TORONTO — When Mike Babcock was named the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs in May, he promised a painful process ahead for the hockey club, which has qualified for the postseason only once in the last 10 years.
Babcock came to Toronto after spending 10 seasons in Detroit, each of which ended in a playoff berth. He has reached the conference finals three times as a coach, winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008.
The Maple Leafs, on the other hand, won just nine games in the final three and a half months of last season and finished 27th over all with a 30-44-8 record.