The assembling of the coaching staff for the Toronto Maple Leafs continues following the hiring of Mike Babcock on Thursday. Numerous reports about Wings assistant coach Jim Hiller following the Olympic and Stanley Cup winning coach to Toronto emanated on Friday and indications are that another Detroit staff member will be making their way to the Blue and White.
TSN’s Bob Mckenzie reported Thursday that Hiller and Wings video coach Andrew Brewer were candidates to come to Toronto. The 29-year-old Brewer (like Hiller) joined Detroit last summer after a three year stint with Hockey Canada(2011 to 2014) as their video coach, after working with Babcock in Sochi.
The Red Wings are expected to promote Grand Rapids head coach Jeff Blashill after the Griffins AHL Playoff run and it is likely that they will allow the Calder Cup winning coach to assemble his own staff, thus freeing up those who served under Babcock to join him in Toronto.
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A couple members of the Leafs much maligned core group reacted positively to the announcement of Mike Babcock coming to Toronto.
“For me, this is a good thing. Put it this way, we’re better off today than we were three days ago.… Lupul told the Sun’s Steve Simmons .“It was a long time ago, but the one thing that’s stuck with me is how he was the first guy there every day and the last guy to leave. And it was like that every day. He took a certain pride that nobody was ever going to outwork him or us.…
“I signed here for seven years for a reason. To be part of it. I’m fully prepared to go through the process.… Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman "I'm excited. And the guys are excited, too. It's big for our fans and our organization. There was a lot of interest in where he was going to go, and rightfully so. You want to play for a coach of his caliber."
Team President Brendan Shanahan and the Leafs new head coach preached ad nauseam during Thursday’s press conference about the need for patience, the promise of short-term pain for long-term gain, developing 25-and-under players like Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri and compiling draft picks for Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter, but that does not jive with retaining players 30-and-over like Lupul and Phaneuf and leading scorer Phil Kessel, whose return to the 30-goal plateau would lessen Toronto’s chances of earning a top-five draft pick.
Retaining Lupul in the short term could be an option for the Leafs, since his trade value is practically nil after another injury plagued season in which he scored one goal after Christmas. With three years remaining on his contract at $5.25 Million, Toronto could hope that Babcock coaxes a solid offensive season out of the talented winger, which would allow a greater return at the trade deadline.
Phaneuf and Kessel are another story.
It is impossible for plans of a rebuild to be taken seriously if both players are still members of the Leafs at training camp next September. Phaneuf was in consideration for Babcock’s Team Canada in 2010 and 2014 and the Leafs coach spoke positively of the team captain on Thursday, but that does not change the fact that the 30-year-old has six years remaining at $7 Million, has trade value from teams desperate for a 20-plus minute blueliner and will likely be on the downslope of his career when Toronto will be ready to contend for a playoff spot.
Kessel had his worst season as a pro(still leading the Leafs with 61 points) and arguments that the Leafs would be selling low if they traded the 27-year-old now are not looking at the current NHL landscape where goal scoring is at a premium.
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Game 4 of the Western Conference Final between Chicago and Anaheim on Saturdaywas another exciting overtime extravaganza for the NHL, with the Hawks tying the series on Antoine Vermette’s game-winner in double overtime.
The game is another example of the Hawks resilience, as they relinquished a 3-1 lead in the third, allowing Ryan Kesler, Matt Beleskey and Corey Perry to score three goals in 37 seconds, but bounced back to tie the game on Patrick Kane’s power play goal.
The three goals in 37 seconds was the second-quickest three goals scored by the same team in NHL playoff history. The quickest was a trio of tallies in 23 seconds by the 1979 Maple Leafs in Game 2 of their first round match against the Atlanta Flames.
Darryl Sittler scored a pair and Ron Ellis beat Flames goalie Dan Bouchard in the first period of a 7-4 victory over the Flames.
Here is the video:
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