With pressure seemingly mounting in Toronto after a less than stellar start to the season, there appears to be a lot of questions surrounding head coach Mike Babcock and speculation over whether he remains in his position for much longer. The Maple Leafs are currently 5-4-2 in their first 11 games. It's not terrible, but it's below .500 hockey and below the expectations for a team stacked with young, star players. Should Toronto continue to play mediocre (at best) hockey, the calls for the head of Babcock will surely increase, but NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman says Leafs fans may want to be careful what they wish for.
In his latest "31 Thoughts", Friedman talks about the mounting pressure in Toronto and the possible fate of coach Babcock. While he doesn't disagree that he may be gone sooner rather than later, he does wonder what will happen after that. Here's what he says:
As the pressure mounts, there will be plenty of talk about Babcock's future. One thing everyone should remember: he takes a lot of the heat. A lot of it. What I respect about him is that he recognizes it as part of the job. Where does it go if he's gone?
It's a fair statement. If Babcock gets fired and the team continues to under-perform, who becomes the next heat magnet? GM Kyle Dubas seems to be the obvious choice, but with the Stanley Cup window more open than it's been on Toronto for a long time, does the team really want to go through a change of both coach and GM? It could take years for a new general manager to put their own personal stamp on a team, time Toronto doesn't really have before high profile, high paying contracts start running out and need to be renegotiated.
Should Toronto start winning consistently, all this talk regarding Babcock will start drying up almost immediately. If not, expect a lot more speculation until or unless a decision is made regarding his future with Toronto.
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