The Toronto Maple Leafs fired head coach Randy Carlyle on Tuesday, according to the team's official Twitter account:
Many NHL coaches are fired too early, because it’s an easy thing to do in a salary-cap world where making a midseason trade requires Herculean effort. That isn’t the case for the Maple Leafs, who managed the twin feats of not only giving Carlyle plenty of rope but also of firing him while the team’s 2014-15 season is still salvageable.
This wasn't a move that came out of the clear blue sky, either. The Leafs have been in a terrible funk lately, losing seven of their last nine games. On Saturday, the club fell 5-1 to the Winnipeg Jets; the team was crushed 40-21 on the shot clock and outplayed throughout the contest. Teams that endure elongated losing streaks tend to make moves, particularly if they have legitimate playoff aspirations.
Given Carlyle’s checkered history with the team, he likely would have been in the crosshairs of management anyway, but he probably didn’t help his case by taking thinly veiled shots at the men above him in the organization following th ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Toronto Maple Leafs’ Randy Carlyle Earned His Firing
January 6th, 2015 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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