Speculation over who should become the next head coach of the Maple Leafs, game recaps, plus updates on the Jets defense corps and Brian McGratton’s future with the Flames.
Who will become the full-time replacement for Randy Carlyle behind the Leafs bench?
THE GLOBE AND MAIL/TORONTO SUN/NATIONAL POST: All published lists of possible candidates to become the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Among the candidates: Detroit’s Mike Babcock, San Jose’s Todd McLellan, Arizona’s Dave Tippett, St. Louis’ Ken Hitchcock, Anaheim’s Bruce Boudreau, London Knights coach Dale Hunter, former New Jersey Devils coach Pete DeBoer, former Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss Dan Bylsma, former Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean, former Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss Guy Boucher, former Canucks, Rangers and Lighnting coach John Tortorella, former Blackhawks assistant coach Kevin Dineen and former Edmonton Oilers coach Dallas Eakins.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lots of options for the Leafs to consider. Of these, I’d say we can forget about Bylsma, Hunter, MacLean, Boucher, Dineen, Tortorella and Eakins. Hunter prefers to stay with his Knights and I don’t see the others as bringing real improvement to the Leafs. Babcock would be the best choice but I’m with those pundits and bloggers who consider this a pipe dream, as he seems to be angling for a more lucrative deal from the Wings. Tippett’s had varying degrees of success in Dallas and Arizona but I don’t think he can handle the pressure of coaching in Toronto. Ditto McLellan and DeBoer. If Hitchcock and Boudreau become available I think they would be worthy candidates. The Leafs could surprise us and either hire one of their current assistant coaches on a full-time basis, or look elsewhere for a replacement. Obviously the Leafs will seek the best available option this summer, but they must also provide that coach with a roster he can work with.
TORONTO STAR: Bruce Arthur believes the heat is now upon the Leafs core players Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak, who are all under expensive long-term contracts.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Say what you will about Randy Carlyle, but much of the criticism about the Leafs play was focused more on him than the players. With Carlyle gone, the Leafs core players will come under more intense scrutiny. Speculation has already begun over what moves the Leafs should make to improve the roster and who should be traded. I’ll have more on that in my “Rumors” section.
TORONTO SUN: Analytics explains why Carlyle was fired, revealing hot goaltending can only take you so far, Nazem Kadri is the Leafs true first-line center and not Tyler Bozak, and luck is not something you can rely upon.
THE VANCOUVER SUN: Nick Bonino, Linden Vey and Ryan Stanton all ended lengthy scoring droughts to give the Canucks to a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.
OTTAWA SUN: A shootout goal by Wayne Simmonds gave the Philadelphia Flyers a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: Four second-period goals lifted the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, snapping the Habs six-game winning streak.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If the Lightning and Canadiens meet again in the playoffs it won’t be a sweep for the Habs as it was last year. The Lightning dominated the Canadiens in both regular-season games this season.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Jordan Eberle’s two goals and Viktor Fasth’s 37 saves weren’t enough to prevent the Oilers from falling 4-2 to the Detroit Red Wing.
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: Some good news for the injury-ravaged Jets defense, as blueliners Mark Stuart and Tobias Enstrom have started non-contact drills with their teammates. Bogosian returned to full practice and could be in the lineup this weekend, while Stuart is well ahead in his recovery and could return soon.
CALGARY SUN: The Flames will soon have to make a decision regarding the future of popular but little-used enforcer Brian McGrattan, who could soon be placed on waivers and demoted.
If Boston doesn’t make it or doesnt win a round or 2 I wouldnt be surprised if Julien would be available aswell…lots of candidates could be available. Wont happen till the off season and if the Leafs miss it will be the first job of the new GM I am sure.
The Jets could be ateam to watch when they get healthy.
Julien with Kessel again? Not sure if Phil can play his coaching style. Quite a shock to go from Bergeron/Krejci/Chara to Bozak/Kessel/Phaneuf.
Just kind of going back to the point that even tho Babcock maybe available, there would be some others ad well I dont think he would be or even should be considered a lock.
Babcock opened my eyes when he said he knew Randy for a long time and never seen a guy who coached as long as him played as long as him. Winning the Norris and a Stanley cup(as a coach) get treated the way he did. (I dont’ remember the exact quote but these words are pretty much what he meant)
Babcock watching the lynching of Carlyle is making me believe there is no way in Hell he is going to risk his reputation of being a great coach by going to Toronto no matter how much T.O. offers.
The leafs should try to pry Nick Ritchie away from the ducks. Their basic needs are players with heart. I am sad to say that our current team doesn’t have it and they are regularly outplayed by teams that do. Also they need to come out of their own end as a group.constant stretch passing disrupts their timing and puts half of them out of position.
Here’s my view. Carlyle may or may not have been a good coach and that’s not what’s important. I checked out the roster of the team and can only find about 5 players on the team that were drafted by the leafs. All the others are signings or traded for. With all the trade talk around the leafs and who should go tells me one thing. The leafs will never be the team they can be if they try to build a team with out drafting and developing what they need. They’ve given up on guys too early trying to win now and can’t even make the playoffs. To me it’s not far from what’s going on in Edmonton. Get rid of the guys that don’t have patience to build a winner
Arg…my Sens are frustrating me. It is nice they have integrity enough to fight it out till the end of the season but we all knew by Chirstmas after that horrendous schedule that we’d know what kind of team this was. Now they are treading water badly slowly going under with all these 3 point games they are playing and in most of them the other team gets 2, leaving them with the lone marker.
Part of me wishes they’d tank it the rest of the way but the pride I have being a Sens fans squashes it pretty quick. But sometimes I think Edmonton’s method might not be bad at all. 😛
I thought id be the first to say firing Carlyle really woke up the leafs! atleast they allowed less than 30 shots
If they would have won 5-0 tonight people would have said its only 1 game.
The result wasnt there still have to clean it up quite a bit, Bernier didnt look good but…the system looked much better, caryying the puck in to the offendive zone and out of the D zone not so many long passes going cross ice, forwards were back in their ownzone a little deeper for the most part and they didnt give 10-15 more shots than they took…its a start