Toronto Maple Leafs fire coach Ron Wilson, bring in ex-Anaheim Ducks Randy Carlyle -NHL
In what seemed to be a move of desperation, Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Friday night, March 2, 2012, that they had fired head coach, Ron Wilson, and will be bringing in former Anaheim Ducks counterpart, Randy Carlyle, in his place.
The heat intensified recently as Toronto continues to fall in the Eastern Conference, now sitting at number 12 with 65 points and with less than a month remaining till the playoffs are to kick off, Maple Leafs have no idea what to do now.
Being a name in the organisation, Ron Wilson had accomplished many things during his tenure with Toronto, but was finally added to the list of coaches fired this 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
Blaming Toronto for Wilson’s firing is not logical either looking at their situation.
"This was not an easy decision for me to make," said Leafs general manager, Brian Burke. "I want to thank Ron for all of his hard work and dedication to our organization over the past four seasons."
Wilson made his entry on the Toronto Maple Leafs management staff when he was hired back in June of 2008 by the team. The issue was that despite being able to lead Team USA to a silver medal during the 2010 Vancouver Games, Toronto has failed to reach the
playoffs for three seasons now.
It was during their last home game against Florida Panthers in which Toronto lost, 5-3, the thousands of people in the crowd demanded that Maple Leafs fire Ron Wilson, which could have definitely been one of the major factors to it as well.
“The talk around town, it doesn’t matter,” Wilson said. “We have a job to rectify things and get points on the board. We can’t think about the past. We have 18 games to turn it around.”
Bringing on Randy Carlyle, former Anaheim Ducks coach who was also fired earlier this season, could definitely be a sigh of relief for Toronto. With his Stanley Cup winning background as he led Anaheim to the championship in 2007, Carlyle could be just what
Maple Leafs are looking for.
Tags: