Saturday Night Hockey: Leafs Coaching Situation

The biggest news this week is that the Leafs finally (FINALLY) fired Randy Carlyle. During his tenure with the Leafs, he had a 91-78-19 record and coached the Leafs to their first playoff appearance since 2004.

Despite the positives above, the bulk of his tenure has mired in the negatives. Since he was hired, the Leafs have been a possession black hole. The old adage "show me a good goalie and I'll show you a good coach" was stamped all over his time with Toronto, as there were many nights when Reimer/Scrivens/Bernier/insert goalie here would need to bail the team out. Lineup and player usage was a problem as well. From who he dressed on his fourth line (Orr AND McLaren!) to his heavy reliance on the other three when the fourth line got 5 minutes/game. The firing of his assistant during the offseason was a wakeup call, and he hit the snooze button. Eventually the lack of communication and calling out upper management was the last straw.

Peter Horachek has been named interim head coach, and the immediate results look positive. So far they are 1-1 under Horachek, but have won the possession battle in both games. Horachek does have a track record of improving a team's possession, as he improved the Panthers last season after taking over for Kevin Dineen.

As for the future of the Leafs head coach, there are many options. Mike Babcock has been the long-rumoured replacement, especially since he turned down a mega-offer from Detroit. Peter DeBoer is interesting. He was a good coach with the Devils and could prop-up Clarkson. Outside of their current staff (Horachek and Steve Spott), other potential head coaches are Dan Bylsma (I can't see it), John Tortorella (oh god please, even if it's just one month), Dallas Eakins (interesting, but would probably be better off in a smaller, non-Edmonton market first), and Guy Boucher (Habs called dibs on him first). A decision likely won't be made until the offseason, and - scary enough - I can see Babcock moving across the border to take the job full time. He has accomplished basically everything (Jack Adams aside) in Detroit, and has been there long enough were he might want a new challenge, and there is no bigger (coaching) challenge than coaching the Leafs.

Two more notes:

1. Former coach Ron Wilson was on TSN Radio after Carlyle got fired.
2. Hey, the Toronto media always want quotes from Kessel. And what a quote it was (for the record, the initial question was fine, it wen downhill after that).

Lineup Notables

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens

Pittsburgh: Patric Hornqvist (lower body), Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Blake Comeau (upper body), Scott Wilson (leg), and Olli Maatta (illness) are out. Marc-Andre Fleury gets the start.
Montreal: P-A Parenteau (upper body) is out. Carey Price is in net.

Ottawa Senators vs. Arizona Coyotes

Ottawa: Chris Neil (lower body), Zack Smith (upper body), and Mark Borowiecki (leg) are out. Craig Anderson is in net.
Not Phoenix: Martin Hanzel (upper body) and Zbynek Michalek (upper body) are out. Mike Smith might start.

Calgary Flames vs. Vancouver Canucks

Calgary: Sam Bennett (shoulder), Josh Jooris (wrist), and Karri Ramo (upper body) are out. Jonas Hiller should be in net.
Vancouver: Chris Higgins (illness), Dan Hamhuis (lower body) is out. Ryan Miller might start tonight.

Winnipeg Jets vs. Los Angeles Kings

Winnipeg: Evander Kane (lower body), Tobias Enstrom (lower body), Jacob Trouba (upper body), Mark Stuart (lower body), and Grant Clitsome (upper body) are out. Michael Hutchinson is likely to start.
Los Angeles: Robyn Regehr (upper body) is out. Jonathan Quick is expected to start.