Pat Quinn fired

[Triton]

Quinn fired as Leafs' coach


(CP) -- The Maple Leafs fired Pat Quinn on Thursday, making the veteran coach the latest victim of Toronto's inability to recapture its hockey glory.

The 63-year-old Quinn, who still had another year on his contract, leaves after seven seasons behind the Toronto bench.

But his last season was the most difficult, the Leafs missing the post-season for the first time under his helm despite a late charge. It was only the fourth season overall in his stellar 19-year coaching career that he missed the playoffs.

There were also rumblings of a strained relationship with GM John Ferguson, who inherited Quinn as coach when he took over in August 2003.

Overall, the Hamilton native went 300-222-52 with 26 shootout and overtime losses as Leafs coach, twice leading Toronto to the Eastern Conference final, losing to Buffalo in 1998-99 and Carolina 2001-02.

He's fourth all-time in coaching victories with 657 behind only Scotty Bowman (1,244), Al Arbour (781) and Dick Irvin (692).

The Leafs were 41-33-8 this season and finished ninth in the Eastern Conference, missing the final playoff spot by two points after a strong 9-1-2 run late in the year.

Quinn was named Toronto's 25th head coach in June 1998, inheriting a club that had missed the playoffs in successive seasons. It didn't take long for Quinn to make an impact. The Leafs set a club record for wins (45), they reached the conference final, and Quinn was runner-up for the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 1998-99.

When he arrived from Vancouver after 11 seasons as GM and a few spells as coach, Quinn told Toronto reporters he was looking forward to just coaching with the Leafs.

That lasted only one year. When Mike Smith left town in the summer of '99 after a power struggle with president Ken Dryden, Quinn stepped in and took over the GM job, more as a means of survival than his desire to take the job.

Quinn kept the dual roles for four seasons until Ferguson's hiring.

In 1999-2000, Quinn led the Leafs to their first divisional title since 1962-63. The team once again tied a franchise record 45 wins.

The Leafs finished third overall in the NHL standings in 2001-02 and reached the conference final. It was during that series loss to Carolina that Quinn had a health scare, as doctors discovered he suffered from heart arrhythmia (irregular heart beat). Quinn, 58 at the time, would drastically change his lifestyle overnight.

"All my life, I'd get up in the morning, grab a coffee and a cigar, jump in the car and go to the office or to the rink," Quinn said in a Reader's Digest interview a few years later. "I never had breakfast, and lunch would be some kind of fast food. By the time you get home at night you're starved. So I ate one big meal a day. I wasn't very active either. All that had to change. Now I have breakfast and start the day out right.

"I quit the cigars right away. The last one I smoked was on the morning I went into hospital in Toronto."

A slimmer and healthier looking Quinn kept on leading to the Leafs to winning seasons. The set club records for points (103) and road wins (23) in 2003-04 but the Leafs bowed out in the second round to Philadelphia.

Quinn has never won a Stanley Cup as head coach although he led the 1980 Philadelphia Flyers and '94 Canucks to the final. He also coached Team Canada to Olympic gold in 2002 and the World Cup of Hockey championship in 2004. .

His first few moves as GM weren't golden. He sent promising winger Fredrik Modin to Tampa in October 1999 in exchange for defenceman Cory Cross. The acquisition of forward Dmitri Khristich later that month forced the Leafs to open up a roster spot, which Quinn did by waiving young winger Steve Sullivan.

But there were some good ones, too, such as getting winger Darcy Tucker from Tampa, essentially for forward Mike Johnson, in February 2000. And acquiring defenceman Bryan McCabe from Chicago in October 2000 for blue-liner Alexander Karpovtsev -- by far his best deal.

Getting forwards Robert Reichel and Travis Green from Phoenix in June 2001 for defenceman Danny Markov was probably not a great move, but a few weeks later Quinn got winger Mikael Renberg for winger Sergei Berezin -- a clear victory.

His final blockbuster was acclaimed by Leaf fans at the time, star winger Owen Nolan coming to Toronto just before the trade deadline in March 2003 in exchange for centres Alyn McCauley and Brad Boyes and a first-round draft pick. It turned out to be a disaster but hindsight is 20-20. The Leafs had a contender in 2002-03 and the Nolan deal was the right move at the time.

Quinn was also successful on the free-agent front, Gary Roberts in July 2000, Alexander Mogilny in July 2001 and Ed Belfour in July 2002 his three most prominent signings.

GoBladesGo Bleed Blue...how do you feel about this move?

[Blades 4 Life!]

