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Ron Wilson, Toronto Maple Leafs Coach, Fired, Randy Carlyle Replaces Him

Ron Wilson

The Huffington Post Canada   First Posted: 03/ 2/2012 8:33 pm Updated: 03/ 2/2012 9:31 pm

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After four years behind the bench, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson has been fired.

And Randy Carlyle, a coach who has worked with Leafs GM Brian Burke in the past, is reportedly hired.

TSN analyst Darren Dreger reports that Wilson was fired Friday night, on the heels of yet another Leafs' loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. Just moments later, Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos confirmed that Randy Carlyle is tapped to be the club's next coach.

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Carlyle will jump into the fire immediately, TSN reports, as he's expected to be behind the bench on Saturday night when the Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens.

The Leafs' lacklustre play in recent days has resulted in slow slide down the league rankings. The team currently sits in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

It's a spiral that didn't go unnoticed by the city's passionate fanbase. Toronto is a notorious hockey hotbed, with fans chanting FIRE RON WILSON chant several times this season.

Wilson had signed a one-year extension to his contract only last December.

He had been behind the bench for the Leafs since 2008.

Through 64 games this season, the Maple Leafs are 29-28-7 under Wilson. Overall, Wilson compiled a 130-135-45 record with the Leafs, never taking the club into the playoffs.

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After four years behind the bench, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson has been fired. And Randy Carlyle, a coach who has worked with Leafs GM Brian Burke in the past, is reportedly hired. TSN...
After four years behind the bench, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson has been fired. And Randy Carlyle, a coach who has worked with Leafs GM Brian Burke in the past, is reportedly hired. TSN...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
PiperSniper
163 Fans
01:58 PM on 03/03/2012
Would love to see Ted Nolan behind the bench
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nightfly4257
85 Fans
 
11:52 AM on 03/03/2012
One of the joys of living in Ontario is watching the Leafs lose and their fans going nuts. Hopefully Carlyle will keep up the good work by continuing the tradition of losing.
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bogey1
537 Fans
11:40 AM on 03/03/2012
how about firing tanenbaum et al for keeping the ballard tradition of only worrying about making money instead of champions?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Leon Engelun
278 Fans
11:05 AM on 03/03/2012
fire the coach because the players do not do the job. The coach is at fault for bad passes, non checks, unwarranted penalties, poor goal tending, poor defense, and lack of offense. That is the way you do it these days. The players are never accountable for their mistakes or lack of play.
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N1N3TY
0 Fans
11:36 AM on 03/03/2012
being a coach in the NHL and any other sport is a position that you know you're going to be fired eventually.
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ToxicSludge
60 Fans
11:01 AM on 03/03/2012
The troubles with the Leafs go higher up the ladder than the coach. Their GM says the Leaf management wizards had taken a serious look at Mark Crawford as a potential replacement for Wilson. You remember Crawford… a coach credited with making one of the most inane decisions in professional sports… when as the coach of the 1998 Canadian Olympic Hockey team passed on using Wayne Gretzky ‘the greatest professional goal scorer of all time’ in a semi-final game shootout loss... thereby missing out on the Gold medal game. With a coach like that the 1967 Stanley Cup Champions would have to wait at least until 2067 – for a repeat.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
basinr
The truth and nothing but the truth
57 Fans
 
10:08 AM on 03/03/2012
Maple Leafs brass doing it again,blaming the coach.The coaches are given a budget and all they can afford is Junior B players.Toronto fans keep buying tickets and the Leafs brass keep fleecing them !!!
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Ayatollah of RocknRolla
18 Fans
11:46 AM on 03/03/2012
Amen brother. The brass need to start concentrating on hockey again instead of making their board of directors filthy rich. Brian Burke was hired to build a contender but he's been hobbled by corporate who want to keep the status quo.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
johnnycanuck
62 Fans
01:11 AM on 03/03/2012
Now it's time to prepare the Stanley Cup parade route ! maybe not eh :(
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ontariogirl
Peace!
772 Fans
10:18 AM on 03/03/2012
Too soon.
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Cariboofly
Aye, Ready, Aye & Semper Fi
27 Fans
01:10 AM on 03/03/2012
As long as the Maple Laughs are making MILLIONS and paying their mediocre player just peanuts(relatively speaking) why would they go out and look for GOOD players? They, of course would come at a higher price. Nothing will change.
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bogey1
537 Fans
01:57 AM on 03/03/2012
they all learned from harold ballard

