The Toronto Maple Leafs take to the ice for the final time this season as they face the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Center in Kanata, ON on Saturday.
The outcome of the game has no playoff implications for either club, as the provincial rivals were mathematically eliminated from post-season competition earlier in the week.
The only thing at stake for either team is positioning for the NHL Entry Draft in late June and a minute increase in the probability of winning the draft lottery to be held in Toronto on Tuesday, as both clubs are tied with 84 points.
Toronto could finish in the eighth draft slot with a loss to Ottawa and two victories by the Vancouver Canucks or could fall as low as 12th with a victory.
The cavalcade of expected changes within the Leafs organization will start less than 48 hours after the completion of the season, as Brendan Shanahan is introduced as Team President at a press conference Monday morning.
The expectation is that Shanahan, who spent three years at the NHL Offices as Director of Player Safety, will be focused the business side of the club and representing the Leafs as their alternate governor, rather than having a hands on role in hockey operations.
According to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, GM Dave Nonis will remain in control of day-to-day operations of the club and all hockey decisions, but the fate of assistant GM’s Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle have not been confirmed. Both are expected to be on the short list for the vacant Calgary GM position under former boss Brian Burke.
The fate of Randy Carlyle remains up in the air and subject of much speculation. While there is a growing sentiment that Leafs head coach has been more a victim of a flawed roster not capable or interested in playing any kind of structured defense, the club’s fall from a near certain playoff spot to missing the post-season in a span of three weeks may result in the dismissal of the Stanley Cup winner and his coaching staff.
“Well, I’m trying to live my life as a hockey coach and do the things that you do…..come to work and try to be positive and put an honest day’s work in for an honest day’s pay. Our job doesn’t change dramatically.… Carlyle said on Friday. “Obviously, when the situation is what we’re in, it makes it more difficult but you still have to come to work and you have to live. The sun did come up today, didn’t it?…
Carlyle and Shanahan know of each other as teammates and roommates going back to the 1989 World Championships in Sweden, where the veteran Carlyle showed the young New Jersey Devils forward the rules of the road.
“I was more the veteran presence and he was the younger guy at that time, that was a long time ago.… Carlyle said. “I remember that I had to show him only once how to fold the clothes properly and make sure that I had the remote.…
If the decision is made to dismiss Carlyle, a number of names have cropped up as potential candidates, but some are currently in positions with other NHL clubs.
Nashville coach Barry Trotz may be dismissed at the end of the season, as the Predators may be looking for a change of direction after 15 years, but the most prominent name being mentioned is New Jersey Devils coach Peter DeBoer.
Deboer, a 1988 Maple Leafs draft pick, is reportedly at the end of his three-year deal with the Devils, who will miss the playoffs for the second year in a row after losing to Los Angeles in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final. DeBoer also missed the post-season three times with the Florida Panthers before being fired at the end of the 2010-11 season.
As Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record reports, “the thought out of Toronto is that the puck-possession game DeBoer prefers and his ability to bring out the most in David Clarkson (both in Kitchener in the OHL and with the Devils) and Nazem Kadri (Kitchener) would make him the right man to take over the Maple Leafs.…
The flaw in the rumors of changing to DeBoer is that the current Leafs roster is not conducive to playing his puck possession style, as their tendency towards giveaways and losing puck battles would illustrate. Nonis will likely have to make numerous changes to the roster to give any new coach a fair chance at success, which is also what he would have to do if Carlyle remains.
While instruction coming from a different voice may help as a short term fix(as it did in 2013 after Carlyle replaced Ron Wilson), the similarity of preaching defensive responsibility from Carlyle to DeBoer will eventually fall on deaf ears.
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