Leaf transformation? Hardly
Basically the same players who quit on themselves, their jerseys and their fans are back for 2015-16
TORONTO — We interrupt all this cooing over Mike Babcock and Lou Lamoriello for a brief pronouncement: The intended blowing up of the Maple Leafs never happened.
Phil Kessel was traded, yes. But the Leafs open training camp Thursday with 14 of their top 15 players from a year ago, post trade deadline.
The same goalies. The same centres. Five of the six defencemen. All the wingers that mattered, except Kessel.
The same players who quit on themselves, their jerseys, their fans, are back. The same players who sabotaged Peter Horachek’s coaching career are back. The same players who were part of the most embarrassing Leaf season in memory — maybe ever — are back.
This was never the plan. But as Brendan Shanahan stated on the day he fired general manager Dave Nonis, making the plan was easy, sticking to it will be difficult.
The Leafs did make huge office changes. They fired Nonis and hired Lamoriello. They first fired Randy Carlyle, then Horachek, before hiring Babcock. Those hirings were monumental. Before that, they fired just about the largest amount of scouts in NHL history.
The thinking was clear. The team wasn’t any good. Management wasn’t any good. The scouts weren’t good. The moves made sense. So here we are, as camp is about to begin, and the players who got those people fired are still here — and there seems something very wrong about that.
This is a surprise to people around the NHL. They figured Kessel would be dealt, even though only one team really took an interest in him.
They figured others would be moved, maybe Tyler Bozak, maybe Joffrey Lupul, maybe captain Dion Phaneuf, maybe more.
The market likely played a part in the standstill. Inside the front office, when the determination was made last winter to turn over the roster, it came with a proviso. Yes, they will move players and attempt to begin over, but only if they could find value in deals. There would be no fire sale. Offers for Bozak, a reasonable player on a reasonable contract, were embarrassingly bad.
If there were any offers for Lupul, who plays sometimes and makes too much money for his contribution, they weren’t much.
The Leafs could have dealt Phaneuf to Babcock’s Red Wings at the trade deadline, but it wasn’t a deal that brought the Leafs any significant value.
So they are stuck now going in two distinct directions: There is Shanahan, Lamoriello and Babcock, hall of famers and will-be hall of famer, making decisions. Can three strong-minded, egotistical, opinionated, historically successful people all walk in the same direction?
This is so Toronto in a way. The Leafs have the highest paid president, general manager and coach in hockey history. Has there ever been a $10- or $11-million threeman front office before?
They have that great expense and expanse, alongside last year’s lousy, quitting roster minus its most talented player. So really, they have a worse team with a higher-end coach and a general manager.
This will be new for Babcock, in particular. He’s never been through anything like this. When he took over the Red Wings in 2003, after Brian Burke didn’t want him in Anaheim, his leadership group included veterans Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios; his best forwards were Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.
As he takes over the Leafs, there are no hall of fame parts to lead his club, no soon-to-be Datsyuks or Zetterbergs, no Kris Drapers or Nik Kronwalls.
Twice, Babcock has coached gold medal-winning teams at the Olympics. In this Leaf camp, there are no Sidney Crosbys or Jonathan Toews, no Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith or Carey Price.
There are some kids to be excited about — primarily Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Connor Brown — just not yet.
So Babcock will bring structure, accountability, the pride of roster that Carlyle attempted and kind of gave up on over time to players who mostly will be gone by the time the Leafs are competitive.
Babcock got used to being surrounded with game-changing players in Detroit. But who will be his leaders here? Who will he turn to when he or the team needs them? Can Nazem Kadri grow up? Will Bozak be favoured the way Carlyle favoured him? Will Jonathan Bernier ever focus enough to be a decent NHL goalie? Can Lupul stay healthy? Will Jake Gardiner learn to make the right read?
You can maybe believe in winger James van Riemsdyk and defenceman Morgan Rielly. You can be hopeful about them. Perhaps you can even trust them. But after that? This is new for Shanahan, finally with all his people in place. This is new for Lamoriello, who knows just one way of doing things, his way.
This is new for Babcock, who has coached only one complete season in 12 years with his team below 93 points. In the 10 seasons post-shutdown, the Leafs have never been above 91 points. They’ve made the playoffs once.
The cold reality begins today for Babcock. The most disgraceful lineup in hockey lost its greatest talent and now has a new coach. The coach better be the star. If he isn’t, there may not be one.