TORONTO – Mike Babcock is all about that action, boss.
And he’s clearly well-acquainted with the platform afforded to him as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs – from which he stumped for bigger nets earlier this season and is now calling for the elimination of the NHL’s salary cap.
Babcock first raised the possibility Tuesday during an appearance on Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s The Andrew Walker Show and brought it up again before Wednesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets when asked if the draft lottery format should be changed.
“I started some talk yesterday and I want this to catch action – the teams that make the most money in the league, they get to spend the most money,” said Babcock. “I’d like to get that action going, too. So the rules are what they are and I coach the team.”
LISTEN: Mike Babcock on The Andrew Walker Show
As coach of the league’s richest – and 29th-place – team, it’s little wonder why he’d like to see the restraints on spending lifted.
That would theoretically give teams like Toronto a built-in advantage.
The NHL essentially sacrificed the 2004-05 season before getting the players to consent to a salary cap and there’s been no serious talk about eliminating it in the years since. During his appearance with Walker, Babcock lamented that the “whole league is set up to help the bottom feeders.”
“We have a salary cap, do we not?” he said. “So, if there was no salary cap, the Toronto Maple Leafs could go out and spend as much money as they wanted, could they not? And as long as you made the money you could spend it.
“Now, I like that. That’s my political background. That’s what I believe in in life, but that’s not the way the league is run. So let’s fix that first and then we can get into the draft.”
