NO PAIN? THINK AGAIN
New coach Mike Babcock doesn’t mince words: The road ahead will be rough for Maple Leafs.
On Tuesday night, Mike Babcock had a plan, and in the middle of the night it changed. His daughter was printing her last high school paper at 3:32 a.m., and it woke him up, and by morning there was a new plan. Many sage people in hockey believed very firmly that Mike Babcock was never coming to this fevered city, for good and solid reasons. He won’t say what tipped the balance, but on Thursday he was here, saying he didn’t come here just to make the playoffs.
“As a coach, you are in the day-to-day winning business, and you understand,” said Babcock, who signed an eight-year, $50-million (US) deal.
“I have been in it a long time. On game day I will be short-sighted for sure. But I have a big picture in mind, so does Shanny, so does Larry, so do the people on our staff and that is where we are going.
“But if you think there is no pain coming, there is pain coming.”
Brendan Shanahan was so honest about that in their first meeting that he worried he’d blown it, and Babcock says he understood.
For all the worries about whether he could be patient, early on Babcock asked Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment minority owner Larry Tanenbaum, “Are you willing to stick with it when its hard, when it’s really hard, are you going to be in, for sure?” He knew how bad it was, here.
So why did Babcock come? If he was going to be rich, why not go to Buffalo, home of some bluer-chip talent and a comparable offer, and some of whose reporters barked pointed questions to Babcock about the Sabres believing they had a deal? (The rivalry could be fun again, very soon.)
Babcock cited the challenge, his family, the smarts of the front office. (Of director of player personnel Mark Hunter, Babcock was effusive, saying “I can talk to that guy. He’s a hockey man.”)
He cited the opportunity to become empty-nesters in a downtown condo with his wife Maureen.
He cited the Leafs history, which is nice.
“I have a big picture in mind . . . if you think there is no pain coming, there is pain coming.” MIKE BABCOCK LEAFS COACH
The only part that truly impresses people is the generational devotion, and that can be claustrophobic, but sure.
The tipping point itself, however, remains a mystery. It’s a bigger and better city than Buffalo, with a deeper tradition. Maybe it was as simple as that.
Still, it’s going to take years here, if the payoff happens at all, and Babcock is emphatically not wired to lose. Asked about the occasion in his coaching career when he’s faced the most sustained challenges, Babcock mentioned Spokane, where he had one bad year on two different occasions, 20 years ago. He’s missed the playoffs once in the NHL. Not coincidentally, Babcock talked about the positive effects of fear.
“Fear is a great thing,” said Babcock. “In 1997 I was bear hunting and I got the call and they said you were going to coach the world junior team. And right away I thought, ‘Oh my god, they just won four or five in a row, what am I getting myself into?’ When Steve Yzerman had me in his office and said Mike, you are coaching the 2010 Olympic team, when I got to my truck I was scared to death. What did I get myself into? Same thing in 2014.
“I meant that was exhilarating. It is about being alive. I’m 52. I’m not ready to die. I want to get on with it. It is about the journey, it is about trying to maximize your potential and squeeze every ounce out of yourself. When I talked to Shanny, that is what I heard.”
Babcock was full of plainspoken aphorisms and said the right things, and this city will love him, to start. There have been so many weddings at the Air Canada Centre, grand ceremonies, a public taking of vows. Brian Burke’s is the one we all remember, but there have been more: Tim Leiweke, Brendan Shanahan, Masai Ujiri, on and on. This town is never short of saviours, and somehow has yet to be saved.
“He’s a guy that you can count on,” said Tanenbaum. “Ours is a longterm plan. Ours is not a plan to come in here and make a dramatic change and leave, OK? And that’s why we were talking eight years, 10 years.” Asked why it was different than, say, Burke, Tanenbaum had an answer.
“You have seen some weddings here, there’s no question about it. When you look at Brian Burke — and I love Brian, he’s a great, great guy — but Brian wanted to be the show. What Brian wanted to be was his hands on the steering wheel, nobody else’s. If there was a Shanny here, he didn’t want a Shanny. If there was a Mike Babcock, he didn’t want Mike Babcock. So you put 100% of your faith in Brian Burke.
“In this case, we’re looking at building a team here. And that team is Mark Hunter, it’s Kyle Dubas, it’s Brendan Shanahan, it’s Mike Babcock. Because nobody’s got the answers for everything.”
More smart people is a hopeful thing, and now we’ll see if it holds together, and bears fruit. Scotty Bowman won four straight Stanley Cups in Montreal and spent seven frustrating years in Buffalo before leaving to find something better. Mike Babcock had an agonizing time making this decision, and he made it at the last minute, knowing everything he knew. But that part is over. He’s committed to eight years, no outs, and pain. Whatever Mike Babcock felt about this place before, he’s a Leaf, and there’s no turning back now.
“It is about the journey, it is about trying to maximize your potential.” MIKE BABCOCK