In case you missed it, Michael Langlois of Vintage Leafs Memories, Darren Yourk, and James Mirtle and I put together a podcast previewing the upcoming Leafs' season. Aside from being hilariously out of date a mere 20 minutes after taping it (thanks David Steckel), one topic that was touched on was how long Ron Wilson would last this season.
Some people have been on the bandwagon to see him canned for a lot longer than others but there's no doubt that there is a substantial group of fans that want to see the irascible Wilson move on. He's in the last year of his contract and Brian Burke's loyalty has to be wearing thin. Some fans already have him in their crosshairs:
Oh, you thought that it had to be a player? Nope. Ron Wilson's tenure as the Leafs' coach has seen almost non-stop roster turnover. It is a truism that you cannot make chicken salad out of chicken shit and Wilson's tenure has certainly seen a hearty helping of the latter don the blue and white. However, after three seasons of watching his special teams flail about his excuses have run out. He no longer has Jean-Sebastien Giguere or Vesa Toskala in net, he has a group of forwards with the necessary penalty killing pedigree, and he has a new coaching staff. The team's failures saw Tim Hunter and the ever-present (somehow) Keith Acton lose their jobs while Greg Cronin and Scott Gordon were brought in to revive a moribund penalty kill. He is entering the final year of his contract and GM Brian Burke is eager to make the playoffs. The only problem with this pick is that if he earns the role then we'll have to pick a new goat before Christmas
How many games will Ron Wilson last in 2011-2012?
| Less than 20 | 42 |
| 20-34 | 51 |
| 35-49 | 31 |
| 50-64 | 12 |
| 65-81 | 5 |
| All 82! | 237 |