Well, one thing is for sure... If we see a William Nylander for Luke Glendenning trade this summer, we will all know who was behind it.
- PatC80
nah... I believe that Babcock knows he is now "on the clock"...
it was all golden up to this point, no one (if they are honest) expected that the Leafs would make the the playoffs in the year of the rookies... 16/17... and no one would have guessed that the Leafs would be able to sign Tavares and be a 100pt team for two seasons this quickly after the "tank".
Babcock gets kudos for handling the team up until this playoff year.. now a little of the lustre has come off the car.
Forget Dubas, nevermind what they may be telling the media, Babcock reports to Shanahan, there's no way Dubas would have been allowed to can Babcock after this season... where quite frankly Dubas was as much if not more under the microscope.
whether you are a Nylander fan or not, Dubas did not come out of the Nylander situation looking like a "man in charge". he has a mess largely of his own making to clean up now...
both he and Babcock will be under the microscope... Babcock isn't going to get the 3rd and 4th line toys he wants and what Dubas does with Marner's contract and the contracts of Johnsson and Kapanen will go a long way to deciding how long he's manager of the Leafs.
the injuries on defense will put Babcock in the spot light.. he has to find a way to replace Dermott's minutes and he won't have expensive veterans to rely on to do it... with new assistants the spotlight will be on Babcock
if Babcock does the same ill advised handling of the young defense core next season as he did this year... I believe he will seal his own fate.