Leafs’ Babcock still refuses to give Matthews more ice-time

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ season ended when the Boston Bruins eliminated the Canadian team in the first round of the playoffs this past spring. 

During of the seven games, head coach Mike Babcock came under scrutiny for not using star centre Auston Matthews more, especially in the final moments of a game where a tying goal was needed to push the contest in OT. In that same contest, Matthews had been limited to four minutes and 37 seconds of ice time in the first period…

And it wasn’t the first time Babcock was getting criticized for his poor time management with the star player.

On Wednesday, the head coach talked to Matt Larkin of The Hockey News and, when he had the chance to make things better with fans about using Matthews more on the ice, Babcock simply held on to his ways. However, he did back things up with solid stats. 

"I think each guy should manage his team the best way he can," Babcock said. "But there's no question, I think he and John, to be as good as they're capable of being, should be right around the 19-minute mark. Some nights they're going to be 18, some nights they're going to be 20, but I think that's where (Matthews is) the best, for sure. He's an important part. I think he's earned the right over time as he's gotten better and better to earn more and more. 

"A big part of the game is you earning what you get. Your teammates respect that, and Auston's done a real good job in that area."

While Babcock knows Matthews is his best player, his minutes are quite lower than other star forwards around the league. Look at this list Bardown put together, based on the league’s top eight scorers’ ice-time:

Nikita Kucherov: 19:58
Connor McDavid: 22:50
Patrick Kane: 22:29
Leon Draisaitl: 22:35
Brad Marchand: 19:37
Sidney Crosby: 21:00
Nathan MacKinnon: 22:05
Johnny Gaudreau: 20:04

Now, things could be different for Matthews and Babcock at the start of the season. If teammate Mitch Marner remains unsigned going into the regular season, Matthews could see a serious spike in minutes on the ice. Marner led the Maple Leafs forwards in ice time last season with an average of 19:49 per game, followed by Tavares at 19:05 and then Matthews. 

But as it for Babcock - and we know he can be stubborn - Matthews ans John Tavares won’t get more minutes of ice-time, despite the loud critics.