The new coach of the Maple Leafs, whoever that is, would seem to have just one priority.
But the other eight months of the season will require a degree in human resource management, with equal parts tough love and parental supervision.
That’s to deal with the four former first-round picks at the centre of a club that has failed to mesh at crunch time. Six times this group has lost a deciding game of a series that could’ve led to greater things.
At $50 million, Mike Babcock was a good coach, but a bad babysitter, losing his job in large part because, as a stubborn old-schooler, he couldn’t connect with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly.
The now-fired Sheldon Keefe gave that group a longer leash as part of former general manager Kyle Dubas’ hope they’d mature on and off the ice.
It worked in regular season, Keefe supervising three 100+ point campaigns, unprecedented in team history, and for himself, the second-best winning percentage among the top 80 coaches in NHL history.
It yielded a trophy haul for Matthews, all-star nods for himself and Marner, while Marner and Nylander knocked on the door of being the club’s first hundred-point wingers.
But the payoff never came in playoffs for reasons ranging from ill-timed injuries to perceived indifference buying into the sacrifices of post-season hockey. Public perception, fair or not, is that the stars are too coddled and aren’t accountable enough.
Certainly, less than 60 playoff games on each of their hockey cards at this stage of their careers flatters no one. Let’s see if the new bench boss can get more from the core when it counts.
Top five coaches in Leafs history by points percentage
Coach Games Wins Losses OTL/T Points pctg. Playoff record
Sheldon Keefe 349 212 97 40 .665 16-21
Pat Quinn 574 300 196 78 .588 41-39
Dick Irvin 426 215 152 59 .574 33-32-1
Punch Imlach 770 370 275 125 .563 44-48
Mike Babcock 351 173 133 45 .557 8-12
Top 10 NHL winning percentage by active coaches
Coach Games Winning%
Rod Brind’Amour 452 .615
Sheldon Keefe* 349 .607
Jon Cooper 879 .597
Bruce Cassidy 673 .577
Jarded Bednar 618 .552
Peter Laviolette 1,512 .534
Mike Sullivan 835 .533
Peter DeBoer 1,179 .519
Lindy Ruff 1,774 .487
John Tortorella 1,547 .480
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