“Once I write it down or type it, it’s locked in and I don’t forget it”, Babcock told The Associated Press. He takes over a team that won 43 games last season and almost knocked off eventual Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs.
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The timing of “welcome back” and “thank you” for Babcock – who coached in Detroit for 10 seasons before taking over the Maple Leafs in May – wasn’t necessarily opportune. “The guys that I think give us the best chance to win are the ones that I’m going to play in the situations”.
“It raised a few eyebrows”, Bettman acknowledged.
“Yeah, for sure (I was nervous)”. With all we know about concussions now I don’t want Johan Franzen to be another statistic. “But he is stern”. While there were bright spots throughout the game, it was pretty evident that Babcock and his coaching staff have a lot of work to do.
Babcock broke into the league in 2002 after paying his dues, leading teams such as the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. At all. Their skating was sluggish, they were swarmed when they had the puck, and they couldn’t get anywhere near the net and Cam Ward to get a shot off. It was the Petr Mrazek show all night, as he stopped 18 shots in the first period alone, along with multiple power plays and an abbreviated 5-on-3. The Red Wings under Babcock-appointed heir Jeff Blashill are just as solid as they were under Babcock’s watchful eye. I was looking forward to this game being over so I dont have to talk about it anymore. “It was nice to get a couple of goals”, Pulkkinen said to Fox Sports Detroit’s John Keating.
“That goal didn’t matter”, Faulk said.
Detroit Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterburg squares up for a face-off in the Red side’s end of the ice. The Stanley Cup championship in 2008. “Now that he’s here, the most impressive thing is the energy he has a daily basis”.
LW Dylan Larkin – in his National Hockey League debut at the age of 19 – had a goal and an assist for Detroit in a win vs. Toronto on Friday. “We made mistakes you can’t let happen when you have the lead going into the third period”.
It was a good run for Babcock in Detroit.
“Would it have been safer to stay?” “But this was exciting”.
That’s not a luxury the Maple Leafs have right now.
While it would be a stretch to suggest that any of the team’s young players will ever reach the level of future Hall of Fame players like Datsyuk and Zetterberg, Detroit has nevertheless amassed a talented young group that should give the organization a reliable and unsafe core for years to come. The Red Wings found themselves on the verge of having two players scoring hat tricks in consecutive games. Then, after he played so well last season, he was going to be at Grand Rapids, where he ended the year.
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Unfortunately, despite the high shot count, the Leafs were unable to pay off their pressure with a goal, but it certainly looks good on them if they can maintain such fire.
