Paul Maurice named Leafs head coach

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:11 pm

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=165629&hubname=nhl

AQ, Leafan...thoughts?

Hapday · Post by **Hapday** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:03 am

Great move by JFJ. Maurice made chicken soup out of chicken shit with the Marlies this year. Every single defenseman the Leafs called up from the Marlies played ike they were legit NHL defensemen. The Leafs are going to be playing a lot kids for a while, and Maurice is the kind of coach they need. He's a great teacher.

AcidQueen · Post by **AcidQueen** » Sat May 13, 2006 3:14 am

Chairman Mo will get along a lot better with the Toronto mediots than Pat Quinn did, and the fans will like him on a personal level. He's a smart guy, a very engaging personality, and from what I've seen of his work with the Marlies he's taken a few lessons from his time here in Carolina.

You're welcome, LeafsFan.

My big question marks with him are how he'll communicate with his players and whether or not he'll be able to adapt quickly to changes in the gameplan--and, of course, there's Jeff O'Neill.

Ah Jeff, that poor drunk bastard--but that's another story entirely.

Anyway. It's no surprise that the Marlies defensemen played well in the NHL--The Great Helmsman is a former defenseman, so it's really no surprise that his blueliners play well because he does tend to pay a little more attention to them.

I wish him well, I wish him success against the Hurricanes' division rivals...and no success at all against the Hurricanes.

Nothing personal, of course--it's just hockey.

fix · Post by **fix** » Sat May 13, 2006 7:04 pm

Actually Quinn was respected by the media here and over the course of the past year, Maurice has earned their respect as well.

But, coaching the Marlies is one thing.

Let's see how well he handles the spotlight when the Leafs are on a 2 or 3 week losing streak in January and the honeymoon's over...

As for his hiring... I'm okay with it considering who else there was out there (s'up not much).

Now all we have to hope is that the next GM can work with him as well.

I'd like to see the Leafs hire Ted Nolan to coach the Marlies..

AcidQueen · Post by **AcidQueen** » Sat May 13, 2006 10:06 pm

JaysFan wrote:Let's see how well he handles the spotlight when the Leafs are on a 2 or 3 week losing streak in January and the honeymoon's over...

You never paid attention when he coached down here, did you?

Joey Moss · Post by **Joey Moss** » Sun May 14, 2006 3:14 am

I think Maurice is the right man for the job that needs to be done in TO. The only problem is that the job that needs to be done and what the fans expect are two different things. Leafs will likely miss the playoffs again next year because they have to rebuild. This will likely cost JFJr his job and leave Paul flapping in the wind under a new GM for two years.