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It’s been a hectic schedule since the Toronto Maple Leafs fired their head coach, with little downtime available between games and cross-country travel. The Leafs are back in Toronto now though, and will be until their game against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night, giving them some much needed time to settle into this new normal. Keefe has already begun shaking things up at practice, including inviting one or two more coaches onto the ice than has previously been common practice...
there are nine various coaches on the ice at #leafs practice today.
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) November 25, 2019
nine.
that’s so many.
Speaking of the coaching change... this weekend the Toronto Sun reported a story about Babcock having asked a Leafs rookie to list his teammates from hardest working to least, which was then reported to be Mitch Marner by The Leafs Nation. TSN followed up on this story, directly asking Mitch about it yesterday, when the player was made available for media after practice.
Marner speaks on the list of hardest/least hardest working Leafs players that Babcock had him make and then released during his rookie year. pic.twitter.com/BdALuolQGv
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 25, 2019
Babcock has since directly reached out to several members of the media, stating that he apologized to Marner at the time.
Text exchange with Babcock who says he was focusing on role models and trying to work on Marner’s work ethic at the time. Says it wasn’t a good idea. He apologized to Mitch. https://t.co/SV1NrIXo4r
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) November 25, 2019
You can find Mitch’s comments in full here:
In other news...
We’ve had some roster shakeups in the last day, with Alexander Kerfoot earning a two game suspension for boarding Erik Johnson during Saturday night’s game:
The Leafs recalled Michael Hutchinson yesterday, sending Kasimir Kaskisuo back down to the Marlies in return:
We also spoke with Sarah Nurse, Emily Janiga, and Carolyne Prévost of the PWHPA after Saturday’s PWHPA game at York University:
Elsewhere...
Maple Leafs Hot Stove breaks down what changes we’ve seen so far in the Keefe era:
The Athletic looked in on the Leafs’ practice, and what has changed since Babcock’s departure:
After a very successful first year, the Buffalo Sabres are bringing back their team skills competition for the second year. Please feel free to join me in tweeting this information at Kyle Dubas over and over again:
And finally, some sick goals from the past week: