Keefe lets Maple Leafs’ young stars shine
With Babcock gone, Matthews, Marner can strut their stuff
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are not coach killers. They are not the reasons why Mike Babcock got fired. It’s far more complicated than that.
Part of the reason why Babcock is no longer coaching in Toronto is because of last year’s Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins and the simple fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs were out of a playoff spot after 23 games. But the bigger reason for his departure this early in the season is because he didn’t know how to motivate his most talented players.
Mainly, you don’t motivate them with fear. That’s where Babcock went wrong with Matthews and Marner. He treated them like kids. Worse, he pitted them against one another. As first reported by Postmedia’s Terry Koshan, Babcock betrayed Marner’s trust earlier in his career when he asked the then-rookie to rank the players on the team from the hardest-working to the laziest and then went public with Marner’s rankings.
It was an old-school scare tactic — one that Babcock told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that he regretted and apologized for — which might have been successful 10 or 20 years ago.
But in today’s NHL, where the youth of the league are not only the most important players but also the highest paid, coaching with an iron fist gets you only so far. Eventually, you get more accomplished with a friendly pat on the back.
Two games in, head coach Sheldon Keefe appears to understand that concept better than anyone.
Keefe isn’t just Matthews’ and (the injured) Marner’s new coach. He’s also their biggest fan.
Where Babcock reduced Matthews’ minutes, Keefe has since loosened the reins. Where Babcock tried to get Matthews to become a cookie-cutter centre who played chip-and-chase hockey, Keefe has encouraged creativity with the puck. Forget striking fear. Keefe is more interested in making sure his players are having fun playing the game.
“We’ve only had him for a couple of days, but the two games have been good,” said Matthews, who has two goals and one assist in the two games since Keefe took over.
We will see if this leads to a championship — much less a playoff spot — but the back-to-back wins against Arizona and Colorado suggest that the Leafs are responding to the fresh approach.
With Babcock gone, this team belongs to its stars. The players know it. And so does Keefe, who is smart enough to introduce a structure-free system. “This should be a fun team to watch,” said Leafs captain John Tavares.
Matthews and Marner are the two players who should thrive the most under Keefe.
As of Monday morning, Matthews was tied for third in the NHL with 16 goals and among the top 10 in overall scoring with 30 points in 25 games. Marner, who is out with a high-ankle sprain, is on a point-per-game pace. And yet, watching the two this year hasn’t been like watching what Edmonton has in Connor Mcdavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Instead, Matthews and Marner have left fans wanting more.
They have been good, but they haven’t been great — at least, not by their standards or by the US$21 million that the Leafs have invested in them this season. Neither one is stealing any Hart Trophy votes away from Mcdavid, Draisaitl or even Colorado’s Nathan Mackinnon. Matthews might win a Rocket Richard Trophy as the top goal scorer, but he isn’t tossing his hat into the ring for the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward. Well, that could soon change. It isn’t just fans who want more out of Matthews and Marner. Keefe wants more, too. And unlike Babcock, the new coach is not afraid to make sure he gets it by any means necessary.