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It's looking like they have made an offer to Ron Wilson to coach the team

http://sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/06/02/leafs_new_coach/

MAS wrote:It's looking like they have made an offer to Ron Wilson to coach the team
http://sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/06/02/leafs_new_coach/

Talk about putting the horse before the cart, unless they have a GM in place calling the shots. Could it be Nonis and next year or this year could Burke be here too...

At least the process has begun...

Typical Leafs.......get the coach before the GM. GM will be hired and be stuck with coach they hired, then decides he doesn't want him and we still have to pay him. Not a big deal in terms of money but typical Leafs can't do anything right?

Seriously, what's the point of being a fan of this team, organization anymore?

This almost gurantees this team is going to try to attempt a philly turnaround in one offseason if your going to go and sign a coach like Wilson who prolly wouldnt come here if he knew the team was rebuilding and he would lose alot of games. Besides that I dont even think Wilson is that great of a coach.

Burke's wife left her job at CBC too, freeing herself up for anything I suppose

Wilson and Burke are good buddies... we'll see what happens

Burke and Wilson went to Providence together and are best of buddies so its obvious what the next move to come is, but hopefully it happens next offseason rather then this one so we can use this season to play the young players (Stralman, Steen, Kulemin, Tlusty, #7 pick, Stajan) heavy minutes. Then reap the benefits of the 2009 draft which is stacked and possibly pick up Tavares or Hedman.

I actually like Ron Wilson, he's a good coach and very respected around the league. Let's look on the bright side, we're not going to look like a house league Minor Peewee team in our own end anymore.

Crowned wrote:I actually like Ron Wilson, he's a good coach and very respected around the league. Let's look on the bright side, we're not going to look like a house league Minor Peewee team in our own end anymore.

is he really a good coach?

He had one of the most skilled/tough teams in the league. He had a strangle hold on the detroit series last year and choked badly. This year it took him 7 games to beat a #7 seed and they didnt look good at all. Then they face Dallas and lose the first two games at home. Hes had Thornton, Maleau, Cheecho and one of the best goalies in the league and wasnt able to take that team past anything but a 2nd round victory. He's horrible with the media and I dont see how thats going to work with the media attention in Toronto.

Ive pretty much heard hes a video freak and over analyzes the game too much and doesnt let his players play. He stuffs his system down his players throat and doesnt let there skills surface because of this. All I heard last season from Sharks fans even before the playoffs started was bad of a coach he was.

Wilson is a decent coach IMO. He is known for his motivational skills and ability to analyze the game (obviously he is a video buff). Whether or not he comes off too strong I'm not sure. But no question about it, he's being brought in to lure Burke. The Leafs will bring in a decent coach if it means truly bringing in their man. All that's waiting is the Ducks owner's (owners'?) approval. Once that is there, we could be seeing Burke/Wilson, as well as Nonis in some capacity. Now that, I like.

another thing.

Wilson was notourisly known in San Jose to be crazy hard on his young players and lots of fans think he did a horrible job at handling them and helping them develop thru a season. Matt Carle and Vlasic both come to mind. Hows that going to fly in Toronto when we have so many young players that need to be developed (Steen, Stralman, Kulemin, Tlusty, #7 pick)?

Griff83 wrote:another thing.

Wilson was notourisly known in San Jose to be crazy hard on his young players and lots of fans think he did a horrible job at handling them and helping them develop thru a season. Matt Carle and Vlasic both come to mind. Hows that going to fly in Toronto when we have so many young players that need to be developed (Steen, Stralman, Kulemin, Tlusty, #7 pick)?

He actually is someone who i see that can take a young team to a certain point but not the extra step.

That's what happened in Anaheim, Washington and in San Jose.

He'll be good for the team if it's a young team

MAS wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



He actually is someone who i see that can take a young team to a certain point but not the extra step.

That's what happened in Anaheim, Washington and in San Jose.

