Roman Polak appears to hint that Babcock's coaching style may not work for the Leafs.

Surprising comments from an unexpected source.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Roman Polak appears to hint that Babcock's coaching style may not work for the Leafs.
Del Mecum/CSM/Zuma

The Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a major coup a little over 3 years ago when they signed former Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock to the richest contract a coach had ever received in the history of the National Hockey League. At the time Babcock was widely regarded as the best coach in the entire league, with perhaps the exception of Chicago Blackhawks' head coach Joel Quenneville, and as you would expect with someone of that status he has not been criticized very often for his skills as a coach. 

That being said though there have been some minor grumblings over the past two seasons regarding Babcock's tendency to lean too much of older, more experienced players, over younger and arguably more skilled talent on his roster. The most common complaint in recent memory was regarding the heavy use of veteran players like defenseman Roman Polak and veteran defenseman Ron Hainsey over the Leafs younger talent, which is why it was so surprising to hear a player like Polak, now a former Toronto Maple Leaf, offer some criticisms of Babcock's coaching style this week.

“Babs wants everybody to play the same way he wants it. If you’re me, I have a certain role on the team and it’s easier to do it,” Polak said this week as per the Toronto Star. “If you’re more a skill guy, you could have a problem with him.”

That should be a big time red flag for the Maple Leafs organization when you consider the fact that their modern roster is now primarily powered by younger and more skilled players and is slowly shedding the more experienced veteran players much in the way that Polak himself was. What makes this particularly interesting though is considering how this might play out between Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, who clearly has a preference for players who produce well analytically and who has shown he doesn't value grit as much as some more old school hockey minds, and Babcock himself. 

Clearly Babcock and former general manager Lou Lamoriello shared a similar philosophy, but it will be interesting to watch how effective Babcock can be if Dubas continues to get rid of the type of player Babcock tends to prefer.

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