei Markov and Subban.
It is a very telling statement that the players did not in fact quit on Therrien and the coaching staff. I believe like the second anonymous coach that there will be some tweaks in the philosophy next season. If the coaches and team are not constantly evolving and improving, than they are simply staying static which would be absolutely unacceptable. Therrien deserves to continue to coach the Montreal Canadiens and hopefully he, his staff and Marc Bergevin will take some valuable lessons learned from this season and playoffs. Otherwise, I hear Babcock has an out clause in 5 years...
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