The Marner Situation: Did Mike Babcock Almost Ruin The Leafs?

Mike Babcock Almost Ruin

The reported story goes like this. Mike Babcock allegedly made a Leafs rookie create a list of players, from hardest working to those who had a poor work ethic, during the 2016-17 Father’s Day trip. The rookie didn’t want to upset their coach, so they obliged. Babcock took them by surprise by *deep breath* telling the player(s) he ranked last.

Apparently, this story had been flying around for a very long time. Tulloch, as mentioned earlier, confirmed that the rookie was, in fact, Mitch Marner. Numerous people hinted at the idea that one of the players informed was, in fact, Nazem Kadri. Kadri and Bozak were reported to have been some of the players furious at Mike Babcock. 

Tom Hunter of Mile High Hockey reported that Mitch Marner had broken into tears. He said Mitch Marner had to be convinced by Darren Ferris to not ask for a trade. Ian Tulloch ended up releasing an article about it all here, and I highly suggest giving it a read.

After all of this, it’s hard not to ask. Did Mike Babcock almost ruin the Leafs?

Mike Babcock & The Marner Deal

The burning question about this ordeal is how it affected the Mitch Marner contract. At first, when Mitch Marner and his team asked for an absurd amount of money, they were seen as greedy. They got attacks from fans and media alike. It was all sort of warranted, after all, we didn’t know about any of these events. One thing rings in particular. It was mentioned that Marner felt as if he was being treated unfairly. He felt like he was disrespected by the Toronto Maple Leafs. At the time, he was mocked for it. TSN’s Darren Dreger hinted at the fact that it could be due to the bonuses not awarded to him on his ELC. 

After news about the incident surfaced, is it possible that the Toronto Maple Leafs paid a Babcock tax? I don’t think it’s much of an argument that negotiating isn’t necessarily Kyle Dubas’ strength. In all likelihood, Dubas probably would’ve overpaid Marner by around >$1 million. However, arguably, he overpaid by almost 3 million dollars. It makes sense for Marner. You’re buying into a system that will likely employ the head coach for years to come. I don’t think Mitch Marner asks for over $13 million per year if Sheldon Keefe is the head coach, is what I’m saying.

Mike Babcock & Other RFA Deals

Although we don’t really know of any specific incidents with many of the notable RFAs, did Mike Babcock screw over other RFA deals?

The Auston Matthews contract isn’t what I’d call a massive overpayment, but for the term, it kind of sucks. Matthews committed to a 5-year deal that would take him to free agency. Some could argue he was overpaid by over $1 million. Would Auston Matthews commit to a non-Babcock system? Babcock had to travel to Matthews’ hometown two summers in a row, clearly, there was a strain on their relationship. Matthews still produced under Babcock but didn’t get the ice-time you’d expect for a team’s star. Matthews’ hasn’t been singled out in a textbook Babcock story. However, it’s not insane to suggest they didn’t have the chemistry needed.

William Nylander is MUCH easier to paint as a victim of the Babcock terrors. Every time a sentence came out of Mike Babcock’s mouth about Nylander, it always seemed double-edged. Do I think it affected Nylander much before he signed his deal? Not really, but he faced a lot of scrutiny from fans, media, and Babcock after his holdout. At worst, the Leafs overpaid for Nylander by a couple hundred dollars. Still, Nylander had a notably disappointing post-holdout campaign. While that could all be attributed to rust, the whole situation gives us a bit of a "what if" on how it could’ve played out.

Other than that, any RFA deals made aren’t terrible. Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson were signed to very team-friendly deals (up for debate, they were very team-friendly at the time). Alexander Kerfoot didn’t play for Babcock before he signed his deal. The Leafs didn’t sign any other major RFA deals that locked the player in though, one that still plays on the team that is. Still, the big three players are the players who the whole situation would have affected most. For a team that’s very cap-crunched, that’s a pretty scary thought.

The Commodore Effect & Mike Babcock

Mike Babcock is known for being a bit of an unpopular guy. The prime example? Mike Commodore. The guy has some sort of personal vendetta against Babcock, and it makes sense… to an extent. It started when Commodore played with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. He claims after a strong camp, he was sent down to make him look bad, so Kurt Sauer, a player Babcock had coached in junior, would be playable. That one specifically sounds more like a case of Coach’s preference, but it’s pretty much how the Mike Commodore/Mike Babcock story originates.

The event that set it off, but the reason it got this far was much later in his career. Mike Commodore signed with the Detroit Red Wings on July 1st, 2011. This came after a promise from Mike Babcock that he would get playing time. He started the season off, but after a while, found himself scratched for extended periods of time. He only got on the ice due to a request from Ken Holland, according to Commodore. His career never really was the same, and he retired a few seasons after. It’s hard to put it as a huge mistake on Babcock, but it shows you the reasoning one of the most outspoken critics of Babcock has against him.

The Mike Modano Situation

The Mike Modano situation is one that’s been talked about for a while, and Commodore was, obviously, a critic of the situation. You can go on Mike Modano’s HockeyDB page, and you’ll notice he played his final season with the Detroit Red Wings, and that he finished his career with 1499 games. Modano had a few regular season games left in the season and would’ve finished the year with a total of 1500 games under his belt. One game, Minnesota came to town, a team that Modano has quite the history with. Modano was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars, where he emerged as a young star and continued as they moved to Dallas. Mike Babcock scratched him, and he finished his career with 1499 games.

