When we think of who the next coach of the Maple Leafs will be many fans pine for soon to be free agent Mike Babcock the current Head Coach of the Detroit Red Wings. A Stanley Cup winning coach. An Olympic and World Championship of Hockey gold medal winning coach it's obvious there will be no shortage of suitors if Babcock hits the open market.
Babcock is open about his desire to be the best coach of his generation and many would argue that helping turn the Leafs around would solidify him at the top of the coaching ranks as if his resume did not already.
There are a few thing to think about with Babcock. #1 He's got a good thing in Detroit. His Wings are playing above expectations and he's been gushing to the media about some of his players of late which makes you wonder if the challenge of moving on is slowly giving way to his loyalty to Detroit.
#2. Mike Babcock left the Anaheim Ducks to sign with the Red Wings. As a coach in the NHL he's never been fired and he's currently the longest tenured coach in the League with 9 years behind the Wings bench.
#3 If you had Kronwall, Datysuk, Zetterburg, Nyquite and Tatar on your bench would you really pack up and leave to join a rebuilding team regardless of a potentially big salary increase?
It all comes down to how serious Babcock is about wanting to be challenged and I can assure you after nearly 10 years as Babcocks boss not even Ken Holland knows what's going to happen.
The option that sticks out to me and seems like the one that makes the most sense given the rebuild and the lack of winning that is on the horizon is Dallas Eakins.
Eakins is a former Marlies Head Coach who left the organization for the Edmonton Oilers coaching gig. His tenure there was nothing short of a disaster. Dealing with Edmontons high expectations for the under performing trio consecutive 1st overall picks (Yakupov, Nugent Hopkins, Hall) Eakins team went through a very rough time which started the jersey tossing media coverage which now plagues the under performing Maple Leaf franchise. The reality is Eakins wouldn't be brought in to win. He'll be brought in to continue developing the players he left when he went to Edmonton and he'll be the fall man for the rebuilding years in Toronto
His success in Toronto and the fact he's credited with being a great players coach lead me to believe that Eakins will be brought in to take the reigns. As we all know after this disaster since Carlyle was fired there is little to no chance Peter Horachek remains interim head coach and at this point he may be lucky to still have a job by next season.
Other potential candidates in now specific order: Steve Spott, Paul MacLean, John Tortorella, Guy Boucher, Brent Sutter
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