Mike Babcock coach of the year?
Leafs coach was a Jack Adams nominee twice before, but he’s yet to win the award
Is the third time the charm for Mike Babcock?
The Toronto Maple Leafs head coach has been a finalist twice before for the Jack Adams Trophy. Despite winning a Stanley Cup and reaching the playoffs in 10 consecutive years with the Detroit Red Wings, the 54-year-old has never been awarded coach of the year.
That could change at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas on Wednesday, where Babcock is up for the trophy along with Columbus’ John Tortorella and Edmonton’s Todd McLellan.
All three are deserving of the award, but Babcock, who not only took a last-place team to the playoffs but did it with rookies playing prominent roles, was perhaps the most impressive.
“He’s really detail-oriented,” said Auston Matthews, the No. 1-overall pick who led the Leafs in scoring as a rookie and is a finalist for the Calder Trophy. “You go from being a last-place team to a team that’s in the playoffs that really turned it around quite a bit. Personally, just being around him, I definitely think he deserves it.”
For Babcock, the award would be a nice recognition for what he achieved this season, but as a coach whose team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, he has a different goal in mind.
“Obviously, we would like to be up for different kinds of trophies at this time,” Babcock said.
As a player who was born in California and raised in Arizona, Auston Matthews seemed more excited than most that Las Vegas is joining the league as an expansion team next season.
After all, if not for the Arizona Coyotes, he might never have even picked up the sport.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Matthews said of the Vegas Golden Knights. “For myself, growing up not too far from here, it creates a nice rivalry with Arizona and the teams in California. You don’t see too much of that in the west. I played with kids who grew up in Las Vegas that I still talk to today.
“Just like the Coyotes did growing the game in Arizona, I think we’re going to see the same thing in Las Vegas.”
The expansion draft was the hot topic heading into the NHL Awards. Most players had seen the list of unprotected players and were trying to guess who might be coming off their respective team’s roster.
“I think everyone around the league is checking the lists. It’s something that none of us have gone through who have played in the league,” Edmonton’s Connor McDavid said. “It’s cool to experience it for the first time and you want to see what kind of team they’re going to put together.”
The consensus? Vegas should have a pretty good team — but hopefully not too good, McDavid said.
“There’s some names on there that you can’t pass up,” he said. “I think they’ll be good. They’ll definitely be competitive. My hope is that they won’t be too good because they’ll be in our division and we’ll have to play them a lot of times.”
After the Edmonton Oilers came within one win of reaching the Western Conference final, McDavid said it’s “100 per cent natural” that expectations should increase for the team next season.
It’s not just McDavid who expects it. The gambling website Bodog had the Oilers tied for second — behind the Pittsburgh Penguins — as the team most likely to win the Stanley Cup.
“I think it’s going to be an adjustment for us to come in and be expected to be that team,” McDavid said. “You see those early Vegas odds to win a Cup and we’re right in the top five. I think that hasn’t happened there in a long, long, long time.
“We want to get (a Stanley Cup) one day and I think this year was a great taste of that. It’s definitely something that we aspire to.”
You have to walk before you can skate. That was the answer Erik Karlsson gave when asked when he planned on returning to the ice after undergoing surgery last week to repair tendons in his foot.
Either way, the Ottawa Senators captain is being patient with his recovery.
“I’m going to have to start walking first,” said Karlsson, whose foot was in a cast. “I don’t know when that is either. I’ll take it day by day and week by week. I’ve gone through it before, having a leg injury, so hopefully that will give me perspective into the recovery process a bit.”
“We’re far away from the season right now, so I’m not worried about not skating. I’m going to make sure I’m 100 per cent and can play up to the standards I’m used to.”
Johnny Gaudreau was a finalist for the Calder Trophy when then-teammate Jiri Hudler won the Lady Byng Trophy two years ago. Now, Gaudreau is up for the Lady Byng.
While Gaudreau hopes to follow in Hudler’s footsteps, the Flames forward plans on keeping his shoes on if he ends up winning — something Hudler did not.
“That’s for sure,” he said. “Definitely keep my shoes on and definitely keep my speech a little shorter if I end up winning.”
It’s going to be awesome.… Just like the Coyotes did growing the game in Arizona, I think we’re going to see the same thing in Las Vegas.