GM Kyle Dubas and President Brendan Shanahan addressed the media on Thursday to discuss the decision to move ahead with Sheldon Keefe as the team’s new head coach.
Kyle Dubas: “Sheldon can take them to a new level”
On the timing of the decision to fire Babcock:
Dubas: It’s not an optimal time to have someone new come in and run the bench and run the program with no practice right into the game today. I think it is going to take some time and require some patience, which we understand when we do these types of things, but our way of looking at it is we’ve got a full belief in his ability to continue to develop the players we have. Development is still so important regardless of their age at the NHL level and he has shown the track record of continuing to develop players and win at the same time. I fully understand that this is a totally new level and the highest level you can be at in this profession. It will be up to all of us to prove again it could happen here. That is the challenge and what we are all excited about.
I thought we showed signs even during the stretch of playing really, really well — time frames in games where we ended up losing. I just felt that — in constant discussion with Shanny about it —the level of our ups and downs and our consistency and just kind of reading off the players and watching them and how they were reacting to different things, it was probably just time to potentially go down this path and just continue to watch it unfold and make the move yesterday.
On the difference of coaching players on massive contracts in the NHL and why Keefe is the best fit for the job:
Dubas: I think that our whole goal as a program is to have each individual player reach his individual potential. Same with every staff remember. I think the players have shown in their entry-level deals that they’re capable of great things. That is why we elected to do the contracts that we did. There are various other circumstances that affect player contract negotiations and the like.
Why I believe Sheldon can get the most out of it: Regardless of what the players are being paid, I think that I’ve watched Sheldon now in two different spots together and his ability to absolutely maximize the capabilities of the players and find their best… Mike also did a great job of that here to a certain extent as well. At times, when different things happen, there is no easy way to talk about it or put it. Sheldon can take them to a new level and a different level. That is what we are looking forward to getting to work on today and rolling from there.
On whether there was a specific loss that made him decide to make the move:
Dubas: Shanny and I talk every day most of the day. Sometimes he probably wishes to put me on mute a little bit. Just the way the team is going as a whole — with our coaching staff, with our front office, with our players — even before the team lost against Philadelphia that sort of started us down this path, you have discussions about the way the team is operating and what the best path ahead is. I can’t point to one specific loss — I think everyone wants one loss or one moment in the game that sort of pushed you over the edge, but in my brief experience before, there is never really one thing. I don’t think either of us are that style of people where we get frantic about one thing that happened. I think it was just an accumulation of watching the group just continue to play and evolve on and off the ice that led us to that point yesterday.
On whether he and Mike were not on the same page philosophically as to how the team should play:
Dubas: I am disappointed in myself. Coming into the job and knowing Mike was the coach, you certainly want everything to work out. Going through last season and going through the offseason, that was always my intention to try to do as best I could with that. I am disappointed in myself and only myself that it didn’t work out and we couldn’t become sympatico on every single topic. Sheldon and I, in our past, have had some of the biggest disagreements or arguments I’ve ever had with anybody I’ve worked with. In the end, I think we have largely — philosophically and in terms of style of play — always been aligned and on the same page. We’ve gone through — I know it’s on a lower level — a change like this in-season in Sault Ste. Marie. That made it a little easier. It’s not optimal. We’ve had to do this before. This is obviously going to be a much bigger test. That really falls on me and nobody else.
On what he was hearing from the players involved in the leadup to the decision:
Dubas: It’s probably a better question for the media to answer than for me to speak for them. But there have been a few times where you have the leadership group in and meet with them. They never once put any blame on the coaching staff and were always looking inward. A lot of the blame should go to me for the way it has happened and the way it has gone. There is no excuses in my mind for that. Speaking to the players yesterday and a little bit this morning, I think they’re excited. It’s a fresh challenge. I think they also view it that it is their time to also step up and help move this thing ahead. We’ll try to do everything we can to enable exactly that.
On whether Tavares’ absence from practice had to do with this change:
Dubas: No. It was a personal matter. Even in knowing it was coming, it was important for him to tend to that personal matter. It is a private matter for him. It had nothing to do with the coaching change.
On his message to the player group after the change:
Dubas: What I told them was that I have a deep belief in them. I don’t have any issue saying that I have that belief in the group and the way it is built. I know that can be used against me if it doesn’t go perfectly, but I don’t view that as a burden in any stretch. I have a belief in the way the team is built. I am very biased about that, and that’s fine. I have a deep belief in the character of the group and what they’ve shown. I think they’ve shown enough throughout of what we can accomplish when we play the way we’re capable of playing when we’re at our best.
What I told them is that this is not an easy time. It is not a perfect time to make a coaching change. We are going to have a pre-game skate and a meeting today and we’re going to play a game tonight. We’re on the road and we’re on the road for a long stretch here. What I asked for them was just solely their increased focus, concentration, and the ability to be a bit uncomfortable. We are going to go through some changes stylistically and with our systems. It may not look great at times and it may not feel great at times, but in the long run, it is to get the group to play the way it is absolutely designed to play. That is really all that we ask from the players.
