Fans shouldn’t be afraid to cheer Leafs’ recent successes
But if Mark Hunter et al are good, they’ll find the Reilly in this group of prospects. Or the Forsberg.
Mike Babcock, the coach who predicted “pain” but seems positively serene about how this season has gone, described the situation well after Thursday’s exciting 6-5 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks.
“I’m like everybody else . . . I’d like to pick first,” he said when asked about his team’s draft position. “But I want to win every night, too.”
Seems like a good attitude for a coach to have. Moreover, let’s face it, with the Marlie callups in the lineup numbering in the double digits every night, there’s not much more from a roster point of view Toronto could do if it wanted to lose every game the rest of the way anyway.
Babcock had one other little gem of a thought on the draft and losing in an effort to get better players.
“If you cheat the system, it cheats you,” he said.
Maybe that’s true, maybe it isn’t. When the Pittsburgh Penguins tanked in the final stages of the 1983-84 season, they ended up with Mario Lemieux.
When the Ottawa Senators deliberately sought to lose games going into the ’93 draft, they landed Al- exandre Daigle.
But the point is, Babcock has to do his job, which is to coach his butt off every night, and set a tone of relentlessness for an organization that traditionally isn’t used to going hard 24/7. He’s also showing a willingness to work with whatever he’s given, and beyond that, an understanding that a high draft pick or a talented prospect never amounts to more than that unless there’s an inner drive to become much, much more.
Asked about Nazem Kadri, who acquitted himself well in a head-tohead matchup with Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf on Thursday and scored the winning goal, and he’ll talk of Kadri’s progression this season, but then about how important this summer will be for the young centre to get stronger, to add muscle and weight, to improve his shot.
Then look at what he’s done with Rielly this season. In the first chunk of the season, with Dion Phaneuf still part of the Leaf picture, Babcock deliberately denied Rielly power-play minutes, telling the former Moose Jaw Warrior he wanted him totally consumed with learning the skills of defence, shielding players from the net and penalty killing.
Now, late in the season with the Leaf blueline stripped down, Rielly is being force fed huge dollops of ice time and is soaring with the opportunity. He’s got lots of work still to do, and don’t think Babcock doesn’t tell him that on a regular basis. But the skating, already the foundation of his game, is being augmented by confidence, experience and a growing belief in his offensive ability.
None of the young Toronto boys who had big nights on Thursday, meanwhile, were high picks. Zach Hyman, who kicked the puck over to Kadri on the OT winner, wasn’t even ranked by NHL Central Scouting in his draft year and was selected 123rd overall by Florida.
Frank Corrado, the 150th pick of the ’11 draft by Vancouver, scored his first goal as a Leaf, while Connor Brown scored his first NHL goal, adding to the growing catalogue of evidence that suggests despite being the 156th pick in his draft year, his quest to be an NHLer won’t be denied.
“He looked tonight like I expected him to look like,” said Babcock, who unabashedly loves the package of skills and smarts Brown possesses. We don’t know how many of these youngsters will be on the big club next fall. But a team that has traditionally struggled to find players after the first round of the draft has to be encouraged.
As the Oilers have proven, there is a great deal more to developing a winner than drafting high. Wherever the Leafs pick in June will surely influence their future, but it won’t be the sole determining factor.
So don’t sweat these final nine games.
Hey, if you’re a Leaf fan, feel free to cheer. Damien Cox is a broadcaster with Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for the Star, and his column appears here Saturdays. Follow him @DamoSpin.