Tuning out the noise
Leafs coach won’t deviate from path despite fan concerns
Triple Gold Club member Mike Babcock didn’t get where he is by worrying about the whims of public opinion.
Nor did he expect to complete his Maple Leaf tenure without having his wisdom challenged by critics who think he could be ruining a good gig with his deployment of dynamic Leafs in ultra defensive mode and refusal to change lines, power plays and defence tandems.
But a tepid home stand — two wins in six games, little offence and late- game breakdowns — left the coach open to more second guessing than at any time in his 2 ½ years here. Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues was a microcosm of those concerns and put Babcock’s thought process on trial.
“This is how I look at it, they hired me to decide,” Babcock said with conviction after Wednesday’s practice. “We’re going on the road tonight ( for Thursday’s game in Philadelphia), have a nice meal and I’m just going to keep on keepin’ on.
“You get to decide what you react to. If you let the noise get in the way ... can you imagine if every time someone in your life told you that you couldn’t do it, you listened to them? Where would you be?”
The Leafs have to play better defence, no question, given that’s what wins in April. But people also got used to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander among others winning with crowd- pleasing goals. While that was going on, winger Leo Komarov held a third-line wing position and worked under the radar, as did Roman Polak on the third defensive pairing.
When the team hasn’t scored — put veterans such as Patrick Marleau and Nazem Kadri in that group with the snake-bitten kids — Leafs such as Komarov and Polak are perceived as part of the problem, but they have Babcock’s support.
“We can move guys around if we feel it’s going to help us get better,” Babcock reasoned. “I just think when I look at our last couple of games that we’re in a good situation. I don’t feel like you ( media) guys do, but when I do, we’ l l change some things.
“We have a team that can score and we like to score. Better teams play defensively the more you shoot to break them down. It creates more randomness rather than thinking pretty plays are going to be there. St. Louis did a better job of that early in the game.
“Things are never as good when you’re winning as you think and never as bad as when you’re losing.”
Marleau, one of the free agents who cast his lot with the Leafs because he saw t he potential in building a winner here, says there’s no reason to question Babcock’s methods, particularly his lineup calls.
“He wants the best and expects the best,” Marleau said. “You can call that stubborn if you want.”
The 40- to- 60 game mark often includes the roughest stretch for teams. The Leafs, their appetites whetted by last year’s first trip to the playoffs, obviously can’t wait to get back there. But Babcock is taking a firmer hand on the reins to try to get them playing the kind of two- way hockey he sees as vital to extending their post- season residency. Finding middle ground with such a dynamic lineup has been hard.
“That’s what makes our team special, a lot of talent and ability,” said winger James van Riemsdyk. “It’s just channelling that and using it in right situations in a game. That’s what you learn to do in the course of a career and a season.”
If the younger Leafs don’t know by now the rest of the league caught up to some of their tendencies through both instinct and the magic of pre- scouting technology, van Riemsdyk says the kids will eventually figure out their own counter-measures.
“You just have to find ways to win when the puck is not going in,” he said. “You find different skills to work on that you think will translate to your game. The less predictable you are, the better chance you have at success. Those guys have played well for us and I’m not too concerned. I think they’re smart players.”