The Toronto Maple Leafs fired their head coach on Tuesday morning, making Randy Carlyle the newest former Leafs bench boss.
But before Carlyle there was Ron Wilson, who coached the Leafs from 2008 until March 2012, when he was similarly fired amid a troubled run of play that saw the Leafs fall out of a playoff spot.
On Tuesday afternoon, Wilson was a guest on TSN Radio’s Leafs Lunch with Bryan Hayes and former Leafs player Jeff O’Neill. Wilson reacted to the firing of his successor and commented on the difficulty of coaching some of the Leafs players, including Phil Kessel.
“Some of the core players have failed under two or three different coaches, so it’s got to be the players’ fault,” Wilson said via telephone.
Wilson was also asked whether he thought the core of Leafs players were “uncoachable.”
“I wouldn’t really say that clearly, but you’d have to surmise that some of them might be uncoachable,” he said.
Phil Kessel, who carries the Leafs’ biggest cap hit at US$8-million a year and bears the biggest offensive expectations, drew particular interest from Wilson and his questioners. Wilson said Kessel shows signs of “brilliance” but remains inconsistent, sliding into slumps every few weeks.
“Phil’s problem, and I think it’s pretty much the way Phil’s been his whole career, he’s two weeks on, two weeks off,” Wilson said “You can’t rely on Phil. It’s just the way it is. He comes and goes and he gets emotional and he lets that affect his game and his relationship with other players but that’s just the nature of the beast.”
Later on in the afternoon, in reaction to Wilson’s comments, Kessel was asked by a reporter whether he thought he was a difficult player to coach.
Related
“I don’t think so. That’s a weird question for you to ask though on a day like that,” Kessel said before letting out a few laughs.
The reporter then says to him that he’s the best player on the team before he’s cut off by Kessel.
“You think it’s my fault? Is that what you’re saying? Is that what you’re saying? Is that what you’re saying? OK,” Kessel said before the interview is stopped and Kessel calls the reporter an “idiot.”
Earlier on TSN Radio, Wilson said he “really wasn’t” all that surprised when he learned that Carlyle had been fired.
“But it’s always shocking when a coach gets fired, especially one with a wining record,” he said.
Wilson also said he didn’t see any evidence that the Leafs players were committed to defence, which led to Carlyle’s demise.
“I think sometimes they would, but more often than not they didn’t … and the result of it being Randy gets fired,” he said.
O’Neill asked why coaches don’t just bench a core player like Kessel to which Wilson said: “It’d take a coach with pretty big balls to do that.”
Wilson said coaches don’t bench a star player like Kessel for fear of losing anyway.
“I think the fear comes from management and losing a game because you benched Phil or you benched somebody and that’s always the biggest fear that you face — that your plans aren’t going to work.”
Carlyle, who received a two-year extension in the summer, had been on thin ice this season, especially after missing the playoffs the previous year.
O’Neill asked Wilson if a coach knows he’s on eggshells, then why not go out your own way?
“Unfortunately, when you’re behind the Leaf bench you’re not always thinking as clearly as you like to,” he said. “I’m sure Randy will look back on it now and say, ‘I wish I had done this, I wish I had done that.’ ”
Wilson never led Toronto to a playoff appearance. His record with the Leafs was 130-135-45.
Source:: National Post
