Coyotes prep for ‘dangerous’ Maple Leafs
Imagine spending days preparing for an exam, studying not only the subject but the style of the professor: how questions are phrased, what’s valued in answers, etc.
Now imagine showing up for that exam only to find a different professor in the room, with a test you didn’t expect.
That is what the Coyotes will be walking into on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who fired head coach Mike Babcock on Wednesday.
The Coyotes, like many NHL teams, are exhaustive with the amount of video scouting and opponent
analysis that is done before each game. In addition to on-ice skates and practices, players and coaches are breaking down video in meetings to determine appropriate counter-strategies.
Most of those notes can now be thrown away.
Announced just hours after the Maple Leafs wrapped a practice at the IceDen Scottsdale, the firing came one day after Toronto lost its sixth consecutive game on Tuesday in Vegas. The Maple Leafs are 9-10-4 this season and rank 22nd in the NHL with a .515 points percentage since Jan. 1 dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.
Babcock had a 351-173-133 record in parts of five seasons with the Maple Leafs, who were expected to be a Stanley Cup contender this season after a first-round exit from the playoffs in 2018-19.
Promoted from Toronto’s AHL affiliate, Sheldon Keefe will take over behind the bench on Thursday at Gila River Arena, and you can bet the underperforming Maple Leafs will be bringing some energy in front of a new coach.
Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet addressed reporters after his team’s practice on Wednesday and warned of a desperate Maple Leafs group even before the Babcock news had dropped.
“They’re a dangerous team,” Tocchet said. “I still think they’re going to turn it around. I just hope it’s not tomorrow night. They have two of the best centers in the league, Morgan Rielly’s a hell of a defenseman, and Freddy Andersen is a great goalie. They have the tools. People struggle sometimes. For me it’s a matter of time with them.”
It should be noted that the St. Louis Blues, who eventually won the Stanley Cup last season, fired head coach Mike Yeo on Nov. 19 and replaced him with Craig Berube. The Blues turned a 7-9-3 record at the time into a championship season.
That doesn’t guarantee a Stanley Cup for Toronto, but with players such as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Tyson Barrie, Rielly, Anderson and others, the Maple Leafs are still a team with as much firepower as any in the NHL.
Without Babcock, who won a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008, the Maple Leafs and Coyotes suddenly look like very similar teams. Both now have largely untested head coaches, young and tenacious general managers and a talented core of players age 23 or younger.
The Coyotes, however, pride themselves on playing a structured style of hockey that emphasizes defense and positional awareness. It will be important for the Coyotes not to let the Maple Leafs bait them into a game of pond hockey where players are flying all over the ice without accountability.
Speaking before the firing was announced, Tocchet said he heard Babcock’s comments after the Maple Leafs’ 4-2 loss to the Golden Knights on Tuesday.
Although it can sometimes be hard to understand the process, Tocchet said, Babcock’s message could apply to the Coyotes as well as the Maple Leafs.
“I heard Mike Babcock say you’ve got to stick with it,” Tocchet said. “That’s the hardest thing to understand is that the process is there and sometimes the results aren’t there right away but they will be if you do the right things. That’s what we try to preach around here.”