Done In Like Quinn

So the Mighty Quinn's gone.
Quelle surprise.
Out here in Cup-starved Leafs Nation, we've been clamoring for Quinn's head ever since we were thoroughly outcoached by Philadelphia in the playoffs a few years back. The clamoring got deafening as this season progressed. If Pat kept his job, it would have been a blue-sky miracle.

I gave my report card on the Leafs three weeks back, just as they were starting their improbable late-season run. In it, I gave Pat a D+ and his boss, John Ferguson, Jr., an F. I've since had time to revise my thinking a little.
For one thing, there's this: my pre-season take on the Leafs' chances, in which I praised Fergie's moves and predicted a playoff berth "and possible home-ice advantage".
Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I can't fault JFJ as much as I'd like to.
Take Belfour, for instance. I argued then (and would still argue now) that the Leafs had no other viable option. Khabibulin was the only other choice available, at higher cost than Eddie, and he bombed in Chicago. Granted, JFJ threw far too much money at Belfour, and signed him to too long a contract...but I'd bet Eddie's agent had a hand in that. If Belfour had walked, we would have been left with Tellqvist as our #1...yike.
Bear in mind, too, that trying to divine the tea leaves in September was a fool's errand. The NHL had previously announced numerous crackdowns on obstruction, at the rate of about one a year, none of which had lasted longer than a month. Whodathunk this one would stick? Can you really fault the Leafs for building a team to fit the old NHL? And how exactly could we predict each player's performance after a year-long lockout? Answers: you can't and you can't. There's a reason The Fan 590 didn't publish its vaunted Forecaster this season: they had no wish to look like idiots.
Ferguson made it no secret that his rebuilding would begin in earnest this summer. Last summer was a stopgap on the road between the old, old, throw-largesse-around Leafs and a younger, leaner squad. I'm willing to give Fergie one more year to make this his team. We'll see what he can do this off-season.
As for Quinn, I respect his coaching history, but agree he had to go. Only when he had no choice did he put Stajan at center where he obviously belonged; give Sundin the ice time he's always deserved; and stop screwing around with his lines so bloody much.
Quinn apologists will take me to task for each of those observations, and most of them will find a way to spin the onus onto JFJ's head, and that's fine. I'll offer one more observation about Quinn that dooms him in my eyes: he's far too stubborn to adapt to changing conditions, either within a game or within the league as a whole. You can name off his inexplicable cases of puppy love: Jyrki Lumme. Aki Berg. Nik Antropov. Tie Domi. Alex Khavanov. And so on. All of these players were either past their prime or would never have a prime, and Quinn went to the well with them time after time, ignoring the likes of Stevie Sullivan, Jason Smith, Brad Boyes, and Alyn McCauley. (Wouldn't these guys have looked good in blue and white? Didn't they?) Then there's the matter of linemates for Sundin. Mats has done his best to turn Antropov into an NHL player, but Mats is human and mortal and incapable of working miracles. Yet Quinn kept sticking Nik out there game after game.
Two more failings to pile on. One: shootouts. I'm sure Quinn, old-school coach that he is, thinks of shootouts as a cheap gimmick. That's as may be, but them's the rules now, and, in case he missed it, points were available by means of this "cheap gimmick". Sundin, Tucker and Ponikarovsky were sent over the boards practically every time. No. Matter. What.
Two: Kyle Wellwood. In one game early this year, Kyle tried a novel approach to goal scoring: he attempted the shoot the puck between his own legs, using himself as a screen. The attempt failed, but those watching couldn't deny the creativity, the ballsiness. Except Quinn. He derided his young charge, even going so far as to suggest Wellwood's NHL career may have been in jeopardy. My respect for Quinn plummeted several notches. Kyle Wellwood is the closest thing we have to a blue chip rookie. He has the potential to be a first-line center and at least a point-a-gamer. You don't belittle a kid for trying to be offensively creative, not when the kid's game is so obviously built on offensive creativity.
In short, there are many compelling reasons to let Quinn go. I wish him well in Vancouver (probably) or Boston (possibly) or wherever he ends up, and I thank him for the success he has brought to us. It's time for a change.
Next stop is almost certainly Paul Maurice, and I think he'll guide a rookie-laden team to the second round of the playoffs next year. It all depends on what's done in the off-season to address the holes: the gaping crevasse surrounding our captain (Patrick Elias, please come to T.O.!); the cracks in the defense corps (Chara is a fan's wet dream, and just as unlikely: more realistic are McKee and/or Mitchell); and (maybe) the goaltending. I'm not fully sold on Aubin: despite his stellar record, I think he flops around way too much on scrambles. I'm willing to give him the #1 job next year unless and until another opportunity presents itself.

We shall see. This Leaf fan, though, is getting tired of "wait until next year."