Reimer, Wilson and the headless chicken

The Leafs last night crashed to a 5-1 defeat on home ice against a new look Florida Panthers off to their best start in the best part of two decades. This came on the back of a 7-0 humiliation at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup champs on the very same sheet of ice. When Gustavsson was hooked after allowing 3 soft goals the crowd cheered Scrivens arrival. But such is the fickle nature of sports fans the cheers had turned to boos by the time the horn signalled defeat.

Pandemonium reigns in Toronto. Fire Wilson, put an injured Reimer on the ice, pull a trade Burke, roar the Toronto faithful and assorted columnists and bloggers. When all is said and done the latter two are not likely to happen and all are symptomatic of the knee-jerking commonly associated with anyone connected with the blue and white.

Let’s just consider this for a moment. You want to pull a trade. But with who? No General Manager would entertain the idea of giving up their starter whilst stud back-ups such as Rask and Schneider would come at too high a price. And what happens when Reimer returns from his mystery illness (personally I think his upper body injury is a prolonged headache from having to listen to Mike Komisarek bang on about how tough he is). Bringing in a starter or prospect makes no sense regardless. What might prove an interesting alternative however is signing Marty Turco on a cheap short-term contract. No longer at his Dallas zenith of crazy rushes Marty is an experienced UFA with the ability to come in a put a few Ws up on the board and generally settle the crease and those playing in front of him. It works for Turco too, harbouring hopes of NHL return it would represent a chance to showcase himself to other teams after his disastrous spell in Chicago. Some may argue that showing no faith in Gus and Scrivens could have the potential to crush them, but this is inconsequential to the damage caused sending them out onto the ice every night to be lynched by their team mates, the fans and the media. In the long-term it makes sense to make take this short-term decision.*

Then we come to Ron Wilson. My fourth favourite Wilson, and I only know of three. Good old Ron, ever the sage (he has coached over 1,000 NHL games you know) when asked who would start against the Blues responded, with what I can only assume was great wit “Why don't I just call Hitch? Does anybody have a cellphone? I'll call Hitch and tell him who's going to play.” And Ron is dead right. Why bother ringing Hitchcock when he already knows what is coming- a team with all the organisation of student protest. Wilson has failed to address down right dreadful special teams despite being given the tools to do so by Burke (see Steckel, Lombardi etc). More worrying Wilson has completely and utterly failed to motivate his team. Between a coach and captain (that’s right you’re not getting off this one Dion) they should be able to rally a team to put in a performance. Two losses in a row may not seem like much to complain about, and some might be thinking this is typical flip-flop fan bashing, but it is not. The results are as of today irrelevant, they have been and gone. What matters is the reaction to those results. The Leafs don’t need 2 points against the Blues, they need a performance. They can get that through pumping the team or by sticking to a solid game-plan, hopefully both.

Perhaps it might be worth picking up that phone, after all Hitch knows a thing or two about finding new employment.

*Not to blow my own trumpet, the team are doing that well enough for me, but I said all through last season it was in the best interest of the team to sign Giguere to cheap contract.

Nice piece, Buff.

The Leafs Nation Rollercoaster certainly notched up a gear after last night. I've never known such fickle support in any sport this side of the atlantic. What makes it so toxic is the over analysis of every single minutiae in such a negative way! Reimer is the answer! Monster should be shot! Scrivens is the (short term) answer! Fire Wilson! (OK this one is rational!!)

One thing is for sure - and you nailed it - Wilson has no man management or rapport skills. He blatently can't gee his players up and his communication skills on the bench look poor at best. If ever there was a time for Dion to step up and be a Captain on and off the ice, it's now. He's trying to lead the way on the ice - I just wish somebody at the organisation would show a little more frustration, nay anger when they play poorly! You just get the feeling that they think "don't worry, I'll still pick up my $5m this season and we will still get 19,414 in through the door next week".

Don't get me wrong, I really think we've got a half decent team this season. Yes, they are young, but they're only a click away from turning it on. Maybe we are a player short here or there, but even with Wilson in charge, this team could actually make the post season! (I agree we should have got an experienced 'old timer' between the pipes on a 1 year contract, to give Reimer a chance to share the sophomore load, and Gus / Scrivens more time).

