zeke
Well-known member
Ben's xGF% tonight: 20.74
That's hard to do, no?
What source you got? Naturalstattrick seems a bit messed up for me.
Ben's xGF% tonight: 20.74
That's hard to do, no?
What source you got? Naturalstattrick seems a bit messed up for me.
This comes down to a fundamental difference in philosophy between Babcock and Dubas.
I mean, we all remember the epic shit-fit he pitched when he was forced to dress a Moore-Petan-Ennis fourth line for one game against Vancouver last year. At the time, I figured the crux of his beef was he hated dressing a 4th line of midgets.
But it's even more basic than that, I think. He just has a fundamental belief that the fourth line should be mostly comprised of "safe", low-event pluggers who have as little skill as possible. So he loves guys like Lindholm & Goat on his 4th line, but guys like Spezza or Petan, not so much.
Dubas, on the other hand...I think it's clear he does't think your fourth line should be built any different than your other lines, in that in an ideal world, you have the best and most skilled hockey players you can manage to scrape together playing on it. By all reports, that's how the fourth lines on his Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds were built. Ditto for the Marlies.
So, I don't really know how you bridge that divide. Or why you'd want to bother, instead of just having a coach & GM who are on the same page.
Active Stick
@TheOakLeafs
My totally unqualified, outside opinion is that Shanny completely trusts Kyle to make hockey ops decisions which would normally include promoting Keefe but Babs cashed in on his last remaining lifeline this season which is the ongoing & well cultivated loyalty of Larry Tanenbaum.
Dubas can fix this. Send him down. Let Babs get upset but send the message that if you continue to play pylons I will take them away
Yeah, it's now easy to take his toys away, as none of them fill important roles. Dubas needs to get, err, heavy with Babcock.
The only thing that worries me in this is what Active Stick said in his tweet but I have a hard time believing Shanny would let Tanenbaum meddle.
Leafs being so tight against the cap might make it easier for dubas to just lay down the law about which guys get cut instead of deferring to the coach.
And of course, if lilly sandin and kivi can continue to look like they did in the 2nd half of this game it will put babs in an embarrassing and dangerous spot if he fights too hard for harpur.
I'm pretty sure it was Tannenbaum who spearheaded Pat Quinn getting turfed both as GM and then coach. That said, he seems fine with letting guys like Masai and Shanahan do their thing.Its not the first time I have read that Babs has a good relationship with Larry, but Tannenbaum has never really been the kind of owner to stick his nose in it.
That's my thinking on this as well ... except maybe he's just giving him enough rope.Why Dubas kept Babcock around, I dunno. Maybe it's political---you are sticking your neck out pretty far as a first year GM if you fire a hall-of-fame coach who has another four years and about $24M left on his deal. Maybe he thinks Babcock can change, and is giving him one last chance to do so.
I'm pretty sure it was Tannenbaum who spearheaded Pat Quinn getting turfed both as GM and then coach. That said, he seems fine with letting guys like Masai and Shanahan do their thing.