Maple Leafs sign Carlyle to contract extension: Nonis discusses retention of head coach
A cataclysmic losing streak that was predictable to just about anybody paying close attention cost the Toronto Maple Leafs a 2014 Stanley Cup playoff berth. On Thursday, it also cost assistant coaches Dave Farrish, Scott Gordon and Greg Cronin their jobs.
But head coach Randy Carlyle, whose Anaheim Ducks suffered through similar issues at even-strength prior to his dismissal, was spared. More than spared, Carlyle was rewarded - the team announced a two-year extension for their head coach on Thursday.
On Thursday afternoon, Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis appeared on the Sportsnet 590 the Fan to discuss the decision-making process behind the Carlyle extension. "The analysis from our standpoint was twofold" Nonis said. "One is do we think he's a capable coach, a coach that can put a team into the playoffs, that can win rounds, possibly more than that? The answer is yes."
Continued Nonis: "We felt comfortable that this was a guy who can do it, who has done it before... We're comfortable with the fact that he has had positive influences on a number of our players." Presumably the list of players whom Carlyle has positively influenced did not include Mikhail Grabovski, David Clarkson and Clarke MacArthur.
On what went wrong for his team this season, Nonis repeatedly cited the club's relative indifference in comparison with the 2012-13 season:
Our players, last year, felt they were pushed to a different level in terms of compete. And a lot of guys didn't necessarily like it but felt that the coaches did a good job of it. We need to get back to that. I think we lost it this year... We need our players pushing themselves to an area they're uncomfortable with.
In particular, Nonis mentioned his team being more reluctant to block shots and being softer to play against at the net-front as significant departures from the season previous.
On the decision to axe assistant coaches Cronin, Gordon and Farrish, Nonis emphasized his belief that all three are capable hockey men, and indicated that rival teams had already called to request permission to interview them. Nonis further suggested that firing the assistants had little to do with their competence and more to do with injecting his coaching staff with some "fresh ideas," albeit with Caryle still presiding over the group:
We felt we needed to change the mix in that group, that we need some fresh ideas, that we need to change the relationship with the players by having different assistants. I think the NHL is probably behind some of the other sports at this point in this.
In the NFL it happens all the time - that you try and look for different schemes, different ideas by changing some of that personnel... We think the leader of our group is Randy and we wanted to keep that intact.
According to Nonis, Carlyle will have a say in the identity of the eventual replacement assistant coaches.
Finally, Nonis was asked why the Maple Leafs - a team that gave up the 4th most shots against of any team since 1988-89 - were historically permissive defensively this past season. "I think there's two areas, 1) is we have to come up with a tighter defensive scheme than we had last year," Nonis said. "We played a different system for most of the year the year before and I think we have to get back to that."
Continued the Maple Leafs executive: "Then it's the players, and it's not just the defense or the centers, but as a group they need to play that system and play it hard. It's about execution and a willingness to do what they might not want to do... Player commitment is a big factor in us playing better team defense."