He'll be good for the team if it's a young team

ya we'll hopefully that push for the playoffs and more isnt next year while sacrificing crucial development time for our young players. Carle was awesome in his first season and regressed badly, same with Vlasic and many SJ fans hate how he handled Setoguchi this season throwing him all over the place. Im not saying hes a awful coach or that he wont do well here, im just saying I dont personally think hes as great as some people think. I mean if he has trouble with the media in a place like SJ, hows he going to handle the pressure of Toronto?

bryant08 wrote:Wilson is a decent coach IMO. He is known for his motivational skills and ability to analyze the game (obviously he is a video buff). Whether or not he comes off too strong I'm not sure. But no question about it, he's being brought in to lure Burke. The Leafs will bring in a decent coach if it means truly bringing in their man. All that's waiting is the Ducks owner's (owners'?) approval. Once that is there, we could be seeing Burke/Wilson, as well as Nonis in some capacity. Now that, I like.

Do we not see how backwards this is? Not directly meant at you but to hire a coach to lure a GM? I mean only the Leafs would do something like this. Let's say Ananheim doesn't cave in and keeps Burke, now we've got a GM in place that is not our long term plans making decisions at a key time in the transition of this franchise. Meanwhile we let other great candidates for the position go to waste.

If we get Burke next year, the expectations just on anticipation will be so high that I doubt he'll ever live up to expectations.

Ron Wilson (http://sharks.nhl.com/team/app/?service ... e&id=18533)

In Anaheim- Took over a brand new expansion team with the Ducks, and took them to a Stanley Cup 3 seasons later.

In Washington - Had a 192-167-51 record, including 2 division titles. He also made it to the Stanley Cup finals, and was a finalist for the Jack Adams trophy in his tenure in Washington.

In San Jose- When Wilson turned a 14th place finish in the Western Conference performance into a 104 point 2nd place finish. He was the runner up for the Jack Adams in 2003 as well. During that turnaround, they went from 30th in the NHL on the PK, and 26th in the league in Goals Against to ranked 4th and 6th in those categories.

Since 2003-2004, the Sharks have been the 4th best team in the NHL...accumulating a 138-74-34 record.

In 2006-2007, they put up 107 points...while ranked 2nd on the PowerPlay. Last season, they were top 10 in both the PP and PK


He's not a 'good' coach?

Crowned wrote:Ron Wilson (http://sharks.nhl.com/team/app/?service ... e&id=18533)

In Anaheim- Took over a brand new expansion team with the Ducks, and took them to a Stanley Cup 3 seasons later.

In Washington - Had a 192-167-51 record, including 2 division titles. He also made it to the Stanley Cup finals, and was a finalist for the Jack Adams trophy in his tenure in Washington.

In San Jose- When Wilson turned a 14th place finish in the Western Conference performance into a 104 point 2nd place finish. He was the runner up for the Jack Adams in 2003 as well. During that turnaround, they went from 30th in the NHL on the PK, and 26th in the league in Goals Against to ranked 4th and 6th in those categories.

Since 2003-2004, the Sharks have been the 4th best team in the NHL...accumulating a 138-74-34 record.

In 2006-2007, they put up 107 points...while ranked 2nd on the PowerPlay. Last season, they were top 10 in both the PP and PK


He's not a 'good' coach?

Im sure Pat Quinns coaching resume looks good also, considering team Canada chose him over any other coach to coach them at the olympics but that still didnt stop him from getting canned and replaced by a mediocre coach in Maurice. I cant speak for what kind of coach Wilson was with Anaheim or Washington because I never watched them but I can comment on the kind of coach he is currently. He had one if not the most talented teams from top to bottom last season, had a 2-1 series lead against Det last year and a 3-1 lead in game 4 at home and ended up losing that game and the series and most fans would conisider it a big chokejob. This season his team barely beat a #7 seed in Calgary and looked very bad at times. Then the next round he couldnt get his team up for the first two games and lost them both at home while looking lifeless. If he was such a great coach why does it seem like he couldnt get this greatly talented team over the top? How come fans of the sharks were complaining all year about how he treated the younger players?

Maybe I shouldnt have questioned him being a "good coach" but I certainly think there was better candidates out there like Joel Quennville or Pat Burns. I dont like the way he developed players like Carle, Vlasic oe Setoguchi and I really wonder if hes a good coach for a team thats going to have a ton of youth and possibly be quite bad. I dont think hes ready for a team that is young and rebuilding somewhat at this point in his career but I could be wrong. I want this team to rebuild, meaning playing its young players heavy minutes and letting them learn the game at the NHL level and with the hiring of Wilson thats almost going to be thrown out the window and a on the fly Philly attempt is almost certainly guranteed. I would have liked to see a young coach like John Anderson or Craig Hartsberg be brought in to help this team with alot of young talent grow and not feel forced to win now that will happen with Wilson.

