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Carlyle remains twisting in the wind

Randy Carlyle

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle, back center, looks over his players while playing against the St. Louis Blues during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)

AP

Two weeks ago, we wrote a post called “Twisting in the wind,” about the still-undecided futures of NHL head coaches Adam Oates, John Tortorella, and Randy Carlyle.

Since then, Oates and Tortorella have been fired by the Capitals and Canucks, respectively, and this morning Kirk Muller got his walking papers in Carolina as well.

Carlyle, however, remains twisting.

So...will this be the week the Maple Leafs’ bench boss gets the yea or nay from management? According to the Toronto Star’s Damien Cox, it will be. And according to the Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons, “the likelihood is the Leafs won’t wait long to confirm that Carlyle will return in his position as coach.”

Only new Leafs president Brendan Shanahan knows for sure.

Carlyle failed to lead Toronto to the playoffs in 2013-14, his team finishing its schedule on a disastrous 2-12-0 run and falling from third in the Eastern Conference to 12th.

The Leafs were also one of the worst possession teams in the NHL, their Fenwick close finishing higher than only Buffalo’s. In a related story, no team surrendered more shots per game than Toronto (35.9).

But Carlyle does have a Stanley Cup ring from his days coaching the Ducks, and certainly not all the Leafs’ problems can be pinned on the coach.