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A month after being fired from the San Jose Sharks, Ron Wilson has a new job, one that to many, could be considered a promotion.
It was announced today that Ron Wilson has been hired as the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“I’m the happiest person in the National Hockey League today,” Wilson said. “I’m fulfilling a dream.
“Obviously if you lose your job in the league you often wonder if you’ll get another opportunity,” he said. “The furthest thing from my mind at any point in my hockey career was that I would have an opportunity—ever—to coach a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs with their incredible history.”
- NHL - Yahoo! Sports
When talking about the Maple Leafs as a team, Ron Wilson was quoted as saying;
“I view the Leafs as a team in transition,”. “It’s going to require a lot of work and a lot of attention to detail. - NHL - Yahoo! Sports
Ron Wilson, who’s coaching career in the NHL stands at 518-446-127 has coached for the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks before heading to his last post in San Jose.
Losing 8 of the last 9 games is never a good thing, especially in the month of March. That’s exactly the position the Dallas Stars were in going into todays battle with division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. Fresh in the minds of the Stars was the devastating and embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Kings last week. In that game, the Stars led 2-1 right up to the last minutes, and then went on to give up 3 quick goals. Also fresh in their minds was the knowledge that with just 5 games left in the season, more losses could easily mean not making the playoffs.
After a few minutes and a goal by Dallman to put the Kings up 1-0 it looked as those this game could end up like other recent ones. That, fortunately for the Stars was not the case, and this was the closest the Kings ever got to competing with the Stars. At the 13th minute point, Stars defenseman Stephan Robidas tied the game, taking the 1-1 score to the first break.
During the second and third periods the Stars shone bright. The second period saw 4 goals by the Stars, including goals by Stu Barnes, Brenden Morrow and a duo by Loui Eriksson. The third perid blasted away with Jere Lehtinen, and then Niklas Hagman net a goal each. Kings forward Michael Cammalleri slipped one past Turco in the closing minutes, but the damage was already done.
“This is something to build on, and we need more of the same. We’re in a lockdown mode,” goaltender Marty Turco said. “The beauty of the whole game was not the score, but how the game went down—just the relentlessness of every period and every facet of the game. It’s great to see. But that’s what we expect, really. Today was a great example of what we need to do every shift from now on.”
- Yahoo! Sports
The Stars ended the game with a very convincing 7-2 victory, with 3 points games from Mike Ribeiro (3A) and Stephan Robidas (1G 2A) and go into tomorrows game against division rivals the Anaheim Ducks brimming with confidence.
If there is one thing that last years offseason taught GMs around the league it’s that no player is safe from large, seemingly unreasonable offers. The Tomas Vanek, then Dustin Penner issue saw the start of GMs locking up their players for long(ish) term deals to ensure they’re not poached by other teams. The best example of this of course is the NHLs first Hundred Million Dollar man, Alexander Ovechkin.
The latest young player to be locked up is New York Rangers netminder, Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist and the Rangers agreed on a 6 year deal today, said to pay the 25yr old Lundqvist $6.5million per year for the next 6 years.
While the length and value of the deal — believed to be for six years at more than $6.5 million per - have been set, there is language in the contract that is still being hashed out. So the Rangers are not expected to make a formal announcement until Thursday at the earliest. - NHL @ Yahoo
February is going to be a busy month due to the trade deadline being just around the corner. It will be interesting to keep an eye on the teams GMs and see what cards they play.
A month after being fired from the San Jose Sharks, Ron Wilson has a new job, one that to many, could be considered a promotion.
Losing 8 of the last 9 games is never a good thing, especially in the month of March. That’s exactly the position the Dallas Stars were in going into todays battle with division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. Fresh in the minds of the Stars was the devastating and embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Kings last week. In that game, the Stars led 2-1 right up to the last minutes, and then went on to give up 3 quick goals. Also fresh in their minds was the knowledge that with just 5 games left in the season, more losses could easily mean not making the playoffs.
If there is one thing that last years offseason taught GMs around the league it’s that no player is safe from large, seemingly unreasonable offers. The Tomas Vanek, then Dustin Penner issue saw the start of GMs locking up their players for long(ish) term deals to ensure they’re not poached by other teams. The best example of this of course is the NHLs first Hundred Million Dollar man, Alexander Ovechkin.
