On Tuesday morning, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced via Twitter that they have relieved head coach Randy Carlyle of his duties. The team has not named a head coach as of now, appointing assistant coaches Steve Spott and Peter Horachek to “handle coaching duties” when the team hosts the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
There has been much speculation about the firing of Carlyle as the team has lost seven of its last ten games and went 2-5-0 during their road trip while the Air Canada Center played host the World Junior Championship. The team’s two wins on the voyage came in Dallas against a weak Stars team and in Boston, requiring a shootout against a faltering Bruins squad.
This season, the Maple Leafs are 21-16-3, which isn’t bad at all, but they place fourth in a competitive Atlantic Division with 45 points, with Boston right up their tail with 44 points. The wild car has them placed in the second and final spot with their division foes in Boston and the upstart Florida Panthers, chasing them. They are currently 3 points behind the first wild card-placed New York Rangers.
Carlyle’s tenure lasted just short of three years as the 58-year-old was hired on March 2, 2012. In 188 games, he coached the team to a record of 91-78-19. His highlight of his time in Toronto was leading the Leafs to the playoffs, for the first time since 2004, in the lock-out-shortened 2013 season. He brought the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Bruins to 7 games in the first round. He was a period and three goals-against short of leading the Leafs to a second round trip.
In Carlyle’s only full, 82-game season behind the Leafs bench last season, his team was just 9 points shy of a playoff berth after their epic collapse after the Olympics, going 2-8-0 in their final 10 games.
General manager Dave Nonis announced this decision and would like to “thank Randy for all his hard work and dedication”, as he told the team’s website.
Carlyle becomes the fourth coach to be fired this season after Pete DeBoer, Dallas Eakins and Paul MacLean.
Last Word On Sports will have more to follow.
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