Leafs fire Ron Wilson

[BlueNGold]

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=389346

Quote:

Ron Wilson has been fired as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs after nearly four seasons behind the bench. With another season slowly slipping away, general manager Brian Burke felt the need to remove Wilson of his duties; the move coming just a few months after Wilson was given a one-year contract extension in late December. Wilson's replacement has not been named. Chants of "Fire Wilson!" echoed through Air Canada Centre when the Maple Leafs fell 5-3 to the Florida Panthers on (Tuesday) Feb. 28. The game marked Wilson's 1,400th career NHL game coached, tying him with Pat Quinn for fourth on the all-time list. Hired in 2008, Wilson was unable to guide the Maple Leafs to the playoffs during his tenure. They currently own the NHL's second-longest playoff drought at seven years. Wilson recorded a 34-35-13 mark in his Maple Leafs debut, the club finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference. The following year, the team posted a 30-38-14 record and finished last in the Conference. Last season, Wilson had his first winning season with the Maple Leafs, going 37-34-11, which was good enough for 10th in the Conference. Through 64 games this season, the Maple Leafs are 29-28-7 under Wilson.

Um, wow. Not that this should come as a surprise, but there's not even 20 games left in the season. I at least thought they would wait until the end of the season.

[Kobalt]

Took them long enough, hopefully they don't hire Carlyle

[BlueNGold]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kobalt

Took them long enough, hopefully they don't hire Carlyle

That's what it sounds like they're going to do.

Ottawa fans are cheering right now because the scoreboard just showed this news.

[SidVish]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlueNGold

That's what it sounds like they're going to do. Ottawa fans are cheering right now because the scoreboard just showed this news.

I'm watching the Hawks game and got a good laugh at that. I was wondering what the heck they were cheering about.

[BlueNGold]

Watching Leafs fans celebrate this on hfboards is hilarious.

Quote:

I wasn't planning on going out and getting hammered tonight... BUT THIS DESERVES A CELEBRATION!!!!!!

[Kobalt]

James Duthie tweeting Randy Carlyle is the new coach.

[bad_philanthropy]

At first I was like , but then it was announced Randy Carlyle would be the replacement and I was all .

[BlueNGold]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

At first I was like , but then it was announced Randy Carlyle would be the replacement and I was all .

That's the same reaction I'm reading from other Leafs fans, if not worse.

What's so bad about Carlyle? I get that he's in a similar mold to Wilson in that he can be a hard-*** (pause) to his players and isn't exactly a fan of the media, but unlike Wilson he has won a Cup.

[bad_philanthropy]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlueNGold

That's the same reaction I'm reading from other Leafs fans, if not worse. What's so bad about Carlyle? I get that he's in a similar mold to Wilson in that he can be a hard-*** (pause) to his players and isn't exactly a fan of the media, but unlike Wilson he has won a Cup.

I just don't feel Carlyle has ever been that coach who gets his team to overachieve. This Leafs team will have to succeed that way so they might need a bit more of an outside the box thinker. It's all well and good when you have Scott Nidermayer, Pronger, Getzlaf, Selanne, Perry, Penner (at his best), Pahlsson (at his peak), but the Leafs have nothing approaching what Anaheim had to work with—even this Leafs team, I would say, is more talent deficient than the Ducks club Carlyle struggled with this year. Add to that, his rocky relationship with Lupul. It just seems a mismatch to me. What do I know though. I truly hope it works out.

[kelvinmak]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlueNGold

Watching Leafs fans celebrate this on hfboards is hilarious.

Yup, Leaf fans are a strange breed like that. And living in Toronto, I've got front row seats to the clown show.

The funny thing is that it really is the media that drove all this. I don't care for Wilson either (especially his throwing of players under the bus and then backing up over them repeatedly), but the reality is that if the Toronto media, especially that car crash of a person Damien Cox, didn't start twisting the knife, the average Leaf fan with their below average intelligence would not have clued in this quickly and furiously.

Another good case in point is Francois Allaire. Reimer and Gustavsson has had problems way before this slump, but once two columnists came out with pieces about him in recent weeks, every other comment on TSN, HF and The Star, was "fire Allaire." Before that? None.