Not sure how this hiring will work out but there is no denying Wilson's work ethic and for those that have been saying, that it's been a country club atmosphere here, it appears to be at an end...

He is a disciplinarian and is almost a complete opposite of Paul Maurice, in his style and approach to the game and like it has already been been said, it will be refreshingly novel to see our defense actually in position and if Kubina is kept and not traded we should have a defense that I envisioned at the start of this past season...

There are a number of good young players on the Marlies that will be brought in and given a chance and add Kulemin to the mix and Wilson may just be the right coach at this time...

Wilson it appears is our coach going forward and love him or hate him, he has a winning record and veteran players seem to like his style, so hopefully Mats will re-sign and we can turn this team around ALA the Flyers and compete this coming season...

The only reservations I have, is that he should have been chosen by the new GM and not by Fletcher but maybe he is the choice of the new GM and Burke will be here this year or next...

Tor-Rap-Tor wrote:Not sure how this hiring will work out but there is no denying Wilson's work ethic and for those that have been saying, that it's been a country club atmosphere here, it appears to be at an end...

He is a disciplinarian and is almost a complete opposite of Paul Maurice, in his style and approach to the game and like it has already been been said, it will be refreshingly novel to see our defense actually in position and if Kubina is kept and not traded we should have a defense that I envisioned at the start of this past season...

There are a number of good young players on the Marlies that will be brought in and given a chance and add Kulemin to the mix and Wilson may just be the right coach at this time...

Wilson it appears is our coach going forward and love him or hate him, he has a winning record and veteran players seem to like his style, so hopefully Mats will re-sign and we can turn this team around ALA the Flyers and compete this coming season...

The only reservations I have, is that he should have been chosen by the new GM and not by Fletcher but maybe he is the choice of the new GM and Burke will be here this year or next...

Says who? I dont see very many good players on the Marlies at all and Wilson was greatly criticized by Sharks fans the past few years on his treatmeant of young players and not being able to get them to contribute on a consistant basis like they should have been doing. Also where did you get that veteran players like his style because from what Ive read and heard players on the sharks hated how he stuffed his system down the teams throught and basically smothered them and gave no leaway for a player to use his offensive skills.

This is what the problem is Toronto doesnt have the pieces to pull a Philly one offseason turnaround. We dont have a Mike Richards or a Jeff Carter in terms of young players. We dont have cap space to go out and sign a Daniel Briere type forward. That team achieved alot of its sucess this season because of contributions from youngsters like Cobourn, Upshall, Umberger, Lupol, Randy Jones, Kukkonen and it has more forward depth then us. I think it would be real unrealistic to think we could mimick what the flyers did this offseason because I dont see the impact youth on our team or in the system like the Flyers had.

RON WILSON

Named head coach of the Sharks on Dec. 4, 2002, Ron Wilson's first full season behind the San Jose bench was an unmitigated success. Under his guidance and leadership, San Jose rebounded from a disappointing 2002-03 campaign in which they finished in last place in the Pacific Division and 14th in the Western Conference to capture their second Pacific Division title, a franchise-best 104 points and the second seed in the Western Conference for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Wilson, who was the runner-up for the 2003-04 Jack Adams Trophy, awarded to the National Hockey League's top coach each year, led the team to its first-ever appearance in the Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals. In addition, he was named "Best Coach" for the 2003-04 season by The Hockey News.

Under his tutelage, the team also set or tied franchise records for most road wins (tied ? 19), most road points (set ? 47), most team shutouts (set ? 11) and most wins in a calendar month (10, March 2004).

Several facets of the game such as goals-against and penalty killing were identified as key indicators that needed to improve from the previous season (2002-03: 238 goals-against, 26th NHL and 81.0 percent penalty kill, 30th) to achieve team success. As a result, the Sharks finished with a franchise best for fewest goals allowed (183, T-4th) and an 85.3 percent penalty kill (T-6th). The Sharks were one of only three teams to finish the regular season with five, 20-goal scorers.

http://www.nhl.com/lineups/coaches/wilson.html

If he can repeat this little feat with the Leafs, I will be a very happy Fan...