who cares about team performance when the fans by tickets no matter what place the leafs are in
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stanschurman
243 Fans
09:40 AM on 03/03/2012
Somewhere in h*ll there's a sportsbar with Ballard sitting at a table waving his cane at the TV yelling, : " You're all suckers!".
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
stanschurman
243 Fans
11:31 PM on 03/02/2012
All those who think this will make an iota of difference, raise your hands. You put a new coach behind a bench full of mediocre players, you still have a bench full of mediocre players.
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Counterglow
Werner Heisenberg may have been right.
3081 Fans
08:21 AM on 03/03/2012
I'm not saying the Leafs will change, but Carlyle has a pretty good track record for getting the most out of his guys.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
stanschurman
243 Fans
09:38 AM on 03/03/2012
You can put AJ Foyt behind the wheel of my '97 Aspire and it'll still be a '97 Aspire.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
All Seeing Guy
Center of the storm
437 Fans
10:13 PM on 03/02/2012
Front page national news right here.
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Gyice50
142 Fans
09:53 PM on 03/02/2012
Unless someone actually believes that the coach actually has something to do with the quality of the players being contracted for by this Organization it really doesn't matter with the Toronto Maple Laughs (sad sad Joke) of a team. the team has a full house every night it puts out the best team you can get for $1.50, lives by the slogan that there is always next year and makes just getting into the Playoff exactly the same as any other team winning the Stanley Cup. The team is a great Money maker which has no intention of ever being more than what it is, the Harold Ballard medocre Hockey franchise for SUCKERS. Why do you think they were so terrified that Hamilton might get a team can you imagine a team that played Hockey right next door oooouuu the shame.
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Arctic AARDVARK
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.
113 Fans
10:22 PM on 03/02/2012
blah blah blah.. you have no clue. Wilson got fired because he is too old school and throws his players under the bus when they don't perform well. Everything you said has nothing to do with why he got fired.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Mike Keohane
139 Fans
10:54 PM on 03/02/2012
Old school in Toronto, many years ago, meant winning. Leafs are a badly run organization. Molly coddling overpaid bums is new school I guess.
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youhavetobekiddingme
533 Fans
 
09:41 PM on 03/02/2012
could not stand him when he was with the Mighty Ducks...the Washington Capitals.....the San Jose Sharks nor the Leafs/ Arrogant smug & self righteous . Thought nothing of throwing his players under the bus and for some reason thought his record was not touchable.
Not a Leaf fan..........but they can only improve without him
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Grant in Calgary
1994 Fans
09:36 PM on 03/02/2012
Harold Ballard wrote the book on the Maple Buds as a business.

Sell out the arena and field a mediocre team. Nothing has changed.

Go Jets Go !
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
opprobrious
More speech. Less Flagging.
930 Fans
09:23 PM on 03/02/2012
Yes. It's the coach's fault. Couldn't be the mediocre performance by anyone on the ice. Face it. The Leafs are where they belong in the standings. 1-9 in their last 10 games, their lone victory came in OT against Edmonton. Ouch.
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Grant in Calgary
1994 Fans
09:37 PM on 03/02/2012
It's not the coach's fault . . . it's the organization from top down.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
opprobrious
More speech. Less Flagging.
930 Fans
09:59 PM on 03/02/2012
Agreed. It's a group effort.
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tommythesaint
86 Fans
 
08:49 PM on 03/02/2012
Watch them rehire Pat Quinn...
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uneeda
Make Peace in Our Time
131 Fans
09:11 PM on 03/02/2012
that's a laugh
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rickthaluddite
What noisy cats are we
425 Fans
 
06:35 PM on 03/03/2012
Pat Burns (RIP) would do a better job from the gave than Wilson has done. Burke should be fired, too-- give Gord Stellick another shot.
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tommythesaint
86 Fans
 
09:48 PM on 03/03/2012
Too true. Maybe people will FINALLY listen to those of us that have always thought Burke to be overrated.
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