The tallest mountain he could find

The Leafs, and Babcock, don’t know if he’s right for the biggest challenge of his career. Everyone will find out together

The plan was simple, really. Mike Babcock has an ego, which is not necessarily a bad thing. You need a healthy ego in this business. Mike Babcock won two gold medals under the biggest pressure there was. Mike Babcock won a Stanley Cup in Detroit, and while the marriage was never perfect — Mike isn’t easy, all the time — he always extracted what he could. You’re damned right Mike Babcock believes in Mike Babcock, and in his importance.

So that’s what Toronto played to. Come to Toronto, Mike. We will pay you more than any coach has ever made in the NHL, so much more, sure, and you’ll have a seat at the front-office table, and that played to his ego, the way it would to anybody’s. But they played to his belief, too. The message was that there if are two mountains in front of you, and you’re going to climb one, why not climb the one that people say can’t be climbed? Brendan Shanahan likes challenges, which is why he took this job. He figured Babcock did, too.

Well, it worked. Mike Babcock is the 30th coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, agreeing to an eight-year deal for a stunning, staggering, record $50 million (U.S.). The salary more than doubles what any coach has ever made in the NHL. The term is massive, and Detroit was only willing to go five years. There were early reports there was an opt-out clause in the contract, but a source with knowledge of the deal denied that. If so, this is a commitment. An opt-out would have made sense, sure, because these are the Toronto Maple Leafs. There’s no guarantee this will work.

But there was no guarantee that this pursuit would either. Despite reports, the Leafs never believed they were out of it. The dialogue began shortly after Detroit allowed Babcock to talk to other teams, continued in Prague at the world championships, and never stopped for more than a day. The terrain kept shifting, but the Leafs stayed in.

Still, it came together quickly, at the end. The Leafs flew Guy Boucher in from Switzerland for an interview to be the head coach on Tuesday, and were serious about it, and then Babcock made his decision Wednesday morning. People who knew Babcock said he was genuinely conflicted. But Babcock left Detroit, and came here.

“One of the things that I said to Mike, any time you’re an unrestricted free agent in the prime of your career, there’s going to be opportunities that probably will stagger you,” said Red Wings GM Ken Holland in an admirable press conference. “And I use the word stagger because . . . I’m aware of what the industry pays, but sometimes you’ve got to go above and beyond the industry standards to get someone.”

Toronto did that, boy. In a salarycap league the Leafs splashed the pot because they thought it was worth it, and because they could. Shanahan has long believed that Babcock is the best coach in the NHL, bar none, and this franchise now believes that sometimes you need to lose, but that it can be poisonous to lose because you’re not trying, and have bad habits. Babcock coached a Team Canada squad in Sochi that played nearly perfect hockey, and he would tell people that you can teach anyone to check, but you need people who can score.

Talent, of course, is a problem in Toronto. It’s fair to worry that Babcock might mean that instead of patience the Leafs would try to rush, the way everyone eventually rushes in this town. But Shanahan spelled out the plan to Babcock early in the process, and emphasized the need for patience, and Babcock still said yes.

That might change in six months, or a year, when Babcock realizes what he’s gotten himself into. But for now, he accepted that this team needs time. He didn’t go to San Jose, who almost certainly couldn’t have matched the money and are a dying dynasty that never was. He walked away from Buffalo and their billionaire owner and their No. 2 pick — one NHL coach said he thought Toronto was closer to winning than Buffalo, even now. The other doors closed: Montreal, Pittsburgh, maybe even Anaheim and Chicago.

And Toronto’s offer blew Detroit’s out of the water. Maybe Babcock coaches this team well enough that the top-five draft picks rebuilding teams crave will be out of reach, and that could hurt. He’ll probably be coaching a roster unworthy of his talent, or as one NHL source put it, like Gordon Ramsey managing your McDonald’s.

There will be strains and tension because Babcock is a furious competitor and cannot love the idea of rebuilding; he’s 52 and wants to win more Stanley Cups. When asked if going to Toronto fit Babcock’s stated criteria for winning, Holland said, “That’s a question for Mike.”

Yeah, it is. Philadelphia, of all places, hired a young coach who develops young players; Toronto shot for the moon. So now, the questions begin, and they won’t ever stop. Babcock hasn’t developed young defencemen well in Detroit; can he do it here? Can he be patient, really? Can he make Toronto’s best players better? If Phil Kessel stays, instead of being traded at his current low ebb, then what is he worth? The men who have coached here kept saying some people don’t want to change, and implied they can’t be changed. A man with a healthy ego would want to prove that he could.

Babcock chased the money, and he chose to climb the tallest mountain he could find. It might end in disaster, because that’s Toronto. But the Leafs told him if you win here, Mike, they’ll name schools after you. Brian Burke used to say that, before the job and the city came crashing down on him, but don’t worry about that. They told him that if you win here, it’ll be better than anywhere else. They don’t know if he’s right for this, the biggest challenge of his career. He doesn’t either. Everyone will find out together.