Randy Carlyle doesn’t always rub people the right way, but his coaching style is straightforward.
“He’s just a hardnosed coach that wants his teams to play hard and disciplined,” Chris Pronger said of his former coach on Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Brady and Walker Wednesday.
Carlyle’s Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a dreadful eight-game losing streak Tuesday and still have an outside chance at making the playoffs, but if the team fails to reach the post-season, many in Leafs Nation will be calling for a new bench boss.
Pronger, who spent three seasons playing under Carlyle with the Anaheim Ducks, isn’t sure what the future holds for his former coach.
“You never want to see a coach fired; you never want to see a guy lose his job. Sometimes change is needed,” Pronger said. “I’m not around this team, so I don’t know the ins and outs of the situation. It’s always a difficult pin to pull to fire a coach.”
Pronger was a member of the Ducks squad that Carlyle led to a Stanley Cup championship during the 2006-07 season.
“He got a lot out of us, and at the end of the day, when I got there, every player to a man just wanted to win,” Pronger said. “There wasn’t any other agenda other than ‘We want to win the Stanley Cup.’ That’s it.”
The future Hall of Fame defenceman said Carlyle was instrumental in the development of players like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Dustin Penner, who were all second-year forwards in 2006-07.
“He was all about forcing them into learning a routine, learning how to prepare, teaching them how to prepare, teaching them the right way to play the game,” Pronger explained. “It was all about teaching and developing those guys and allowing us veterans to take part in that and kind of bring them along.”
Pronger, 39, also added that he feels for Leafs forward David Clarkson and how he’s struggled in his first season in Toronto.
“Everybody gets comfortable in their role – where they play, how they play, how they’re used — and when you come to a new team, whether it be expectations are different, how they’re using you [is] different, how they see you fit into their system… all those things. It can make for a difficult year, and you’re probably seeing that with David,” the Pronger said.
Carlyle and the Leafs host the Boston Bruins Wednesday in another must-win game.
Pronger is currently under contract with the Philadelphia Flyers but remains on the team’s long-term injured reserve and isn’t expected to play in the NHL again.
