With the elimination of the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, the only playoff fate yet to be determined is that of the Toronto Marlies, who advanced to the Calder Cup Western Conference Semi-Final with a sweep of the Milwaukee Admirals last Thursday.
Coach Steve Spott’s club was one of the first AHL teams to advance and had to wait until Sunday to find out their opponent for the next round would be the Midwest Division winning Chicago Wolves, who were forced to a fifth and deciding game by the seventh seeded Rochester Americans.
The Wolves are the affiliate of the St. Louis Blues and finished second in the Western Conference with 100 points, giving them home ice advantage in the series. Chicago has AHL Goalie of the Year Jake Allen, who appears to have the inside track in replacing Ryan Miller as the Blues #1 goaltender next season, as well as former NHLer Joe Corvo and former Marlies Keith Aucoin and Christian Hanson.
The series schedule is as follows:
Game 1 - Friday, May 9, 2014 - Toronto at Chicago 8:30pm Game 2 - Saturday, May 10, 2014 - Toronto at Chicago 8:00pm Game 3 – Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - Chicago at Toronto 7:00pm Game 4 – Friday, May 16, 2014 - Chicago at Toronto 7:00pm
Game 5* - Saturday, May 17, 2014 - Chicago at Toronto 7:00pm Game 6* - Monday, May 19, 2014 - Toronto at Chicago 8:00pm Game 7* - Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - Toronto at Chicago 8:00pm
*if necessary
Winger Jerry D’Amigo leads Toronto with six points and was tied for the AHL scoring lead until Chicago’s Dmitrij Jaskin passed him with a two point performance in the Wolves 4-2 victory over Rochester. Veteran Trevor Smith leads the club with five assists and Sam Carrick with three goals. Toronto played with top forwards Spencer Abbott and Peter Holland throughout the Milwaukee series, but according to Spott, both players were close to returning and would be available for the next playoff series.
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The coaching community suffered another casualty on Monday morning, as new Carolina GM Ron Francis fired coach Kirk Muller and his entire staff. Muller was 80-80-27 since replacing Paul Maurice as Hurricanes coach in November, 2011. Muller was considered a rising star when hired in Carolina, after serving as an assistant coach in Montreal and head coach of Nashville’s AHL affiliate in Milwaukee, but that did not translate to success with the Canes, who struggled in spite of having top end talents Eric and Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner and Cam Ward.
The status of Randy Carlyle could be decided this week, as Team President Brendan Shanahan and GM Dave Nonis reportedly have been meeting to determine the fate of the Leafs head coach. A consideration in the decision has to be whether there is someone available that would be an improvement over the veteran bench boss, who has one year remaining on his contract.
Barry Trotz is not expected to be in the mix for Toronto, as rumors place the former Nashville coach as a potential hire in Florida or Washington. Muller is a former teammate of Shanahan with the New Jersey Devils and could be someone Toronto looks at, but his failure in Carolina does not indicate he would be a significant upgrade over the Stanley Cup winning Carlyle.
The Leafs may be keeping a keen eye on the coaching situation in San Jose, where Todd McLellan may be let go after the Sharks shocking series loss to the Los Angeles Kings. McLellan was an assistant coach in Detroit under Mike Babcock from 2005 to 2008 and worked exclusively with the Wings forwards, including Shanahan, who had his final 40 goal season in 2005-06.
GM Doug Wilson wants McLellan back, but the Sharks new owners may want to move out the head coach who has been with San Jose since 2008.
Both Sportsnet’s Damien Cox and Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons indicated last week that the tide is in favor of Carlyle returning and that an announcement one way or another will come this week.
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