I awoke from my slumber this morning to call one of my colleagues on an unrelated topic without checking the old interweb. He informed me that Paul Maurice has been fired. Sorry, what?! Paul Maurice? The coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs? Yes, that Paul Maurice. MLSE sure has a strange sense of timing.
It's not a huge surprise that Maurice has been fired, but it's more the timing of it than anything that's so surprising. If you were firing the head coach, then why not do it at the end of the season or when the new GM is named later on this summer?
It's all very fishy and it makes me think that something else is up over at MLSE. Something like the hiring of the aforementioned new general manager. It makes sense to fire the head coach so the incoming general manager has the coach of his choice. While I'm not of the opinion that Maurice did a horrible job, it's probably the best move to release him and bring in someone new. He didn't have much of anything to work with, but he didn't appear to make the team he had any better. Essentially the job of any head coach is to get the most out of his players and while there wasn't really much to get out of the players he was given, he failed to push this team any further.
The new general manager won't be comfortable with an incumbent head coach so this is the best decision, but the timing is very strange. Why not name the GM and allow him to make the decision? Should we be all that surprised by anything MLSE does? Well, not really. They certainly stole a lot of the thunder of the Stanley Cup playoffs, especially on a slow news day with the conference finals not beginning until tomorrow.
Speaking of the conference finals, my thoughts and predictions are up next. Stay tuned.
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