Leafs fire Ron Wilson

[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.

[bad_philanthropy]

Quote: Originally Posted by kelvinmak

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.

To be fair, Greg Millen has been making passive-aggressive criticisms of Allaire's coaching style on Leaf broadcasts for a few weeks.

You're right about the media though. Thank goodness Howard Berger doesn't have a high-profile mouthpiece anymore, but it does seem like Cox is picking up the slack.

[jyoung]

Ha!

Talk about a quick 180 from Burke's "We believe we will make the playoffs with this team. We don't want to make any knee-jerk reactionary moves" speech on trade deadline day.

[SPTO]

I'd say the media has some part in this but I think it was with the full cooperation of the fans. Leafs fans have been calling for Wilson's head for at LEAST two years now. I don't think the media has been THAT bad overall with the exception of Damien Cox and a couple others but you can't deny that there's been some real faults with Wilson's coaching what with the PK being absolute dog crap and Wilson's mind games with not only the media but more importantly his players.

I think the time was right for a fresh start though Burke should've never given him an extension....

As for Francois Allaire I do think he deserves SOME criticism though probably not the level he's gotten. Reimer was above average last year but since his concussion (or whatever you want to characterize it) he's been playing tight and scared in the net. It doesn't help that Allaire's style lends itself to a goalie in that situation playing to his weaknesses when he's rattled like that. As for Gustavsson i'd say he's regressed but he's shown some promise as he's had stretches where he looks really good. I think one can fairly say that Allaire's style doesn't suit him as a lot of hockey people have said that Gustavsson is not playing to his strengths but still has potential to be a top goalie and would like to work with him.

I do think Randy Carlyle is a good change of pace as he will be a lot better with the media and I think he'll have a more positive relationship with his players yet still be a bit of a hardass when he needs to.


Oh and yes, living in the Toronto area it's indeed a car wreck but I love watching it!

[kelvinmak]

Fair enough. Yeah, I never thought Wilson was a good coach for the Leafs either. I'm curious about Carlyle, being on the east coast I don't get to catch Ducks games much. While I like that he likes his teams physical, the fact is just that the Leafs don't have too many physical players up front, so I'm curious how he'll work with those guys.

Then again, having watched the Wilson Leafs for four years now, as long as they can keep the pack in the offensive zone for while I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[bad_philanthropy]

I'd just like to see the inept d-zone coverage, bad pinches, and mostly terrible PK improve.

[BlueNGold]

Quote: Originally Posted by kelvinmak

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.

Burke talked about this at the press conference. He doesn't think it's the media's fault, but that they didn't help either.

http://watch.tsn.ca/featured/clip630853#clip630853