Time for a coaching change

I personally believe that Ron Wilson is a fine coach - but it's just not working for him here in Toronto. I said before the season that Ron Wilson was on the hot seat this season. The odds that he finish the season are slim unless the team plays over the heads for longer than 4 games.

It doesn't help his cause that GM Brian Burke declared that this team should be good enough to make the playoffs. Now he was hedging and frankly what else could he say. But if management truly believes that this team should at least compete for a playoff spot then something is seriously wrong here. Last night's collapse against the Sabres is just one game but it is symptomatic of a team that can't get the job done.

I can't help but notice questionable decisions by the coach that do not work out. Take last night. Sending out your defensively challenged first line to protect a lead late in the game does not make sense to me. Bozak is -3 and Versteeg is -4, the worst on the team. Meanwhile Grabovski is +8 and MacArthur is +6, the best on the team. Even Orr and Brown are plus. Then in shootout Wilson goes with Kessel and Versteeg, both carrying cold sticks while Grabovski and Kulemin, who had both scored in regulation time, were sitting on the bench. Let's just say Wilson's hunches aren't working out for him.

His penalty killing system and powerplays are total duds. OVer the past 9 games the powerplay efficiency has been 12.5% and the penalty killing has been 72.0%. No wonder they have only won a just one game. His top line has really shown no chemistry yet he sticks with them.

Brian Burke has come out to state that the coach's job is safe. He goes on to say that why would the coach lose his job when the players are playing poorly. Well, isn't it the job of the coach to get the best out of his players? Sure the players play well for him for a period or two. But he can't seem to get a good performance for an extended period of time. Either this is another last place team or a team under performing. If it's the former what's the plan to improve the team with a lack of draft picks. If it's the latter than why isn't the coach get more out his players?