Babcock calls out Toronto veterans following 4-0 blanking by Sabres
It's rare for a coach to value the play of his rookies over the play of his veterans, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are no ordinary team. And while new coach Mike Babcock was expected to lay down the law with the lagging Leafs, the coach is already full of criticism of his veterans before the season even began.
After the Maple Leafs lost, 4-0, to the Buffalo Sabres in a preseason game Tuesday night, Babcock launched a scathing critique of his experienced players. It started at the top.
"I don't think we got anything out of our top two lines," Babcock said to reporters.
Babcock's top two lines included Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Joffrey Lupul. Kadri, who is under all kinds of pressure after getting in trouble with the team for off-ice behavior last season, had a particularly awful night, finishing as a team-worst minus-3 in just 14:35 of ice time. He registered one shot on net.
The de facto leader on offense, James van Riemsdyk, was called for two penalties -- one a stick penalty on a slash against Tyler Ennis -- but he at least mustered four shots on goal. Bozak, meanwhile, didn't register a single shot on goal. A Joffrey Lupul giveaway on the power play in the first period resulted in a Jack Eichel goal.
"I don't think the people that you perceive as our good players were good enough, not even close,” Babcock told reporters after the game. “They've got to lead the way. That's their job. You just can't count on kids to do it. We've got to get our veterans playing the right way, that's the bottom line. We can talk about kids, that's a nice sideline story in exhibition, but we've got to get our players to play."
The Sabres provide an interesting comparison to the Leafs, because the Sabres are also in the midst of a rebuild, but their roster boasts a plethora of young talent while the Leafs are looking for veterans to fortify a small but exciting group of young players such as William Nylander and Connor Brown. That the Sabres won so convincingly against the Maple Leafs is not a great reflection on the state of the Toronto rebuild.
(h/t Toronto Sun)
