Coaches huddle to plot strategy
The seeds to a better Maple Leaf season might have been planted in a backyard barbeque in Hilton Head, S.C.
That was where head coach Ron Wilson gathered with his new-look coaching staff in late August to plot strategy. Wilson hosted newcomers Scott Gordon and Greg Cronin, along with incumbents Rob Zettler and Graeme Townshend, for four days of meetings and casual discussion. After the Leafs missed the playoffs for a sixth straight year and third under Wilson, Toronto general manager Brian Burke linked the problem to a "stale" atmosphere in the dressing room and ordered Wilson to shed two assistants.
Tim Hunter and 12-year staff member Keith Acton were let go, and Wilson chose two Americans: ex-Isles head coach Gordon, who assisted him with Team USA at the 2010 world championships, and Cronin, an NCAA head coach at Northeastern and also an Isles assstant.
"It was an opportunity to get together in an intimate setting and talk some hockey," Gordon said. "When you get a group of five coaches it's certainly a lot of different ideas. To be able to get away from the office and do it in that kind of setting where it's just hockey, I thought a lot of good came from it."
Zettler also appreciated the relaxed nature of the meetings.
"Ron manned the barbeque one night, kicked his wife out of the kitchen and took us to dinner a couple of times. Every day we met, we went over some systems and personnel. On top of that, it was getting to know each other as a staff and just hanging out. We played a little bit of golf and had some fun.
"You get some new ideas and you get excited about the possibilities with our new players."
The group will have to tackle Toronto's weaknesses on special teams, for which Zettler, Hunter and Acton all have been partially responsible. Toronto was last in the league in both power play and penalty killing two years ago but has made some small improvements since.
"Well, I've obviously heard a lot about the penalty killing," Gordon said. "I looked at the amount of goals scored against us, and there wasn't a lot (62). But that comes with a team that doesn't get penalized a lot. You certainly want improvement with it, but the numbers themselves weren't that bad. By the sound of it, it's going to be a collaborative effort with all the coaches."
Toronto opens training camp on Sept. 16.
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