Maple Leafs Fire Randy Carlyle: A Tough Decision but Necessary, GM Dave Nonis Says

http://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/...y_carlyle.html
"Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis said he fired coach Randy Carlyle late Monday night, with a message to the players to return consistency to their performance.
“We expect our players understand right now what we need going forward,” Nonis told a packed media gallery at the MasterCard Centre on Tuesday after the word of Carlyle’s dismissal broke.
“It shouldn’t take anything more than what’s happened today for them to do it.”
Carlyle’s firing was a “tough decision” but necessary, Nonis said.
“One of the things you’ve all heard me talk about is consistency,” Nonis said. “We need to see some level of consistency. We all agree we had some good stretches here but I can’t stand here and tell you our group’s been consistent.”
It’s possible the Leafs will move forward with assistants Peter Horacheck and Steve Spott as interim coaches for the foreseeable future and into the end of the season.
“We’ll look at that (new coach) over the next couple of days,” Nonis said. “Today was about making a change, we have two quality coaches (Spott and Horachek) that we’re confident in to lead us onto the ice (Wednesday) night (against the Washington Capitals).”
Nonis said Carlyle is an “excellent coach,” but with the team struggling after a 10-1-1 run last month, the time was right for a change.
“Randy will be back in this game very soon,” Nonis said. “The coach is part of the responsibility, the coach is the easy one to let go. We all take some responsibility too, players included. But the next thing in the process is we think we can do good things, and this is a step in the right direction for us.
“It’s always a tough decision but we felt we had to make the decision because of the direction the team was heading in.”
As for his own job security, Nonis said he is “never worried.”
“You make decisions based on what’s good for the team,” Nonis said. “It’s what we need to do to move forward. That’s how I wake up every morning, but it’s not something I’m worried about.”
The Leafs (21-16-3) are fourth in the Atlantic Division with 45 points, one point ahead of the Boston Bruins for the second Eastern Conference wild-card berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Obviously it is not a great day whenever a coach gets fired,” Leafs sniper Phil Kessel said after practice Tuesday.
“It says the team is not going in the right direction. I don’t think it’s the coach’s fault. The players have not been playing as well as we would like.”
Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said the players are responsible for Carlyle’s firing."