When the 2011-12 season gets underway, there will be two new faces behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Leafs general manager and president and Brian Burke announced on Monday that Northeastern University head coach Greg Cronin and former New York Islanders head coach Scott Gordon have been hired as assistant coaches to replace Keith Acton and Tim Hunter.
Burke explained at a press conference to announce the coaching change that something had to be done to shake up the team and their poor special teams performance.
"As I watched our team play last year and as I considered it in the off-season, it became obvious to me that we needed a change," Burke said. "Our special teams performance was the catalyst. I think that was the lightning rod for most of the criticism of the coaching staff."
"I believe with our existing staff, we got stale. And stale is a word that doesn't work in professional sports. I reached a conclusion that we needed a new look, I reached a conclusion that we needed a new approach, and I reached a conclusion that our players needed to hear some new voices."
In six seasons with Northeastern, Cronin compiled a record of 87-103-29 in 219 games behind the bench. His best season came in 2008-09, leading the team to a 25-12-4 record, which was the school's first winning season since the 2001-02 campaign.
Cronin has previous experience with those in the Leafs organization. The 48-year old served as an associate coach under Gordon with Team USA at the World Championships, in which Burke served as an advisor with the team.
Gordon was head coach of the Islanders from 2008 to 2010, compiling a record of 64-94-23 in 181 games behind the bench. He also served as head coach of the U.S. National Team in 2010 and 2011.
Gordon was also an assistant coach on Ron Wilson's silver-medal winning U.S. Olympic Team in 2010, in which Burke also served as the general manager. The former Isles bench boss has also played internationally, serving as a goaltender for Team USA in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.
Burke said that both coaches having prior head coaching experience was a major factor in appointing Cronin and Gordon as the Leafs' new assistant coaches.
"The one thing that both these guys have in common is extensive head coaching experience," Burke said. "To me, that's an important part of a resume -- where they're used to giving commands, they're used to communicating with players as the boss behind the bench."
"The key characteristic that we looked for when we identified candidates was that they have extensive head coaching experience."
The move to replace Hunter and Acton comes after the Leafs missed the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season and the team struggled mightily on special teams. Hunter had been with the team since 2008-09, while Acton served as an assistant with Toronto since the 2001-02 season.
Toronto's power play ranked 22nd overall in the league this season with a success rate of 16 percent, while their penalty kill was third-worst in the league with an efficiency of 77.4 percent. Burke said that while that is an area the team can improve on, he also takes part of the blame for their struggles.
"It's not time to shovel dirt on the two coaches who are leaving," Burke stated. "Part of the reason special teams haven't been better is my fault. We haven't had the players we need to have special teams at a level that we need to have -- and I'll take full responsibility and full blame for that today."
Toronto's other assistant coach Rob Zettler will remain with the organization, as will head coach Ron Wilson who enters into the final year of his coaching contract with the Leafs.
While a contract extension is not in the near future for Wilson, Burke said that he still deserves to be head coach and could be extended pending a strong showing from the team early on in the season.
"I don't think anyone can question my loyalty to Ron," Burke said. "Last fall when we had a tough start, there was a lot of clamber for a change and I didn't make one. I can look in the mirror and say I've stood by Ron Wilson. I don't think that extends to an extension."
"I don't believe that loyalty requires me to extend his contract. I told him that if we have a good start, that's something we'll address very early on."
Follow Ken Beckett on Twitter @KenBeckett 
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