Who made the worst coaching decision this year?
That would be the Toronto Maple Leafs, according to hockey historian and MSG Network broadcaster Stan Fischler.
“[Randy Carlyle] was a winning coach, the team was in a playoff berth,” Fischler said during Tuesday’s Islanders broadcast.
“They panicked in Toronto,” he added. “I don’t know why they decided to make the change. This guy is a Stanley Cup winner. He had the team winning.
“So they had a slump… who panics because of a slump?”
(Uh, that’d be Toronto.)
Of course, the Leafs weren’t the only team to fire their coach mid-season this year. Ottawa’s Paul MacLean was the first coach to be fired on Dec. 8, leaving the Senators with a record of 11-11-5.
Just a week later came news of Dallas Eakins’ firing from the Edmonton Oilers.
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While Edmonton’s and Ottawa’s coaching changes didn’t bring much change to their records, the immediate post-firing impacts didn’t come close to what many–including Fischler– are calling a “total disaster” in Toronto.
Under interim coach Peter Horachek, the Leafs have gone a dismal 1-9-1 for their worst month on record (their two losses prior to Carlyle’s firing make their January record 1-11-1), with a record-low 1.23 goals per game.
In other words, it’s a streak that’s bleak enough to give Leafs fans pause when thinking about that fateful coaching change.