Babcock deal a steal for Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs owners are willing to pay the price — unlike an assortment of indifferent pylons who wore the team’s uniform during the 2014-15 NHL season.
The Maple Leafs’ players were more adept at cashing cheques than finishing checks during another inglorious season. Therefore, something had to be done in order to resuscitate the disinterested skaters and reinvigorate a fan base that emphatically registers its disgust by, er, renewing season tickets at grossly inflated prices.
Having assessed the situation over the course of a year and having seen enough, president Brendan Shanahan successfully wooed head coach Mike Babcock, who was enticed to leave a comfortable situation with the Detroit Red Wings.
The money and the challenge proved to be irresistible for Babcock, who will cost Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment $50 million over the next eight seasons. That works out to $6.25 million per annum, plus tips.
The compensation is eyepopping, being that Babcock is underpaid.
Yes, you read that correctly. Underpaid. Consider the vast resources of MLSE, which can milk the cash cow that is the Maple Leafs without ever fearing a customer revolt.
Regardless of how the team performs, there is a voracious appetite for Maple Leafs tickets. The formula is result-proof, which means that the profits must accrue at an unimaginable rate for MLSE.
Babcock’s wage, while a precedent-setter for NHL head coaches, must be pocket change for an ownership group that can’t help but make money.
Moreover, consider the salaries that were paid to members of an underachieving team last season. Right-winger Phil Kessel’s contract calls for an average of $8 million over eight years. Captain/defenceman Dion Phaneuf ’s annual cap hit over the duration of a seven-year deal is $7 million.
Given the obese wages that the Leafs’ marquee players command, shouldn’t an oft-decorated head coach such as Babcock be worth just as much, if not more?
While landing a top-drawer head coach, MLSE also bought itself some time.
Babcock emphasized during his introductory media conference on Thursday that the reconstruction of the Leafs will not be a shortterm process.
In so doing, the eminently credible Babcock made a compelling case for patience, which has not always been abundant in Leaf-land.
It was the perfect sell after Shanahan’s successful sales pitch. If the Leafs flounder for the next year or three, there was ample forewarning. Failing that, they will be painted as overachievers — and the antithesis of the 2014-15 edition.
Babcock began earning his money before even lifting a whistle in the Leafs’ employ. He managed the situation ingeniously, as he typically does.
Honestly, who else could have pulled that off ? The Leafs could have spent less money on another coach who has a Stanley Cup pedigree — see: Dan Bylsma — but would there have been a similar buy-in? That is doubtful.
In fact, the Leafs had a head coach who boasts an NHL championship — see: Randy Carlyle — and he was repeatedly frustrated by the team’s inattention to detail.
Ultimately, it is all about the buy-in, with the paying public and the swarming media only being part of the equation.
Most crucially, the players have to subscribe to what the head coach is espousing and there cannot be any doubt that Babcock will command the attention of whatever players constitute the roster during the 2015-16 season and far beyond.
The Leafs’ newest head coach arrives with that indefinable “it” factor. “It” cannot be taught in clinics. You cannot buy a book on how to own a room from the moment your presence is noted.
But given sufficient resources, you can buy a head coach who possesses the requisite intangibles to accompany the expertise.
There are times when an organization simply has to do whatever is required and land the person who can elevate a team’s fortunes.
Sports fans in this area can certainly relate. Remember the manner in which Kent Austin transformed the Saskatchewan Roughriders from a mediocre team into a 2007 Grey Cup champion? Did you notice how head coach John Paddock instantly commanded the respect of the Regina Pats’ players en route to being named the WHL’s coach of the year for 2014-15?
Coaches can make such a difference — especially in a league such as the NHL, in which teams’ salaries are capped and the strategies are pretty standard.
Gone are the days when one team, such as the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers dynasties, simply laps its competitors.
Today, the difference can be minuscule, but the smallest edge is noteworthy. Which team will exert the most effort and best adhere to a system?
More than ever, the NHL is a coaches’ game, so it would not be absurd for someone of Babcock’s ilk to command an eight-figure annual salary — especially when the demands of holding such a high-profile position in hockey’s centre of the universe are considered.
The media mob is relentless in Toronto, necessitating the presence of a head coach who is unflappable. Having twice coached the Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team and having managed the pressure and the stratospheric expectations, Babcock is as prepared as anyone can be to assume the coaching reins in Toronto.
All things considered, the Leafs could not have found a better person for the job — being that Scotty Bowman, at 81, does not have designs on a comeback.
As a bonus, the Leafs landed Babcock at a salary that, according to research done by Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, is less than the cap hits of 44 NHL players — including the Minnesota Wild’s Thomas Vanek who, inexplicably, has a $6.5-million deal.
So yes, Babcock is underpaid. But he should be able to make ends meet.