Detroit was competing for a higher spot in their division, so that’s the argument many present now. After all, Modano was getting older, right? I guess it’s important to note who he was replaced with. Drew Miller had a solid career, he was mostly used in a 4th line role, and that was the case during the game against Minnesota. Was Drew Miller really going to be the difference between beating a sub .500 Wild team? They ended up winning the division, but it was that one game that cost Hall of Famer Mike Modano the 1500 game plateau. For a guy that refused to stop playing Patrick Marleau in part because of his "Iron-Man" Streak, it’s hard to imagine why he didn’t let this veteran reach his milestone.

The Chelios Situation

I figured I should include Chris Chelios in here, because for some reason, Babcock dislikes the idea of playing veterans when it makes the most sense (we’re sorry Jason Spezza). Chelios has been an active critic of "Babs" as well. On the Spittin Chiclets podcast, Chris Chelios told a story of how Mike Babcock once benched him in his hometown during a Winter Classic.

"He tried to healthy scratch me in the outdoor game in Wrigley Field against Chicago because he knew it was my hometown — just things that were so unnecessary, to show he’s the boss, to show his general manager he’s the boss," Chelios said. "That he’s on a power thing, his ego — that’s a big part of his personality."

"Kenny Holland and Jim Nill, for three days, argued with him. So what Babs ended up doing was, he suited up seven D for the first time ever […] He played me the opening shift, and then didn’t play me another shift the rest of the game. That was his way of showing Kenny and Jim Nill he’s not going to be told what to do," Chelios explained, later stating that he felt Babcock "had it out for me from the beginning."

Luckily, Chelios had some support.

"I’m sitting there. Second period and my two sons were about 40 feet, you know, sitting on the boards and they’re looking at me going, what’s going on?" Chelios said. "And I look at them. I tip my glass like you know my cup, to get me a beer. So my two boys were handing me beers the whole game. And then (Brad) McCrimmon tried to get me to go out there with a minute left to kill a penalty, ‘I said not a chance.""

Obviously, the situation is very similar to what happened to Jason Spezza on opening night, only Spezza was actually scratched, and in fact, wasn’t able to drink on the bench.

Johan Franzen

Honestly, up to this point, my view on the Mike Babcock Saga was "Okay, he’s a bit of a thorn in the rear, but he’s a decent coach!", and that to me was where I was going to leave it. Then I realized I was wrong.

The Johan Franzen situation was damning to me. It’s definitely something that will be a stain on what is arguably a Hall of Fame career for Babcock.

On the Spittin Chiclets podcast, Chris Chelios said this:

"It got to the point with poor Johan, no one really knowing that he was suffering with the concussion thing and the depression thing, he just broke down. He had a nervous breakdown. Not only on the bench but in one of the rooms after the game. It’s probably the worst I’ve ever seen."

That’s… that’s not good, it’s horrible, but it gets worse.

Franzen spoke to a Swedish newspaper and called Babcock "a terrible man, the worst person I’ve ever met." going on to say "He jumped on people just because."

"From 2011, I was terrified of being in the arena. I just focused on getting up in the mornings. It was then that he had a go at me for the first time and last year was the first time I naturally slept for the first time since then," he says.

"It was only his verbal attacks that played out in my head. Every day. But I got good help with those obsessions for three weeks at a center in Colorado last year. It was me and a group of veterans from the military who also suffered from concussions and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)."

I read it a few times before writing this article, but it makes me sick to my stomach each time I read over it.

Mike Babcock really messed with Johan Franzen’s life, and that’s scary enough on its own. Imagine what he could’ve done to others.

What does this have to do with anything?

How did I get from Mitch Marner making a list to addressing all of this? Here’s the thing. Mike Babcock making a prized talented star go through something like that means he hadn’t learned to take it easier during his tenure in Toronto. The Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t a veteran-led team in 2016, nor are they now. They’re a young team full of young players who likely need more support. That, as opposed to getting shut down by Mike Babcock. That’s not to say Mike Babcock made a Toronto Maple Leaf suffer a mental breakdown, but I wouldn’t be shocked if a Leaf came out at some point in the future and addressed Babcock’s coaching.

Larry Tanenbaum and Brendan Shanahan

Rumours circulated before Babcock was even fired, that MLSE had blocked a Babcock firing meant to be made after the Leafs’ most recent playoff loss to the Boston Bruins. More rumours started circulating that Kyle Dubas was, in fact, blocked by Brendan Shanahan and Larry Tanenbaum.

That’s very unsettling. Brendan Shanahan played for Mike Babcock! You’re telling me all of a sudden he just flipped a switch in 2010 and decided to become a supervillain/coach?! Shanahan just didn’t notice?

Brendan Shanahan later went on to call Mike Babcock’s coaching tactics not “appropriate or acceptable". Then why wasn’t he fired after the last playoffs collapse? Why did the Leafs have to wait until the entire team gave up on Babcock? Why did we have to wait until Kasimir Kaskisuo got absolutely shelled in his NHL debut?

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Why did we have to wait for Nic Petan to be robbed by Marc-Andre Fleury?

Why did we have to wait until we were stuck in this hole that was immensely difficult to try to climb out of?

I know it’s unfair to blame ALL of the Leafs’ past struggles on Mike Babcock, but there were clearly a few glaring flaws during his tenure and throughout his career. This team is only in its 4th season of being considered a threat, and it might not have gotten off the ground if he stayed.

Did Mike Babcock almost screw over the Leafs? I don’t believe we’ll ever find out, however, I think he was fairly close to it.

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