The announcement of Detroit head coach Mike Babcock being free to discuss other NHL opportunities has likely sprung the Toronto Maple Leafs management into action to put forth their pitch and proposal to the Stanley Cup and Olympic winning bench boss.
Rumors indicate that Babcock will draw offers in excess of $5 Million per season and input in personnel decisions, both aspects that the Leafs would be prepared to offer, but the opportunity to contend right away is also said to be a factor in Babcock’s decision and Toronto cannot offer that, as a rebuilding club.
“(Babcock)’s a very good coach and (talking to him) would be more up to Brendan(Shanahan). I’m sure at some point there will be a discussion had about whether there is even an interest in sitting down and talking about it and seeing where it goes from there.… Leafs interim GM Kyle Dubas indicated to TSN’s Dave Naylor. “We’re(Dubas and Mark Hunter) heavily involved with Brendan and furthering to create our list of possible coaches; go through the process of starting to line up interviews.…
The window for Babcock to determine whether he will remain in Detroit or go elsewhere is the end of the month, but with as many as six NHL teams said to be interested, a decision could forthcoming as soon as this week.
The Leafs will clearly be doing their due diligence and making their most attractive offer to Babcock in hopes that the challenge of winning a Stanley Cup with an historic club and setting a salary benchmark for NHL coaches will be enough, but the prospect of going to Edmonton with Connor McDavid, Taylor Hall and a bevy of young talent, Buffalo with Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and others, Philadelphia, San Jose, St. Louis or Pittsburgh all appear to be more tempting scenarios and make Toronto’s chances a longshot at best.
The search for a new general manager is ongoing, with names like Kings VP of Hockey Operations Mike Futa, former Arizona assistant Sean Burke and current Rangers Asst GM Jeff Gorton being mentioned, but Shanahan stated at his season-ending press conference last month that he could hire a new coach prior to finding a GM and that the club would prepared to go forward with the draft without a new man in place.
“We’re just wrapping up our final amateur scouting meeting this week. Obviously, unfortunately, neither the Leafs or the Marlies remain in action. With that, it doesn’t mean our workload is dialed back. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ve got two first round picks here that are of utmost importance to us, as we work to get this thing going in the right direction.… Dubas said. “Our efforts to be very thorough and more thorough than ever in our approach to the draft is what is consuming the majority of our time now.…
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