Leafs fans can finally rejoice ... PAUL MAURICE HAS BEEN FIRED!!! W00t!

In a classic case of a new GM wanting a new GM, fossilized interim GM Cliff Fletcher canned 'Chairman Mo', opting not to wait for the new regime to come in and make a change.

Paul Maurice said his firing on Wednesday morning as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs did not come as a surprise.

"I don't think, based on the season we just had, that this was a surprise," Maurice said, adding that his immediate plans are "to hang with my kids."

"I appreciate the fact it was clearly a decision they made and they didn't sit on it for a long time. I don't know that it was a shocker. It's a conversation you never want to have. The first [firing] is the toughest one. After that, you're in the fraternity," Maurice said.

As the Acid Queen would be quick to tell you, Maurice is one of the worst head coaches in the entire NHL. Take away his flukey run to the Finals with the Canes a few years back, and you get a long trail in inept coaching decisions and underperforming teams.

From our favourite Canes fan:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Like I said months ago, I tried to warn the Leafs fans–I did, I really did. And all they did was laugh at me and bray about how I CLEARLY don’t know anything about hockey because otherwise I’d see what a great coach Paul Maurice is and how he’d make the Leafs great again.

Who’s laughing now, kids?

He’s a decent coach ... in the AHL. Nice guy, too–but as an NHL coach I really don’t think he’s up to snuff. Coaches have to be developed too, just like players, and Mo’s development as a coach was severely hampered by his being thrown right into the fire all those years ago in Hartford after a whopping six weeks and change as an assistant coach under Paul Holmgren (who now GMs the Pflyers). If he wants to salvage any kind of career at all, he needs to go back to the AHL or just be an assistant somewhere for a few years and learn how to do more than the same old crap he did for 8 years in Carolina and 2 years in Toronto.

To be fair to Chairman Mo, he didn't get any favours from the inept management of JFJ, who gave him a crappy #1 goaltender with a fragile psyche (Raycroft), and an overpaid blueline. Yes, the Leafs weren't a well-coached bunch, but it's not as if the team wasn't poorly constructed by the higher ups.
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Our Southern Correspondent has a couple of questions for us. One I can answer, and one I can't.

1. Once again the Red Wings won the President's Trophy (for whatever that's worth); I remember, at one time, the team doing so used to get a $100,000 bonus...Is that still true?

*Jes: Per Wikipedia, the Presidents Trophy winning team gets $350,000 to spread around*

2. Do the players on the winning Cup team get some sort of financial bonus? Players on the World Series winner get about $350K; players on the Super Bowl winner get $64K...

*Jes: I have no idea, but anyone who needs financial incentive to win the Stanley Cup if somebody I wouldn't want on my team*

Labels: Coach firing, Leafs Suck, Maple Leafs, Paul Maurice

by Jes

Well, Wayne was right! Hanlon's Crapitals lost to the red-hot Thrashers and Hanlon was fired the very next day.

"He understood that it had to be done. We had talked after our game on Monday night and had some concerns about whether he was losing the team," general manager George McPhee told the Associated Press. "Glen is a first class guy . [but] it's not about friendships and you've got to do what's best for the Washington Capitals."

Translation: Business is business.

Now, some will point out that the Caps' special teams are horrid, and that is usually what a coach has an effect on.

Power Play: 14.6% - 23rd in the NHL
Penalty Kill: 78.2% - 23rd in the NHL

Now, how does someone exactly make gold out of cowshit? Sure, the Caps Power Play ought to be a bit better with Ovechkin and Nylander out there, but, as I mentioned before, the Caps have a young defence and a total lack of quality depth. The fact that the Caps are 23rd in the NHL is not at all surprising, and is actually better than their W-L record.

It's not that I disagree with the coaching change, as that can be a nice boost if you get the right guy, but Hanlon certainly got shafted by a GM who is one of the worst in the league.

How in the hell does George McPhee still have a job? All he has done is watched as his team went from competitive to laughing stock, and it will be a long time before the Caps get competitive again.

Labels: Capitals, Coach firing, Glen Hanlon

by Jes

While I figured Jim Playfair was on the outs as the Calgary Flames head coach (a job at which he sucked with great proficiency), I never thought his replacement would be ... MIKE KEENAN (!WTF?!)

It looks like "Iron Mike" could be back in business behind the bench of an NHL team.

Sources tell TSN that Mike Keenan is on the verge of becoming the new head coach of the Calgary Flames.

While the Flames declined to comment when contacted by TSN today, sources confirm Keenan is currently in Calgary and if all goes as expected, the well-travelled NHL executive and coach could be announced as the head coach of the Flames as early as Thursday.

Well, Sutter is a bad-ass, whip-cracker type, so who better than Adolf Hitler look-a-like Mike Keenan to fill the coaching role?

