Mike Babcock coached Anaheim and Detroit to three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final and Team Canada to a pair of Olympic victories in Vancouver and Sochi, but chose the challenge of returning the Toronto Maple Leafs to respectability over the comfort zone of remaining with the Red Wings or accepting an equally lucrative contract offer from the rebuilding Buffalo Sabres.
“New is exciting, it scares the crap out of you, to be honest with you. And so, that gets you on your toes and gets you dialed in.” Babcock said in an interview
with the Toronto Sun’s Mike Zeisberger . “I’m not carrying the weight of the world on my back. I’m going to go to work in the morning. I’m going to work as hard as I can. I’m going to go home to my family and then the next day I’m going to do it again. But if you think I’m carrying around the weight of the world, I didn’t do it when I coached Canada at the Olympics (and) I didn’t do it when I coached Detroit.”
The challenge for the 52-year-old Babcock is not only living up to expectations of being the highest-paid NHL head coach, but to plot of change in course for an organization that has made the post-season once since 2004.
That course correction may take some time, with a roster that includes most of the core group that was part of the club’s failures the last number of years having to adjust to playing the way their new bench boss wants them to.
“We want to be a team that comes to training camp well-prepared,” Babcock said. “We want to establish a structure and a strong work ethic. We’re going to build that through the exhibition schedule. We want to be a team that gets better every day. That’s my expectation. Are there going to be ups and downs? There always are. But to me, we are going to be very process-oriented and try to get better.”
Babcock is looking for returning players to put their best foot forward, moving past the embarrassments of last season such as “Salute-gate” and the suspension of Nazem Kadri and giving players a chance at a new start in Toronto.
Some of the changes will include lightening the responsibilities of team captain Dion Phaneuf of being the spokesman for the club on a day-to-day basis and expecting more from players like Kadri, Tyler Bozak and defenseman Morgan Rielly.
“We need Kadri to be the best Kadri he can be. We need (Tyler) Bozak to be the best Bozak he can be. We need (Morgan) Rielly to be the best Rielly he can be. And the same we feel about the coaching staff, training staff, sports science staff ... we need everyone to be the best they can be. And we’re going to hold everyone to be accountable to that.”
The organizational evaluation begins with the Rookie Tournament starting Friday in London, ON, where top prospects Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen will play together for the first time. In spite of the potential of the Leafs group of youngsters, the odds are remarkably slim that any will get significant playing time in the NHL this season.
The Leafs are intent on establishing a patient player development model similar to the Detroit Red Wings, which means returning Marner back to the OHL’s London Knights after training camp and sending Nylander and Kapanen to the AHL Toronto Marlies.
There will undoubtedly be some difficulties with a dramatic change in philosophy this season, which is expected to result in Toronto finishing near the bottom of the NHL standings for a second year in a row, but that does not mean that progress cannot be accomplished.
The Calgary Flames were a club that worked hard every night but finished 27th overall in 2014 under coach Bob Hartley. Their record enabled the Flames to be in position to select center Sam Bennett fourth overall in the NHL Draft last summer and their effort made a surprising playoff appearance possible last season.
See Previous Columns
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Metropolitan Division
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Central Division
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Pacific Division
Breakout Players For 2015-16 – Atlantic Division
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