And IF, by some miracle, we reverse this slide and win, say three in a row, I wonder what Leafs Nation will moan about then......!

As I always say......

I think regardless of the Goalie , your last two games you have scored 1 goal , you can have 15 goalies in net but score 1 goal and your going to struggle. The Leafs got off to a great start but as with any big franchise the fan base expects too much. Leafs are still a few years short of making a real go of things although a 7th/8th seed is more than achievable but is that good enough for a very demanding fan base?

I think most of us would take a playoff berth this season with very little expectation thereafter. Anything less would probably cost Wilson his job come next April.

Marc the point is the last two games are not the problem here. The problem is what those two games represent. Wilson.

To a certain extent you are right, scoring one goal in two games isn't good enough, but then neither is conceding 12 goals, and fair few of those were soft goals as well. It is clear our back ups are struggling and the skaters don't play with confidence in front of them. Again Wilson (and Phaenuf) should be trying to do something about this and whatever it is they have tried (or haven't tried) isn't working.

I would take 7th/8th with arms so open they would fit round Kyle Wellwood and I am sure most other Leafs fans would settle for the same. In fact I fully expect the Leafs to be no higher than 7th and potentially a lot lower come golfing season but that doesn't mean we should accept that. This team is talented enough to make the play-offs just the same as about another dozen teams in the conference, what is holding them back is their coach.

I think we won a few games this season whilst playing poorly and showing worrying signs.

There's a big difference between being a good team who wins even when playing bad, and the Leafs, who were an average team who won more than their fair share of games early on, and got everyone thinking about the post season way too early!!!!

Buff, who would you replace Wilson with, and what would they bring to the club?

Jaques Lemaire (if he hasn't really retired) would bring the right experience of coaching young players and his defensive style can only help our goatending and penalty killing. He got the Wild to the play-offs for heavens sake. Wouldn't likely be popular with the fans mind.

I agree his defence minded approach would not go amiss with us at the mo!
Our PK and PP are shocking and would give the other parts of our game a chance if they improved.

I think we're getting to the point where even someone so affiliated to the Habs would be accepted if we got some success. The only problem then would be all the idiot Habs fans reminding us at every opportunity!!!

IMO the Leafs are going in the right direction , i dont think a new coach would make a much better team if im honest

I agree, the Leafs are going in the right direction. But I do believe a coach can have a detrimental effect on a team and to some extent can stunt development. The Leafs got off to a good start in spite of Wilson's coaching, not thanks it. To me he is not a positive contributor to the direction of the team.

BuffonIdol wrote:Then we come to Ron Wilson. My fourth favourite Wilson, and I only know of three.

Hope I'm one of those three. I wouldn't like to think you like me less than Ron!

rocknrollnobody wrote:

BuffonIdol wrote:Then we come to Ron Wilson. My fourth favourite Wilson, and I only know of three.

Hope I'm one of those three. I wouldn't like to think you like me less than Ron!

Yes the other Wilson people I know of are your good self and Woodrow Wilson. Ron Wilson is still fourth out of three.

As I mentioned in my blog/review/post Babcock puts the fear of God into the Wings when they don't meet his expectations, and lo and behold what happens? We stuff 2 good teams and we're on the up again.

I don't know what Babcock does to terrify the players to the extent that they throw 50 shots on goal and play like their lives depend on it, but it works.

That's what a Head Coach should do. Keep a team motivated when they're up, and pull the team out of the rut when they're down. I guess it doesn't matter how it's done/

Wilson doesn't seem to have that edge. He seems very accepting of whatever happens, win or lose, and that's dangerous.

rocknrollnobody wrote:
Wilson doesn't seem to have that edge. He seems very accepting of whatever happens, win or lose, and that's dangerous.

Exactly - no anger or frustration. They play in a market that's over subscribed. They might be a little more bothered if they played somwhere where they had to sell the game a bit more - in sunshine states, where success determines whether the team, nevermind the coach survives!