Ron Wilson sighting
- Thread starter riff raff
- Start date
Someone in the media mentioned a little while ago that he was looking to get back into coaching. Getting back in the public eye would seem to confirm that.
Rebel_1812
New member
Nik the Trik said:
I pity any team that goes with him as a coach.
L K
Well-known member
Rebel_1812 said:
Wilson did a lot of bad things in Toronto but I think that's really unfair. The media had it out for him from the get-go and were on him for everything. If the Leafs played as poorly as they have this year under Wilson every single day would have been a "Fire Wilson watch - Day #" article.
Outside of Toronto Wilson's coaching record is - 518-426-101-47
That's a career 89 point pace, with half his coaching career outside of the shootout era.
Paul Maurice outside of Toronto has a career coaching record of 389-392-99-46. That is an 82 point pace over his career. Again, partially affected by having years prior to the shootout. Maurice keeps getting coaching opportunities, albeit he usually gets stuck coaching garbage rosters.
If a team is looking, Wilson at the very least has a track record of getting teams into the postseason (outside of Toronto and his early days in Anaheim).
Some of Wilson's performance as coach of the Leafs is numbed by the passing years, but really when you look at the improvement of the forward unit over the last 2-3 years and the difference in goaltending from Maurice's Andrew Raycroft/Vesa Toskala + JS Aubin/Mikael Tellqvist and Wilson's Toskala/injured Giguere + Joseph/Pogge/Gustavsson (wrecked by Allaire)
to Bernier + Reimer for Carlyle. It's honestly a joke.
His defensive schemes are lacking, but with a fast team with good goaltending, he would be able to at least have them play a strong up-tempo game. If anything, his problem in Toronto was that he did the same things that Carlyle is guilty of. He stuck to a system that didn't work (played too much offense with a team that couldn't handle it) and picked whipping boys that probably were the wrong ones to call out (Kaberle, early Kadri auditions, Tlusty).
Rebel_1812
New member
L K said:
No it is a fair assessment of him as a coach. The San Jose rosters that he coached had the talent to win cups. The fact that the teams were high on talent but short on results show he didn't know how to get the most out of his teams. That is why San Jose finally gave up on him, even though they keep making the playoffs.
L K
Well-known member
Rebel_1812 said:
Not sure how San Jose firing Wilson and still not winning a Cup proves Wilson's failing. Personally, I agree, Wilson's playoff record sucks. He took good-to-great Sharks rosters to playoff mediocrity. But for some team out there that can't even make the playoffs, getting there is worth something. Look at how celebratory we looked at a Leafs playoff run that had them lose in the 1st round last year.
Kin
Active member
L K said:
But those Sharks teams didn't make the playoffs because of Wilson. They made the playoffs because they were good teams. So while San Jose's playoff near identical post-Wilson performance isn't evidence of his "Failure" it should at least drive home the point that coaches don't have too much of an effect on a team's performance.
L K
Well-known member
Nik the Trik said:
To an extent, sure. Talented teams in general should win games, while talentless teams are unlikely to win. If the Leafs replaced Phil Kessel with Jason Blake, they wouldn't be very good.
But a coach can have a pretty significant impact on the style of play of the team, and if the fit is good, they should be able to exact a good result out of the team. Similarly, a coach who doesn't fit the team well, can disadvantage that talent by taking them out of positions to succeed.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sbnation/SBNation_20140124_Do_in-season_NHL_coaching_changes_work_.html
Kin
Active member
L K said:
But, to me, regardless of my feelings on Corsi that article's results sort of says to me that the sort of system specific thing you're talking about is either A) basically such guesswork that it essentially makes a coaching change a complete roll of the dice in terms of improvement or B) it doesn't really exist at all but when teams play better after a coaching change the coaching change is credited because it fits the most convienient narrative.
hockeyfan1
New member
Ron Wilson interview with Pierre LeBrun (ESPN) after 9-2 loss to Predators Tuesday night, at his home in South Carolina:
?I just feel so bad for Randy [Carlyle], and I actually feel bad for the players, too,? Wilson said. ?Every team goes through bad spells. The Leafs are still over .500, and people there are thinking the Titanic is going down. I?ve lived it.?
Part of the problem...is the atmosphere and the fans at the Air Canada Centre.
?It?s a morgue at the start of the game,? Wilson said. ?You score a couple of goals early on the Leafs and then the crowd wakes up and starts to give it to the Leafs instead of encouraging them.
Everybody in Toronto talks about how bad it is in Florida, but in Toronto everyone sitting in the platinums are down in the suite drinking and they?re not even paying attention to the team. Hockey seems to be secondary, which is a shame.?
?And now with the throwing of the jerseys on the ice, does it get any worse than that? That?s despicable,? said Wilson. ?I know a lot of people say Toronto is the best place to play, but that?s only if it?s going miraculously well.?
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/wilson-i-feel-bad-for-randy-and-the-players/
?I just feel so bad for Randy [Carlyle], and I actually feel bad for the players, too,? Wilson said. ?Every team goes through bad spells. The Leafs are still over .500, and people there are thinking the Titanic is going down. I?ve lived it.?
Part of the problem...is the atmosphere and the fans at the Air Canada Centre.
?It?s a morgue at the start of the game,? Wilson said. ?You score a couple of goals early on the Leafs and then the crowd wakes up and starts to give it to the Leafs instead of encouraging them.
Everybody in Toronto talks about how bad it is in Florida, but in Toronto everyone sitting in the platinums are down in the suite drinking and they?re not even paying attention to the team. Hockey seems to be secondary, which is a shame.?
?And now with the throwing of the jerseys on the ice, does it get any worse than that? That?s despicable,? said Wilson. ?I know a lot of people say Toronto is the best place to play, but that?s only if it?s going miraculously well.?
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/wilson-i-feel-bad-for-randy-and-the-players/
How is it miraculous to not have a team that lacks in all areas, including not being bad enough to draft in the top 3? How is it miraculous to not see a game where the Leafs played their worst game in 23yrs? How is it miraculous to have a team that has a clear strategy to be competitive long term? How is it miraculous to not expect a team to consistently tank at the end of the season? I don't think we're really asking all that much. Really.
I guess the people in the platinums are the only ones at the game. I was at Tuesday's historical event, and I can tell you the "Go Leafs Go" chants were attempted on many occasions. The Leafs responded by playing most of the period in their end and surrendering 2 more goals. Really, the booing and jersey tossing only started when people made the sad realization that they'd just spent this months car payment to watch peewee hockey.
Keep blaming the fans though. It's not like accountability has ever been a thing in Toronto.
Keep blaming the fans though. It's not like accountability has ever been a thing in Toronto.
I love when people bring up the fact that a team is over. 500 as if that's some big accomplishment in this day and age. Screw the loser point, the Leafs have now lost more games than they've won this season.
bustaheims
Well-known member
CarltonTheBear said:
Seriously. A .500 team these days is a bottom 10 team.
Highlander
Well-known member
When are the Leafs going to break the trend of hiring Leaf defencement from the 60-70's. Ok Quinn was brilliant but lets hire a D-Man from another team for Christsakes. How about Stevens or Pronger or Coffey?
Bender said:
And that's not even what being .500 is. There are 5 teams right now (Leafs being one) that are over. 500 but have lost more games than they've won.
GhostofPotvin29
New member
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