March 2, 2012, Toronto Maple Leafs fire Ron Wilson as head coach breaking news story for HockeyPrimeTime.com

Leafs fire Ron Wilson

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Written by Denis Gorman

Friday, March 02, 2012 23:22

Friday night, the Leafs took a step towards righting their sinking ship and fired head coach Ron Wilson and replacing him with Randy Carlyle. Whether or not it is the right move remains to be seen. By Denis Gorman The Sword of Damocles no longer hangs over Ron Wilson’s head. It now resides tenuously over Brian Burke’s head. Burke fired Wilson fired as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday night, the organization announced in a statement which noted that assistant coach Rob Zettler has been reassigned. Randy Carlyle was named Wilson’s successor, and will make his debut as Leafs coach Saturday night in Montreal. Carlyle, who was replaced by Bruce Boudreau as Anaheim Ducks head coach earlier this season, has a 273-182-61 record in seven seasons, all with Anaheim. He coached the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup Championship in the 2006-07 season. Burke and Carlyle will meet with the media at the Bell Centre Saturday morning. Wilson leaves Toronto with a 130-135-45 in four season. He has a career mark of 648-561-101-91 in 18 seasons as coach with Anaheim, Washington, San Jose and Toronto. “This was not an easy decision for me to make. I want to thank Ron for all of his hard work and dedication to our organization over the past four seasons,” Burke said. The Leafs did not qualify for the playoffs in Wilson’s three full seasons as head coach. This season, Toronto is 12th in the East with a 29-28-7 record. The Leafs are 2-9-1 in their last 12 games which had led to fans calling for Wilson’s ouster at the Air Canada Centre. Wilson’s last game as Leafs coach was Wednesday’s 5-4 loss in Chicago. Toronto blew a 3-1 first period lead in the loss. “If we don’t get in (the playoffs) I’m sure a lot of things have to be looked at,” Burke told reporters Monday afternoon following the conclusion of the NHL’s Trade Deadline. Burke was unable to bolster his team in its quest to compete in the playoffs for the first time since 2004, although he landed prospect right wing Carter Ashton from Tampa Bay in exchange for defenseman Keith Aulie. The Leafs are among the NHL’s premier offensive teams, as Toronto is eighth in the league with a 2.94 goals per game average. However the Leafs cannot keep the puck out of their net. The Leafs rank 28th out of 30 teams with a 3.08 goals against average. Only Columbus (3.23) and Tampa Bay (3.33) have a worse goals against average than do the Leafs. Toronto’s goaltending tandem, Jonas Gustavsson and James Reimer, are 39th and 44th, respectively, in goals against average. Gustavsson has a .904 save percentage while Reimer’s is .899. Strangely, both have three shutouts this season. “That is their decision. Whatever they feel is needed. I can’t say anything bad about the fans. They have been here every game and support us and cheer hard for us. Whatever they see fit, they see fit,” Reimer told the Toronto Sun regarding booing fans following Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to Florida at the ACC. Reimer had surrendered five goals on 23 shots. The firing comes nearly 10 weeks after Wilson announced on Twitter he was signed to a one-year contract extension. “This coach has earned this extension,” Burke told reporters on Dec. 26. “It’s not charity, it’s not a gift. “I think it was the right thing to do.” You can follow us on Twitter @HockeyPrimeTime (http://twitter.com/#!/hockeyprimetime) and @DenisGorman (http://twitter.com/#!/denisgorman)

Last Updated on Saturday, March 03, 2012 00:48

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