Greg over at The NHL Fanhouse notes a couple of interesting facts ...

Although he's fifth on the all-time coaches' victories list, Keenan last took a team to the postseason in 1995-96 -- the same postseason in which Calgary's leading scorer last season, Jarome Iginla, made his NHL debut.

Speaking of Iginla, check out this 2000 article from Larry Wigge in The Sporting News in which Iggy claims that in order for him to be an elite star, he doesn't need a coach that bullies his players. Guess that theory might be put to the test pretty soon...

Keenan has long worn out his welcome in the NHL, yet teams continue giving him chances. The ultra-disciplinary asshole types just don't connect with today's spoiled superstars, so I can't see how Calgary is going to benefit greatly from this.

In the short term? Yeah, things might be peachey. Once any trouble starts? Keenan shows his true colours, startings treating his players like dogs, and things will go downhill for the Flamers.

As a Canucks fan, this pleases me greatly.

Labels: Coach firing, coach hiring, Flames, rumours

by Jes

What the hell is going on in Joisey? (Besides mob activity, that is...)

From the What The Hell Files comes word that Devils coach Claude Julien was canned this morning.

TSN.ca Link

Lou Lamoriello is back behind the bench in New Jersey.

The playoff-bound Devils have fired head coach Claude Julien with less than a week to go in the regular season with the veteran GM Lamoriello taking over for the second straight season.

Lamoriello also stepped behind the bench last season after Larry Robinson stepped down as coach in December.

The surprising move Monday comes with the Devils second in the Eastern Conference with a 47-24-8 record and 102 points. The Devils have won four of their last five games, including Sunday's 3-1 win over Boston. They went 6-6-2 in March while battling key injuries to Brian Gionta, John Madden and Patrik Elias.

Is leading the division not good enough for some people? Hell, I figured NJ would be fighting for a playoff spot, not the division title.

And this isn't the first time that Uncle Lou has done something weird like this...

Monday's firing isn't the only time Lamoriello made a late-season coaching move. He fired Robby Ftorek late in the 2002-2003 season and Robinson eventually led the team to its third Stanley Cup since 1995.

Uncle Lou has run his team like a cult before, and I do feel for Julien. The Devils have played well this season, and what makes Lou think he can do a better job? Is there another story that isn't being told here?

Now, would you want to coach the Devils, given this history of weird behaviour by management?

Labels: Claude Julien, Coach firing, Devils, Lou Lamoriello

Another coach gets fired in Chi-Town and takes the fall for bad management and even worse ownership. This time? It's Trent Yawney taking the fall...

Trent Yawney was fired Monday as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, who have lost 12 of their last 15 games. He was replaced by assistant Denis Savard.

Yawney, in his second season coaching the Blackhawks, had a record of 33-55-15. Chicago has 16 points this season -- only Columbus has fewer -- and could be on the way to missing the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years.

"The bottom line is wins and losses, and we need to win more," general manager Dale Tallon said on the team's Web site. "We've had some injuries, but in spite of that we're a better team than our record shows."

Savard is a Hall of Fame player who joined the Blackhawks in 1997 as an assistant coach. His first game in charge will be at home Wednesday against Dallas.

"I've always wanted to be a head coach," Savard said. "The circumstances are not the greatest because when you take over for somebody midseason it means things did not go as well as we all expected."

A better team than your record shows?

Hmm, with Handzus and Havlat out of the lineup, and Rene Bourque recovering from a skate to the throat(!) just how 'good' does this team look?

Holmqvist-Smolinski-Vrbata
Lapointe-Ruutu-Sharp
Arkhipov-Hamilton-Blunden
Stewart-MacDonald-Low

Kukkonen-Aucoin
Cullimore-Keith
Seabrook-Vandermeer

Khabibulin-Boucher

Ok, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these lines, since I can't find the real line combos for this team anywhere. Even with Havlat and Handzus and Bourque, does this look like a playoff team to you?

I don't know if Yawney is a good or bad coach, as I don't follow the Hawks closely enough to know. Still, how is it his fault that Khabibulin forgot how to stop the puck like a real NHL goaltender? How is it his fault that he's saddled with a roster...gah...just look at it!! Brian Boucher as a backup? Who in their right minds thinks that the players above are going to get anywhere near the playoffs? I barely know some of the players, myself!

So, once again, another coach takes the fall for Wirtz and Tallon and now Denis Savard can be the fall guy. Savard has always wanted this type of position, and now he'll quickly find out that he got the worst possible head coaching position in the NHL. He'll get little support from his bosses and he's saddled with a club that has more weaknesses than the petroleum industry's 'studies' on Climate Change.

Labels: Blackhawks, Coach firing, coach hiring, Denis Savard, Trent Yawney