I remember Wilson specifically mentioning Mac as a player who went to him for advice on what he needs to work on and Grabo did the same and would spend more time practising on the ice than any other player. It seems like players that took it upon themselves to approach Wilson are the guys who had better relationships with him. Interestingly enough, Mac would ask Wilson about what he needs to improve on and found that supportive while he took offense to Carlyle telling him what he needs to improve on. It actually makes a lot of sense as Mac refers to not wanting to hear your mistakes all the time. He feels more comfortable being the one to recognize his weaknesses and seek advice rather than someone else recognizing his weaknesses and offering that advice.
On the flip side, Wilson's approach was the exact reason why Franson and Kadri didn't like him. They didn't like their coach making decisions about scratching them in games or decreasing their ice time without offering any explanations as to why. Both guys have said they preferred Carlyle's honest approach because at least it gives them the opportunity to work on whatever area of their game needs improvement.
Frankly, they're professional athletes and I don't really sympathize with a player who takes issue with a coach who is doing his job. I can understand Mac's position if Carlyle is being demeaning and insulting but I have no reason to believe that that's how Carlyle addresses his players.
Well, from what I see from media scrums, Carlyle looks like he's a guy who seems approachable. Yeah he gets his "i'm p'oed look on, when we're playing badly
but I don't, for the life of me see what all these players are seeing. And every day, Carlyle comes out and goes, while we're winning, we'r enot going to pick it to death, but we're always going to be better.
Wilson was always pushing the buck to someone else, which to me made it seem the entire team had that attitude.
I think you're onto something, if you remember the season he was fired a lot of players spoke outloud about him not communicating with his players. I know Kessel said Wilson never talked to his players on or off the ice, I know both Schenn and Komi criticized him for not informing them that they were bench, instead they had to learn that through twitter. So, it wouldn't surprise me that he wouldn't let a player like Mac if he's making a mistake, he seems to be the coach to just let all the players do their own thing on the ice.
I have to say - I was flabbergasted when last year I was watching HNIC and Hughson said that Franson must really like the opportunities he was getting with Carlyle, unlike Wilson as Franson found out he was scratched one game by
looking at the jumbotron. Who the hell does that?
I have to say as someone who taught for a while, I was a hard, hard. teacher. (I taught English in Korea), I failed like 1/2 of my classes every semester
and it got to the point where my very good friend was like "I love you Daisy, but I don't want to be in your class, because I want to pass." One of my students (who failed), heard and said, "But we're learning so much."
I think that's the key. I said upthread - my personal favourite teachers were the ones who rode my butt hard because I was a lazy student (because I was really. really. smart. so i never understood the point of doing homework, or doing my best, because I knew what I was being taught, and the teacher knew I knew,etc etc). And I always remembered getting so frustrated at them for making me do more than I had to - until one day one of them (His name was Mr. Dubar - and he was my English teacher), said, it's not enough to
know it. It's about being able to apply it, and not waste your intelligence by just being "meh."
and I feel that's what Carlyle does to his players. Tak7 listed a bunch of stuff, so did Grant but I think it boils down to - he can't deal with lazy people. He wants hard working, driven guys. You may not be the
best but he'll reward your effort.. I also think he's harder on the SPECIAL guys (Gardiner, Kadri, etc). because he KNOWS they are special. he KNOWS if he can make their game more wellrounded, they'll be spectacular.
(Like I pointed out, Gardiner is very good at playing "4th forward." he needs to learn how to play excellent defense. He's got it - we all saw it against Boston and I think Carlyle really wants to make it stick for him. Gards might not like it now, and he could even be like Bobby Ryan and never get it/like it. But it could be the thing that makes Gardiner That Special Player).
(it also makes me giggle the way MacArthur says it - HE wanted to leave Toronto because of Carlyle, rather than - he wasn't even offered a contract or talks to stay).