Our goal remains the same: To maximize the capability of each individual player, and as a management group and coaching group, to bring that together to maximize the collective ability of the program. That was really what I shared with the players. We talked about the way we want to play and everything like that as well, but it was a good discussion and I am happy we were able to have it. It is unfortunate, of course, but we’re all looking forward to just getting rolling here tonight.
On whether this increases the pressure on his job:
Dubas: To me, working in Toronto and being in this position, a lot of people say there is a lot of pressure and a lot of media. I think that is one of the great honours of having this job here. I wouldn’t want it any other way. People care deeply about the team in Toronto. There are a lot of people in the media. They have to give their take on every situation — if they agree with us or they disagree with us. It is all part of what makes working and playing in Toronto great. You can’t go anywhere in Toronto without people caring deeply about the team.
I read the greatest quote this morning on the way here, “You can look at it as a burden or you can look at it as a trampoline.” You can let the amount of care and passion for the team fire you forward. That is the way I have always looked at it here. It has been excellent.
I think at a time like this, people understand we are going through a coaching change. The coaches had no practice time. He is going to try to change a lot of things. Our major way of looking at it was: Is this best for the long term for the group? Not to sit here at the end of the weekend and say, “Was this a success or not?” In the long run, was this the best thing to do for our program? We both agreed that it absolutely was. I get that people are going to watch the game tonight. It is one of the things that to me makes it great: There is a deep, loyal following of the team and they’re going to watch the game and be trying to find the differences in the way that we play. Is it going to be good? Is it going to be bad? People are going to have varying takes on either side of it. It is all what makes being in Toronto and being with the Maple Leafs one of the greatest things you can do in sports.
We understand what comes along with it. At the same time, we don’t look at it after the game in Colorado or after two weeks and have a referendum on the way that it has gone. We are fully aware of the process we have decided to undertake and that there are going to be a few bumps along the way. If there aren’t bumps along the way and we aren’t doing things aggressively to try to enact change, then it is not what we are really aiming for. There are going to be moments where it doesn’t look great and doesn’t feel great, and people will likely jump on that and say, “That doesn’t look like it is going to be positive for the group.’ But we know in the long term it will be and we are looking forward to that for sure.
Brendan Shanahan: “We’re aligned in how we want to build this team”
On whether Babcock had “lost the room:”
Shanahan: I don’t know if I’d characterize it that way that a coach had lost the room. I just think that certainly from a player’s perspective, you could see the frustration in their eyes. I really thought, even in our last game, the players were working hard but there was a belief missing in them. When things are going poorly, a lot of things are running through your mind during the hockey game. You could almost see it in their faces. I think for everyone involved in a situation like this game tonight, it is probably easiest on the players, quite frankly. They’re just here to play a hockey game. A lot of the challenges that we will face and Kyle, Sheldon and the coaching staff sort of putting things together over the coming days and weeks, I think for the players, they’re probably happy there is a game to play tonight.
On whether there is some responsibility that falls on the player personnel:
Shanahan: I believe in the players that we have. I think it is a combination of the two, obviously. You can’t just put all the blame on one person or just the players. it is definitely a combination and a collaboration. When you look around the NHL at times that are playing a little bit better in their own end and better through the neutral zone and even, quite frankly, some of your posture in your offensive zone is going to lead to strong defense. When I say strong defense, I mean get the puck back. When you look at the personnel around the entire NHL, there are a lot of teams with players that I think we stack up very well against that are doing it better than we are. That is the challenge for the group now. I don’t think it is any one person to point the blame at — coach or player. That is the challenge for Sheldon and the entire coaching staff and our players: to have better communication and to get this sorted out. I believe they will.
On the shared philosophy between him and Dubas on how the team should play:
Shanahan: I want to make it really clear that we are aligned. This is how I see a team should be built as well. Sometimes people want to too simplistically put us in one box. Speed and skill and then toughness and skill in an entirely different box. We want to be tough and we want to be gritty. Our interpretation of toughness and grittiness might be different than someone who played in the 70s or 80s or coached then. To me, some of the players, if you look at Ryan O’Reilly — who won the Conn Smythe trophy and had an exceptional playoff — I see him as a guy who is tough and gritty, but I think he had four penalty minutes in the playoffs. I think the definition and how we define that to our players — about winning battles and being mentally tough, about making a mistake and not becoming weak or small because of it… We’re aligned in how we want to build this team. Certainly, that was something that was important to me. That is something we’re trying to achieve right now as well and we’re hopeful we have improved on that.
On the idea the pressure now shifts to Dubas with his preferred coaching change made:
Shanahan: To the point that I have sometimes heard, “Well, now the pressure is now on Kyle,” or, “the pressure is on the players.” There is pressure on them all the time. There is pressure on me. There will be pressure on us in subsequent years. That is part of the job. I don’t see this or view this decision by Kyle and the team as a situation where traditionalists might say, “You’ve spent your bullet.” That’s not how I view it. I can tell you that’s not how our ownership views it. We are in this together. We are making moves and we are evolving as we see we have to do. You don’t set out with an idea or plan and not evolve or make shifts throughout that plan. What we are doing right now is just basically an evolution to get the most out of the team. As far as the kinds of players we are attracted to and the way we want to play, we are not doing it right now, but our goals are one and the same.
