Coach Ron Wilson Showed the Door; Carlyle Hired

Late Friday night, the Leafs announced that they have fired head coach Ron Wilson and are replacing him with former Anaheim Duck coach, Randy Carlyle. Ron Wilson, a man who has coached in over 1,400 career games in the NHL, never was able to find success with the Buds. In close to four seasons behind the bench with the Leafs, he posted a record of 130-135-45, with no playoff appearances. Wilson was unable to stop the bleeding in the past month or so which saw the Leafs go 1-9-1 in their last 11 games. This brutal string of games plummeted the Leafs out of the playoff picture as they currently sit 12th in the Eastern Conference, 6 points out of 8th place. Burke knew he had to shuffle the deck.

Randy Carlyle, the man brought in to turn this ship around, has coached for Brian Burke before. While Burke was the general manager of the Ducks, Carlyle was his coach and they were able to hoist a Stanley Cup together in Anaheim. Burke said it was tough to fire Wilson, as they have been friends since their college hockey years together, but knew something had to change. Burke knew it was time after the Leafs fell 5-3 to the Florida Panthers on home ice Tuesday night. The players on the Leafs bench didn't appear to be responding to Wilson's efforts. Also, during that game the fans began to chant "Fire Wilson" as the Leafs fell down 2-0 early in the first period in a pivotal match against a team they're trying to leapfrog in the standings. Burke didn't think it would be right to have Wilson return to the Air Canada Centre to coach a game with the potential of him hearing that again.

Carlyle will be thrown right behind the bench as the Leafs are playing at the Bell Centre tonight against the Montreal Canadiens at 7PM. You can catch the action on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. 

Here is 40 minutes of coverage on the Leafs coaching change, including Hockeycentral discussion as well as the press conference introducing the 28th head coach in Leaf history, Randy Carlyle. Don't expect you guys to watch every minute of it, but if you choose to, enjoy it!