Babcock stubbornly making a mess of Leafs goaltending rotation
Mike Babcock’s unyielding insistence about his goaltending rotation is costing the Maple Leafs and undermining Michael Hutchinson’s attempt to stick with the big club.
All of this coming at a time when the cash-strapped Leafs have next to no financial alternatives regarding a backup goalie.
The stubborn Babcock is absolutely certain that back-toback games should be played with Frederik Anderson starting the first game for the Leafs and Hutchinson, the backup for now, starting the second. It doesn’t seem to matter who the opponent are and where the games are played; this is how Babcock handles it.
The other night, the Leafs played the rather terrible Minnesota Wild at home followed by a game against the explosive Washington Capitals the next night on the road. He stuck to his plan.
Anderson won the first game. Hutchinson lost the second game.
But the Leafs could have won both games had Babcock started Hutchinson in the first and Andersen in the second.
So far, Toronto has played two of its 13 back-to-back games on the schedule.
Twice, the Leafs won the first game with Andersen and twice they lost the second one with Hutchinson. The notion that starting goalies can’t or shouldn’t play back-to-back games is rather ridiculous in these days of science, modern medicine and short-distance charter flights.
You adjust circumstance by circumstance. You adjust by opponent. But somehow, Babcock has to find 20-some games for his backup goalie to play and his method of managing it seems rather flawed.
On Monday, the Leafs play Columbus. On Tuesday, it’s Boston. By then, Hutchinson may well be 0-3 as a starter, with Babcock having lost faith in him. But if the starts had come against Columbus twice and Minnesota, who knows what his record might be? Or if he would find some confidence for a team that hardly supported him through the early going.
So much of coaching is putting your players in positions to succeed. In that regard, Babcock is serving one goalie and not his team in the early season.
THIS AND THAT
Advanced math, or why the Maple Leafs pay more for less. The cap hit for Connor Mcdavid and Leon Draisaitl this season in Edmonton is a combined figure of $21 million. So far, the great duo ranks first and second in the NHL in scoring with 33 points between them in eight games. The cap hit for Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner this season is $22.5 million. Heading into Saturday night’s game against Boston, the two young Leafs stars had combined for 17 points, the same number Mcdavid has himself … The Bruins, by the way, are using $19.65 million of their salary cap dollars to pay their top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, combined total 31 points and 14 of the Bruins 19 goals … Babcock likes to say Marner is the rare winger who can drive a line. Without John Tavares, that will be on display. Heading into Saturday night, Marner may lead the Leafs in scoring with nine points, but six have come on the power play. He led the Leafs in even-strength scoring a year ago but has only three even-strength points in eight games, good enough for 10th on the club … It was always interesting to watch how Joel Quenneville utilized Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane during the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup years. Mostly, they played on different lines except for power-play situations. But often in tight games or big moments, Quenneville would tear up the blueprint and put them together … This is a concern with or without Tavares: The Leafs have won just 20 of their past 40 games and just 29 of their past 60. They’re supposed to be better than average, aren’t they?
HEAR AND THERE
Since when did lasting six innings in a playoff game become something heroic for a starting pitcher? Was it really that long ago that Jack Morris tossed 11 shutout innings in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series in one of the great gutsy performances of all-time? Still believe Bob Gibson is the greatest pitcher I’ve ever seen. He started nine post-season games for the St. Louis Cardinals, finished all nine of them … Bet you didn’t know that Mark Buehrle was the most accurate starting playoff pitcher of all-time. He pitched almost 31 innings, walked just one batter. Fifth on the list in accuracy: Marco Estrada, with just four walks in 47.2 innings pitched and a 2.64 earned run average … Jose Bautista and Joe Carter each lead the Blue Jays with six alltime playoff home runs. George Springer, if you can believe this, has hit 13 and counting for the Houston Astros. The most alltime? Manny Ramirez with 29 … Those are the Washington Nationals in the World Series, not the Montreal Expos. This is 15 years in Washington now. Only the dreamers see this as anything to do with Montreal anymore … The 2014 Detroit Tigers had a playoff starting rotation of Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price. How did they not win the World Series, let alone get there? … Jays president Mark Shapiro reached out to inform that he never applied for the position of Big 10 commissioner as was suggested here. He was headhunted for the high-paying job. Never did an interview. Says he never had any interest in leaving the Blue Jays … Understand this: when Ken Rosenthal, or anyone else who used to work in Baltimore, has news about Shapiro, take it seriously. Shapiro’s father was a prominent baseball agent in the Baltimore area. Most of the big-time writers who worked in that city had a relationship with him and thus with Mark.
SCENE AND HEARD
What a hockey-dad day for Jimmy Hughes, the former director of player development for the Leafs, who was foolishly fired by Brendan Shanahan. His boys played against each other Saturday for the first time in the NHL. Quinn with Vancouver. Jack with New Jersey. Two American boys who grew up mostly in Toronto … Serena Williams did not qualify for the WTA Finals starting in late October in China. U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga will be there in a very tough field that includes fellow Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Ashleigh Barty … Mcleod Bethel-thompson, the quarterback whose name sounds like an accounting firm (I take my taxes to Mcleod Bethel Thompson), has done enough in the second half of this disastrous Argos season to deserve another look next year.
The doubt here, though, is his age. He’s 31. How many quarterbacks not named Drew Brees or Damon Allen get better in their 30s? … This is Orlondo Steinauer’s first year as a head coach with the Hamilton Tigercats and the team will set a record Saturday for most wins in a season, 13, with a victory over Ottawa. The Ticats haven’t won a Grey Cup since 1999 … Is NFL officiating the worst it’s ever been or are our television sets the best they’ve ever been? Probably a combination of both, but the Monday Night officiating crew stole a win from the Detroit Lions. What football probably needs is an official up top at every game with the ability to quickly overturn obviously incorrect calls without need of challenge … I would be very upset about Vegas forward Valentin Zykov testing positive in the NHL if I had any idea who he was.
AND ANOTHER THING
I got asked yesterday how many games the Raptors would win and I blurted out the number 47. Then I went online to check the over/under numbers. The Raptors were listed at 46.5. In my next life, I’m coming back as an oddsmaker … What the Raptors can’t afford — a major injury. They had the depth to play through Kawhi Leonard’s load management last season, going 17-5 in the games Kawhi missed, but they don’t this season … A full year of Marc Gasol expands what the Raptors can do both offensively and defensively … I’m taking Philadelphia to win the Eastern Conference. Size will matter with the 7-foot softy Joel Embiid at centre, 6-foot-10 Al Horford now in Philly and 6-foot-10 guard Ben Simmons apparently learning to shoot … I’ve got Los Angeles to win the West. Just not sure which Los Angeles team … Two words about tomorrow: Please vote … This is the season the Raptors get more time on U.S. television and get a Christmas date on their schedule. So what if it’s a year too late … Dear Patrick Mahomes: Please get well. Football is more fun to watch when you’re playing it … With seven managerial openings and seven bench coaches to hire, you would think, or at least I would think, there should be something out there for John Gibbons. But so far, nothing … Jonathan Quick is struggling and anyone who covered him in his great years won’t give him a break now. At his best, he was a terrific goalie, but a big-time pill … When I saw defenceman Tyson Barrie in training camp, I thought he would be explosive for the Leafs. So far, he’s played fine, just not what I figured.