Im surprised he's leaving Detroit to be honest.

 

Supposedly, St Louis is out and now Buffalo looks out.  And MLSE has a private jet landing in Detroit today, scheduled to take off three minutes later.  Hmmmm...

 

Why on earth would he want to go to Toronto, other than loads of cash?

Toronto seems likely. Why? Who knows. Maybe he's tired of making the playoffs or he's gonna be coach and GM.

He gets an extra month of vacation with the Leafs!

 

Not my joke, saw it on Twitter lol.

Down Goes Brown @DownGoesBrown

I hope Babcock enjoys his time on that plane, since it's the last time for a while he'll see two wings with Leaf logos doing their job.

It apparently takes $6M for Babcock to rescind his "I just want to win" criteria fromhis checklist.

I guess there is ego involved in taking a mess and making it a winner.  He has options that are better chances to win sooner, but to make generational money and presumably be promised every opportunity to win eventually, why not.

Sounds like it will be coach / GM dual role.

Gonna be a long road ahead for the leafs. That team sucks.

Gonna be a long road ahead for the leafs. That team sucks.

 

I don't know.  I thought firing Carlyle was a mistake, he had them battling for a playoff spot.  I think Babcock should be able to turn things around rather quickly.

I dunno. Think they are gonna rebuild. And I think it will be a while. Gotta wait to see how long he signs for to confirm if it's a real rebuild or just a retool

I dunno. Think they are gonna rebuild. And I think it will be a while. Gotta wait to see how long he signs for to confirm if it's a real rebuild or just a retool

 

Rebuilding is so hard in the NHL.  Sure you can trade guys for draft picks but they take years to materialize.

 

You gotta try and build around what you already have.  Full-scale rebuilds just plain don't work.

8 years 50 million. Leafs it is. Wow. First 3 years =8 million per

Hopefully this means that Kessel and Phaneuf are out the door. Babcock doesn't accept passengers on his bus.

Hopefully this means that Kessel and Phaneuf are out the door. Babcock doesn't accept passengers on his bus.

 

Babcock was reportedly strongly interested in acquiring Phaneuf at the trade deadline so I imagine he will stick around at least.

I haven't seen any mention of Babcock being the GM also. Would a coach / GM have the discipline to build for 3-5 years out, which is what the Leafs say they are doing?

If Babcock isn't the GM, the Leafs approach seems really weird. The team has committed to a slash n' burn rebuild to address their massive talent deficit ... but they aren't building from front office / player personnel dept. out. Instead they've blown megabucks on a coach who's had the luxury of a very consistent talent pipeline for the last few years. Plus, let's say Babcock coaxes some overachievement out of the rebuilding years' roster -- he just sets the rebuild back in terms of draft picks and in terms of discipline to stick to it, because if there's hope flickering for the Leafs, there'll be huge pressure from Leaf Nation towards the same old short-term thinking that's burned them so badly.

And if the rebuild works and the Leafs become a contender in 2019 or 2020, Babcock's welcome in Toronto will almost certainly be worn out by then. So I don't get how this works for them. Is this just a PR move, one to placate Leaf Nation with a big signing?

Whoever the Leafs' GM turns out to be, I hope they like Babcock.

I honestly think the Leafs entire rebuild plan was to try and win the McDavid lottery and nothing more. Why else fire Carlyle and install a pure scapegoat as head coach? They tried to dive down the standings to win McDavid, they didn't and now they go all in on Babcock which is not a scorched earth rebuilding move. They will pretty much have to just have Shanahan/Babcock be the GM too cause who is going to want to go into a situation where they'd be a GM on a team where the team is more committed to the coach and the coach and whatever Shanahan calls himself have said they have final say on players? 

Nothing the Leafs do makes sense anymore. Why else would you get rid of a Carlyle? The NHL has made a mockery of salaries for years now. The Leafs want to extend that mockery to coach's salaries.

Maybe it's their plan to get into BMO field too. They could all play the foolsball game together.

To answer the original question: the place where coaching careers go to die.