Pickin' The Corners 05.08.08: Maple Leafs Fire Coach
Posted by Ian Smart on 05.08.2008
The Toronto Maple Leafs fire their coach for the second time in three years, and just like the last time, it was completely unnecessary.
Very few events truly baffle me, but the firing of Paul Maurice is one such event. The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a history of making rash and inexplicable decisions, but in firing Paul Maurice after only his second season with the big club ranks amongst the greatest of all-time. It is no secret that the Maple Leafs have struggled in recent years, having missed the playoffs in both seasons during Maurice's tenure, but to lay the blame on Maurice for those failings is unfair. Maurice was fired because he had to work beneath an incompetent General Manager and for a Board of Directors, which lacks any forethought.
It was less than four months ago that the Leafs fired General Manager John Ferguson Jr. and replaced him with Cliff Fletcher. In firing Ferguson, the Maple Leafs made a clear statement concerning the problems that the team was facing: the wrong players were on the roster, and thus Ferguson had to be let go, because he put them there. Ferguson's firing was defensible, because it was necessary. Ferguson had fallen into the same trap as previous Maple Leafs General Managers, trading away young talent for veterans and signing players to long-term deals that they were which they did not deserve (see McCabe, Bryan). More importantly, in firing Ferguson the Leafs implicitly absolved a measure of responsibility from Maurice, because they had conceded that the person who is responsible with giving him the tools to succeed had failed, and therefore, he could not be culpable for the team's less than stellar performance to that point.
I am not purporting to have insight into how well Maurice was liked by his players or even the effectiveness of his coaching, but I can say with near absolute certainty that Paul Maurice was not the problem with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season, nor last season, nor would he have been next season had they kept him around. The problem is with the players. Over the next year, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to undergo a near entire makeover –something that I will outline in an upcoming article. The team needs to restructure itself in a number of areas, but the coach was one of the very few pieces of the puzzle that I would have kept in place. Maurice was brought in as the successor to Pat Quinn, groomed to take the position, and did so, but was handcuffed by front office moves that preceded his tenure.
Even after Ferguson's firing, the situation for Maurice did not improve; when Cliff Fletcher assumed the reigns he made it clear through his action that the team was playing for next year. The deals made at the deadline were moves to rebuild, not to gear up for the playoffs. Yet despite a consensus in the front office that the season was all but lost, Maurice commanded the Leafs to a respectable finish, which included a late season push that got the Leafs within striking distance of the postseason.
When speaking to the media today, Cliff Fletcher stated that the team would need to undergo serious changes and that the new General Manager would want to hire his own coach. Fletcher noted the tension that was created between Ferguson and then Head Coach Pat Quinn upon Ferguson's arrival in 2003 as proof positive that new General Managers need to hire their own coaches. Fletcher of course failed to address the spurious factor in that scenario; Ferguson replaced Quinn as General Manager after he was fired from that position- this probably had a lot more to do with their tumultuous relationship than the fact that Ferguson did not get to hire his own coach. There is some merit to Fletcher's point, because if a General Manager and a coach differ on their views than it could cause problems, but to this point, there is no General Manager, so what was the harm in keeping Maurice? Maybe Maurice would have been a perfectly suitable coach for the new General Manager, and the team could start the rebuilding process with a familiar figure behind the bench.
Paul Maurice was never given an opportunity to showcase himself as the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was constantly fighting an uphill battle due to the ineptitude of John Ferguson Jr. and then subsequently the wishes of Cliff Fletcher and Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment. Paul Maurice did the best with what he had, and deserved another season to see if he could help turn the Leafs around.
Now he is nothing but a footnote in Leafs' history and another casualty of the MLSE Board of Directors, which continues to demonstrate a lack of patience or even an iota of cogent hockey thought.
Got a question? Want to drop the gloves? E-mail me at theaceofstaff@gmail.com