I think it was a mistake to fire Quinn, but thats my opinion though. Quinn has had success in the past. Picking up Belfour, Roberts and others. He hasnt made all bad mistakes. Every GM makes team breaking decisions, Look at the Boston Bruins, they traded away Thornton and later in the season they traded away Samsonov, I'm surprised they didnt trade away Bergeron, they were on a roll at trading there future away. Quinn should have just stayed GM. John Ferguson Jr. has made alot of bad decisions, Picking up the always injured Eric Lindros and Jeff Oneil and jason allison are already past there top. Thats the thing with the Leafs. They seem to pick up players that havent been playing as good as they did 3-4 year past. and JF Jr. all he did at the trade deadline was pick up Luke Richardson which the Leafs drafted in the late 80's. Why not pick up upcoming talent. His record was still over .500 and the leafs had in the top 5 or 10 power play percent. I think Quinn and the Leafs would have made the playoffs if Quinn would have picked up the players he thought would have suited the team more effectively. Maybe it was in the best interest to trade Mats Sundin right at the start of the season, it took him to long to get into his groove. I think i would have fired John Fergusson Jr. before Quinn but everyone has there own opinion. If John Ferguson Jr, wants to do a good job and have everyone behind him he needs to get a 1 better D-man and get a couple better forwards to play with Sundin and Tucker. The only thing the Leafs have going for them is there prospects or a couple year rookies: Kyle Wellwood, Matt Stajan, Pogge, Ruusk. but they need to get off to a good start next year! GoLeafsGo

[GBG BLEED BLUE]

GoBladesGo Bleed Blue...how do you feel about this move?
I feel that maybe Quinn was not the problem,but maybe he was? who really knows.

When he was both the HC and GM of the Leafs things were somewhat better,I do not know if he was the GM when Both Antropov and Ponikarovsky were drafted/brought in, I hope that the Leafs can draft some payer from the CHL and NOT EUROPE,I have nothing against European players,but when the players do not commit,sign ect.

I think Ferguson had a stamp on the team too.
Some of the signings that he made,O'Neil,Allison,Lindros,could have been avoided,AND TRY AND NOT BUILD THE OLDEST,SLOWEST TEAM IN THE NHL.

Some of the Line combinations that he used where useless,did not work.

[SectionNDeserter]

Picking up the always injured Eric Lindros and Jeff Oneil and jason allison are already past there top.What else was available that was better for almost no money? (which is what they had left for cap space last summer)

all he did at the trade deadline was pick up Luke Richardson which the Leafs drafted in the late 80's. Why not pick up upcoming talent.Teams don't try to shop upcoming talent, unless they want to pick up good experienced players, who would the Leafs trade for this upcoming talent? Wade Belak?

His record was still over .500 and the leafs had in the top 5 or 10 power play percent.I agree, they weren't THAT bad when you look at the stats, especially when you look at what they had to work with.

Maybe it was in the best interest to trade Mats Sundin right at the start of the season, it took him to long to get into his groove.Sundin has a no-trade clause in his contract, trading Sundin was not an option.

If John Ferguson Jr, wants to do a good job and have everyone behind him he needs to get a 1 better D-man and get a couple better forwards to play with Sundin and Tucker.After McCabe and Kaberle, they really didn't have any steady performers on the back end. Their biggest need would be a couple of solid defensemen to replace Belak and Berg. I think that they are probably going to make the most noise this summer on the free-agent market, as they only have something like 9 players under contract for the upcoming season, and are out of the shadow of some big contracts that were eating up all their cap room for nothing (Belfour etc.)

[SectionNDeserter]

I think Ferguson had a stamp on the team too.
Some of the signings that he made,O'Neil,Allison,Lindros,could have been avoided,AND TRY AND NOT BUILD THE OLDEST,SLOWEST TEAM IN THE NHL.
.Again, there wasn't really anything else available that was better at the time for the small amount of money that was available. And those players are by no means old, players at that age are generally "in their prime". Those players were all available for so cheap because they are hospital cases. They do really need to improve their overall team speed. The first step to this would be to get rid of Antropov, he couldn't skate when they drafted him, and I think that now, the majority of the NHL goaltenders can skate backwards in full equipment faster than he can skate forwards without the puck. He is talented in so many other areas, but the new-look NHL is leaving him behind.

[Flathead]

Again, there wasn't really anything else available that was better at the time for the small amount of money that was available. And those players are by no means old, players at that age are generally "in their prime". Those players were all available for so cheap because they are hospital cases. They do really need to improve their overall team speed. The first step to this would be to get rid of Antropov, he couldn't skate when they drafted him, and I think that now, the majority of the NHL goaltenders can skate backwards in full equipment faster than he can skate forwards without the puck. He is talented in so many other areas, but the new-look NHL is leaving him behind.
I agree it's time to give up on Antropov, I've never been able to figure out why they keep hyping him up and why they didn't get rid of him.
They need to start using the talented YOUTH that they have in players like, Steen, Wellwood, Colaiacovo, White, Pohl, Williams, Ondrus, Harrison, Bell, etc... Steen and Wellwood did play a full season, I know, but they are great examples of what can be done.