I don't understand how by firing Carlyle it's giving into the players. This is what Randy did (or did not) do whilst as coach this year.
From the hop - the Leafs weren't playing well. Like they looked decent enough in training camp but October 1st 2013 - the team did not look right. His comments: well I keep telling them they have to play more defensively, we're going to lose games soon like this.
In November-December i think there were like 9 wins in total and 4 of them were in regulation. you can put a chunk of that due to the fact we lost 3 centres in a 3 game span, but it wasn't changing the fact that we were brutally being out played. Randy's response - bench Gardiner/Rielly instead of nailing Franson's giveaway butt in the press box.
January - lost 4 games in a row in horrendous fashion (blow-out, gong show, blow out, and barely won but played slightly better). Instead of now taking the time to fix whatever system he had in place, Randy is now deploying what is lovingly called "Scrabble Face" looked heavenward, mystified and "oh God, why me?" the past several months now he keeps going "we stopped skating." "we lack compete level"
Then we win 11 out of 14 games. And then we hit the Olympic break. And then we come back and we look even worse. Every other team had their "oh yah, it's the Break, but we're over it now" the Leafs just played crap poor hockey. Randy's big move - go to 11 forwards, 7 D to get Ranger in (which is a good thing), but this means he's riding Kessel and JVR more, despite the fact that they were hitting career minutes before the Olympics, went to the Olympics put on a clinic and came back. NOTHING else changed - no systems, no line up juggling, other than trying to find someone to play with David Clarkson (to which at this point, knowing how brutal he was, you were better served just healthy scratching him)
Then we go to California, win 2 out of 3. Carlyle - knowing that Bernier wasn't 100 percent (and even the player saying yah i';m goood) - decides to play Bernier in LA instead of Reimer and Bernier is hurt.
Then we proceed to enter the Collapse of 2014, where the Leafs could not even pick up a win in regulation. And whilst everyone was playing like hot garbage - did Randy even consider then to change something, line combinations, bench someone, start MacIntyre anything? Nope. not a thing, he kept tossing the same lineup over and over again. Even when there were games where a guy (phaneuf) was utter, hot garbage - when pressing for a late goal, do you put out the guy who was having the beast of a game (Gardiner--St Louis, Rielly--Detroit?) no. You toss Phaneuf over the boards.
Game seventy nine was when Randy decided to blow up the defensive parings. the practice before game eighty he's having break down practices and what needs to happen
Forget the stupid "Okay" comments, he then goes - "well I don't know why Carter Ashton doesn't have more confidence when he plays up here, so we're going to play him with Kadri." YOU"RE THE ONE WHO PLAYS HIM LESS THAN 5 MINUTES! How much confidence is he going to have when he doesn't get to play?!
He barely played a competent 4th line (say what you will about the leafs being cap-strapped, you could have, should have sent Orr/McLaren down to the minors the moment you realised (that would be October) that the League wasn't going to play "hey, let's try to beat up the Leafs!" this season, bring up WHOMEVER and create a fast skating, offensive-minded energy fourth line.
After a month, even when we had a winning record, instead of taking that entire week to develop a new plan that the players could actually execute, he didn't, and kept pressing the same system over and over again, to the point that every practice you actually have to break down and go after key points.
He had no idea how to read the flow of the game.
he didn't hold the right players accountable nearly enough.
he made changes way too late and they only last one game
That's all on Randy. I've taught and if I keep teaching in one specific way and my students kept failing - at some point the principal is going to come to me and go - well if I knew they were struggling and failing why didn't I do anything/something to change my lesson plan? You can blame the students for not doing their part (and I'm not holding the players blameless here, and I do expect a good part of them to be traded, and/or not signed to play here), but Randy's not this innocent, delicate flower whose being sacrificed on the alter of Scrapegoat either. Dude epically failed to do his job.
When your star goalie comes in and says several times that the defensive system isn't good and in LA and other cities most deploy a different (and winnable) system, and you don't even attempt to make a change? yah. Problem. He (Nonis, Loiselle (who is an idiot. even I could probably run the cap better than he and I have dyscalulia), and Poulin) excused most of this problem by saying well we look at scoring chances, not shots, or from the outside etc.
Randy should be booted, and truthfully so should that entire management corps.
