Elliotte Friedman mentioned Saturday night on the Hockey Night in Canada telecast, ‘all bets are off’ on Mike Babcock’s future with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

We all know there’s been some chatter, but when Elloitte Friedman goes on national television with such conviction, he certainly acquires my attention.

For me, I see the following:

Babcock continues to be set in his ways with his coaching style and the results have been worrisome. A lot of the focus so far this season has been on the use of Jason Spezza, along with the goaltending strategy, and use of his top lines late in games. The speciality teams of the Leafs has also been a disappointment on both sides of the puck. The team is out of the top 10 on the Powerplay for the first time in a long time and with the injuries currently throughout the lineup, it doesn’t appear the outcomes are going to change anytime soon.

What really gets me happened in the second period against the Penguins. A defensive zone faceoff where Nick Shore and Freddy the Goat are on the ice after they’ve already been on the ice for roughly 45 seconds, and instead of changing them, keeps them out, while the Matthews line is ready to go. It’s almost like Babcock is coaching his injury-riddled team without realizing how good they actually could be if he mixed it up once in a while to find a spark. If he was to try something out and it didn’t work, at least he can stand by the fact he tried something new when things weren’t going well. So far that hasn’t been the case.

The use of Tyson Barrie isn’t working as he’s used to running a powerplay and the coach has buried him on the 2nd unit. Lots of noise from Leafs Nation wondering if Mike Babcock realizes Barrie was 7th in D-Man points last season in Colorado and is a better option than Andreas Johnsson on the teams’ top unit. Elliotte Friedman also mentioned a Barrie trade could be in the works for the Leafs. It feels like if a couple of deals were made to shake up the secondary parts of the team, guys like Cody Ceci, William Nylander, and Barrie could be some of the pieces in play. To me, Dubas would choose Nylander over Mike Babcock being his coach.

Trades take time to materialize but the losses keep piling up for the Leafs, so the possibility of a coaching change creeps into reality. Unfortunately, for Mike Babcock, if Kyle Dubas can’t pull off a couple of significant trades, his job is toast.

And if it happens, look for one of the assistants to take over on an interim basis before anyone is announced long-term, or perhaps someone comes in for the rest of the season on a trial basis. Who that would be, is anyone’s guess.

What I do know is Kyle Dubas is loyal to his brand…

Leafs under Babcock this season:

– 25th in point percentage
– 21st ranked power play
– 25th ranked penalty kill
– 23rd in goals against per game
– 0-5-1 in 2nd game of back to backs
– 6 regulation wins in 22 games
– Tyson Barrie having the worst season of his career

— Anthony Bruno (@AnthonyMBruno) November 17, 2019