Mike Babcock's contract with Maple Leafs a game-changer for coaches

Mike Babcock played it like a free agent athlete while landing a record $50 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, possibly changing the way coaches view their careers.

Michael Rosenberg | May 20, 2015

Mike Babcock's contract with Maple Leafs a game-changer for coaches /

For the past two weeks, the hockey world buzzed about where Mike Babcock would coach next. Buffalo? Edmonton? San Jose? St. Louis? Montreal? Pittsburgh? Would he stay in Detroit?

The answer came Wednesday, and what’s funny is that it seems so obvious now.

Toronto.

Of course.

Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan could always offer Babcock the most money (which matters to most of us); a strong, smart boss (which should matter to all of us); and the chance to resurrect Canada’s most popular team (which is incredibly appealing to Babcock).

Maple Leafs give Mike Babcock record contract, shot at NHL immortality

Hiring Todd McLellan as coach enhances Oilers' great potential

New Flyers coach Dave Hakstol now under hot spotlight

There was a time when coaches were seen as an extension of management, and there was a time when coaches grabbed any extension because they felt lucky to have any job at all. Babcock realized times have changed. Which elite coach will realize it next?

Published May 20, 2015

MICHAEL ROSENBERG

Michael Rosenberg is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, covering any and all sports. He writes columns, profiles and investigative stories and has covered almost every major sporting event. He joined SI in 2012 after working at the Detroit Free Press for 13 years, eight of them as a columnist. Rosenberg is the author of "War As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in a Time of Unrest." Several of his stories also have been published in collections of the year's best sportswriting. He is married with three children.