Leafs fans must have been naughty this year after what Santa bought them this Christmas

Now I wasn't planning on coming on here over Christams but I just couldn't help myself after I heard this news from my friend in Toronto....

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=383489

Christmas is offically ruined, thanks a bunch.

I have calmed down a bit about this now since you can not miss what you never had, i.e. a good coach! Low expectations is the way forward, as Confucious say, "it does not matter how slowly you go so long as you dont stop"

I saw that and had to lol. Sorry Buff that does indeed suck.

BuffonIdol wrote:as Confucious say, "it does not matter how slowly you go so long as you dont stop"

even if you are in reverse gear...

Can't believe how he tweeted about it, and then Burkie went on Twitter to say congratulations!

I'm sure they were having some fun at the media's expense seeing how Ron gets on so well with them and all, but I've rarely seen such outpourings of Christmas bile in all my time on twitter!

Gettin' Iggy with it wrote:

BuffonIdol wrote:as Confucious say, "it does not matter how slowly you go so long as you dont stop"

even if you are in reverse gear...

If you travel south you will eventually find north...

I think it's a good move. The Leafs have been in turmoil for so long that a bit of stability might keep them in the playoff hunt. And Wilson HAS given the Leafs a bonafide top line, for the first time since the lockout. Give him this season and the draft to see what kind of shape you're in.

Errrrr I think you will find it was Burke that gave him that line... whatever that line is.

He already had till the end of the season anyway, just don't give him the bloody extention before the mid point of the current season.

If we make play-offs then maybe he can stay, though I would still rather have seen him go. But now we are still stuck with a coach whose strengths and philosophies are at complete odds with the direction of the team, and now for longer!

Stable ass**t is one thing I guess...

Burke gave him the players, but Wilson made the line. If Burke had his way Bozak wouldn't have stuck with Kessel & Lupul, surely? Connolly was his marquee signing after all.

You're heading in the right direction at least. Who'd have thought at the start of the season that that roster could even challenge for the playoffs? I'd be delighted if I was a Leafs fan

I recall someone presenting an interesting view on the whole situation, it was probably someone on puck daddy. They were basically suggesting this move is to give some confidence back to Wilson and that if he fails to achieve the improvement the management expect he could still be out on his ass at the end of the year.

Seems unlikely, but to further the discussion who would you rather have than Wilson. We've seen both the positive and negative sides of coaching changes already this season. Is there a coach out there right now with the experience and right fit with Burke to get the leaf's past round 1 of the play-offs this year? or like the Bruins failed to do last you do you just need a PK guy to shake up a poor special team (if that is even possible).

You can never know what lines Burke would pick, he is not a coach. GMs build rosters, rosters build lines. One comes before the other.

I've spoken to afew people about this and if Jaques Lemaire could be coerced out of retirement I would take him, though I'm not sure he would be a popular choice with other fans!

I actually think Wilson has done ok so far - bear with me on this.......

Three seasons ago the team was a complete shambles and it has taken until this season to get anywhere near the personnel we needed. I for one saw the job to turn around the fortunes taking at least five years - so by my reckoning he's nearly there.

In making the changes they have made, we now have one of the youngest teams in the league. They don't win cups overnight, but they do after playing together a few seasons and growing up together.

OK so our PK still sucks, but this is the first time since I can remember that Leafs fans can moan about one specific weakness of the team - usually it's about the whole situation. That in itself points to the fact that we have improved.

I wouldnt have given him his extension at this point, but neither would I be itching to fire his ass come next April, as I think he's probably 75-80% through the rebuild. I like the way he is with the media, especially the pompous Damien Cox (Arseh*le).

I can't get Leafs nation - we havent won a cup for nearly 45 years, whats the bloody rush this season?!!!!!!

The personnel changes are down to the GM so the kudos goes to Burke on that one not Wilson.

No rush to win just feel that Wilson is the not coach for us, for the exact reason you mentioned really, youth. Wilson to me is more suited to a team of vets who can take care of themselves whilst he takes care of the tactics. He has no motivational skills which for me is the biggest desirable attribute for a youthful bench. Lack of succes on the specials continually pisses me off as well.

I would agree with you on the motivational skills bit Buff - I've heard that he doesn't talk to some players on a regular basis?????

Also, he never seems to get animated in any of his press conferences, that's OK, but I can't see him being particularly inspirational in practice either - not OK. I think he would have been a bit more worried about getting to the playoffs with a contact extension being dangled as a carrot - as it is, he now knows he will get some $$$ if he fails and we sack him in April!

I just think it would have been counter productive to fire him now. I think it would rock the team rather than re-energise them. And the next problem would be who would replace him? We have a bigger problem than most teams in that a lot of good candidates would just not want to be thrown into our goldfish bowl. I would love Jaques Lemaire but I think he's a non starter on many levels.

So, we are where we are, and Ron gets to tinker for the rest of the season. If we reach the playoffs, I think he's bought himself another two seasons. If this team starts to gel and perform, will he be seen as the man who turned it around? Maybe not - we may be past that now. One man who I think IS seen as shrewd even by Leafs fans is Burke. No GM's want to take his call as they usually get their back pockets picked whilst they're not looking!

I agree sacking Wilson today is really not the way forward. My position has always been that we just let him go at the end of the season when his contract is up. Now Burke would have to fire his friend and that is so much less likely than an amicable parting of ways which was available. This contract extention makes things a whole lot more messy.