Leafs' Coach Paul Maurice Gets Axed After Toronto Failed To Land Playoffs

Toronto, Canada (AHN) - Maple Leafs fired coach Paul Maurice on Wednesday after failing to lead Toronto to the playoffs during his two years. The move is perceived to be the first of many changes for the club.

Maurice, the former coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, was informed of the team's expected decision a few hours before the news conference Wednesday after Toronto failed to barge into the playoffs by just 11 points. The Maple Leafs ranked 12th in the Eastern Conference and finished with a 36-35-11 record. Also on Wednesday, assistant coach Randy Ladoucer was also terminated but gave assistant Dallas Eakins another chance by offering him another position in the organization. Only assistant Keith Acton was retained as team's assistant

"You know the way the season ended up and the changes that are going to take place on the team," Maurice told The Canadian Press from his home in Toronto. "So I was very aware that it was a possibility."

Toronto's interim manager Cliff Fletcher said the move is line with the team's effort to infuse new blood into the organization's staff. Fletcher took over as the team's general manager on an interim basis after the Maple Leafs sacked John Ferguson in January but spared Maurice's job. .

"This is a start of a new era for the Maple Leafs," interim general manager Cliff Fletcher said at a news conference at Air Canada Centre. "A new regime is coming in place and I think when you bring in a new regime they bring their own people."

Maurice, who first started coaching in the NHL at age 28, joined the Maple Leafs on May 2006 replacing then coach Pat Quinn who was fired after failing to steer the Leafs into the playoffs for the first time since 1998. In his first season with Toronto, the 41-year-old Maurice guided the Leafs to a winning record in the regular season but did not land a spot in the playoffs after missing by just one point.

"You don't take it nearly as personally I don't think," Maurice, who still has one year left in his contract, told the Associated Press. "It's always a very difficult thing because it's a competition every day and when you lose that competition it's difficult."

"I appreciate it happening sooner rather than later," Maurice told the AP.