CarltonTheBear said:
Nik the Trik said:
Wilson did have Reimer back there.
He only had Reimer there for half of his 3rd season, and Reimer put up great numbers. Had he been with the team from the start and played at that same level the 10/11 team likely makes the playoffs. The next season was concussed Reimer, who isn't the same goalie as not-concussed Reimer.
Let's even accept that Reimer was there for part of Wilson's tenure. The team was 31-21-9 with Reimer in net up until Wilson got fired. That's a 95 point pace team.
Overall from January of 2011 when Reimer became a full-time member of the team to Wilson's firing the Leafs were 53-43-14. Correcting for shoot-out wins the Leafs were 47-6-43-14.
Reimer under Carlyle has the team at 33-21-6. That's a 98 point pace team. Overall the Leafs are 68-53-16 under Carlyle. Correcting for shoot-out wins the Leafs are 58-10-53-16. So overall the only difference between Ron Wilson and Randy Carlyle is shootout wins.
Again though, the difference between that 2011-2012 team and the 2012-2013 team and beyond is:
OUT: Tim Connolly, David Steckel, Jay Rosehill, Luke Schenn, Mike Komisarek, Joey Crabb, Matthew Lombardi, Phillipe Dupuis
IN: JVR, Jay McClement, Frazer McLaren, Colton Orr, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov, Mark Fraser
Looking at that 2011-2012 roster, it was a bad team. A lot of guys who just werent' NHL hockey players anymore. There was a lot of junk on lasts years roster too but I think they served a bit of a role in an abbreviated training-camp free year where the Leafs were physically intimidating against teams that weren't up to top speed. This year that lack of speed/mobility was quickly apparent and a lot of those players either were traded, demoted or play less than 5 minutes a night.
One of the arguments for this team was that it is young. Two years of Carlyle and the team isn't really all that young anymore. They have a better collection of players and play to the same level as Wilson's later time with the team.