Bring on Chief Keefe!

So after one game is it time to plan the parade again? Watching Leafs Twitter it sure seems like it. It’s been one game, albeit a very good game, but one game all the same. So as usual we have Leafs Nation split. You have your new age, analytics loving Dubas fans, and you have your old school, not enough grit, Babcock fans.

I am sort of a hybrid, I am 52 years old, I grew up watching the Leafs in the era of the Broad Street Bully Flyers, the Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour heydays. But I was always more a fan of the skill game, I loved watching the Gretzkys and Lemieuxs. I hated watching the clutch and grab slow them down, I DESPISED New Jersey and the left wing lock era. But I digress, these ramblings are on my thoughts on Babcock, Keefe, and most importantly the Toronto Maple Leaf players.

So with that in mind, anyone that follows me on Twitter knows full well my patience ran out with Babcock well over a year ago. His player deployment is baffling at best, the whole “Gud Pro” BS just made it worse. Now, there are things I used to like about Babcock, it was very refreshing to hear a coach use words like “we” and “us” when describing a good or a bad game, especially after the Randy “just okay” Carlyle era we had just endured. But even that started to go away. Babs started saying things about how he didn’t have this, or didn’t have that, or getting a defenseman as good as Muzzin and lamenting the fact he shot left.

Keefe endeared himself to most of the fan base that felt like I did the very second the words “I am going to focus on what this team is, and not what it isn’t” came out of his mouth. No crying that he didn’t have the tools he wanted, he was going to work with the tools he had.

I am not a big fan of pontificating on behind the scenes feelings. I fully believe that if you aren’t actually in a dressing room you have no real idea what is going on and shouldn’t comment on it. I almost immediately dismiss people that use terms like “dressing room cancer” as morons.

However… it became pretty apparent that something wasn’t right with the Leafs. They didn’t look invested, they didn’t look happy, and I’d go as far as to say they looked almost dismissive of Babcock on the bench. I can’t remember the last time a player really looked at him while they were being talked to, and especially the Leaf’s best players. The look on their faces almost said “can you just go away please?”

Babcock seemed to be a big fan of the whole respect is earned thing, which I believe too, the difference is I KNOW that is a two way street, I don’t think Babcock understands that. I honestly feel he’s the type that demands respect but only gives it to a select few that meet his criteria.

This is a coach with a long and storied resume, but it is a resume full of winning with exceptional teams of veteran players. I honestly believe at this point he has no clue how to handle a team of young stars. How to deal with the egos that come with youth or how to get the most out of them. How often did you hear him say “we didn’t start on time”? Hey Mike… guess who’s job it is to make that happen?

From playing Polak like he was Bobby Orr, to sitting Matthews in favour of the fourth line when down late in the third, to starting Komarov and Kadri repeatedly in 3 v 3 OT, to… well you get the idea.

Am I dancing on Babcock’s grave? Yeah a bit. I respect the fact that he did a lot with this young team. I respect his resume, I even respect the fact he knows more about the game than I do. But do I think he knew how to handle this team? Not even kind of. I don’t believe for one single second that his visits to Matthews in the summer were just “check ins”. I don’t believe he didn’t have personal issues with Nylander that made him use Willy badly.

I’m glad he’s gone, I was begging for it long before most. And after Thursday’s win over the, actually very good, Arizona Coyotes, I fully believe the Toronto Maple Leafs players are too. Can any one of you even imagine Willy giving Babcock a handshake hug after a game? Did you see the look on Matthews’ face throughout most of the game and especially in the room after?

Are the Maple Leafs magically “fixed”? No. But they were never going to be fixed under Babcock, they were just going to get worse. At least under Keefe they have a chance at retrieving this season. They played better in their first game under Keefe than they have played all season, and smarter too.

Remember the St. Louis Blues were in LAST place later than this last season. They don’t have to be first, they just have to make the playoffs, and under Keefe I believe they can do that. I also believe they can get out of the first round too.