Hot off the wire
Source:
Toronto Star
Quote:
Leafs fire coach Quinn
Apr. 20, 2006. 12:20 PM
DAMIEN COX
John Ferguson didn’t wait long to end the Pat Quinn era.
Rather than let the uncertainty over Quinn’s future drag on for days or weeks, the Maple Leaf GM officially fired the club’s head coach this morning just two days after the team ended the 2005-06 season by finishing out of the playoffs.
The club has announced a press conference for 1 p.m. today.
Quinn, the club’s coach since 1998 and the 25th bench boss in team history, had almost seemed resigned to his fate for weeks, at least until a late season surge by the team led by the goaltending of Jean-Sebastien Aubin kept the Leafs in the playoff hunt until the final weekend of the season and led some to suggest it was evidence that a coaching change wasn’t necessary.
But the working relationship between Quinn and Ferguson had soured long before that, not surprisingly, perhaps, given that Ferguson had taken over the GM’s portfolio from Quinn, and Quinn had actively pushed for others to get the job ahead of Ferguson.
During Quinn’s tenure as head coach, a time when the club ran up record payrolls, the Leafs were unable to realize their dream of returning to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1967.
Eastern Conference final appearances in 1999 and 2002 fell short at the hands of Buffalo and Carolina, respectively. In 2003, the Leafs were beaten in the first round by Philadelphia, and after beating Ottawa for the fourth time with Quinn as head coach in 2004, the Leafs were knocked out again by the Flyers in the '04 playoffs.
When the club fell from 6th place in the conference this season in January to as low as 11th in March, it became clear Quinn was in the final days of his run with the Leafs.
With the Leafs obliged to pay him $1.5 million (U.S.) next season, Quinn immediately becomes one of the hottest coaching candidates for a variety of NHL jobs, including Boston and Los Angeles. If Wayne Gretzky decides not to return behind the Phoenix bench, Quinn would be a natural fit there, and there’s already speculation he could return to Vancouver if major executive changes occur with the Canucks.
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Certainly other coaches have been fired this year, but none of them had the big name like Pat Quinn does. It's unfortunate that he bore the brunt of the Leafs less than stellar season. It seems even a last minute charge for the Playoff doors couldn't save his job in the end.
With the exception of his "it's not my job to motivate the players" quote, I think he did well with the talent he was given. It's not easy when your best defenceman is more of a goal scorer than a defenceman, and the bulk of your talent past their prime years ago. Personally, I think John Ferguson Junior should have been given the boot, as he was the guy who was supposed to give Quinn the proper tools to work with. But, I guess it all came down to politics, and JFJ won. Lucky for Quinn he gets to spend more time at home now rolling in his big piles of money.