Leafs coach Randy Carlyle did not pull any punches in his first press conference of training camp Thursday.

Carlyle touched on several hot button issues surrounding the Leafs as they convened for their first official day of camp.

In some candid, free-flowing conversation, Carlyle addressed the question of whether Phil Kessel operates on his own agenda, an issue first raised by the Star’s Dave Feschuk in a column Thursday.

Carlyle also delivered a no-nonsense assessment of David Clarkson’s mostly-disappointing first season with the Leafs a year ago, and vowed that he and his coaching staff will make Clarkson a better player.

Where Kessel was concerned, Carlyle admitted a “double standard.”

“He’s an athlete with a specific skill set and for a player like that there’s a double standard,” Carlyle said.

“Those players, with that type of skill, you can see when Phil gets a half step on (defencemen), you can see it in their eyes, and our guys on our bench, when Phil gets a half step on the defence, they all say, ‘okay, something is gonna happen.’ All we are trying to do is make Phil a better player and I think you can all say that Phil is a better player than he was two years ago.”

“I think there’s a double standard in sports,” Carlyle continued.

“Talented people have to have some freedoms. He (Kessel) is that kind of player, a talented player.”

Feschuk’s story referred to Kessel as a player who doesn’t embrace new systems if he doesn’t like them, and one who “hates” coaches.

“I don’t know if he hates me,” Carlyle said, laughing. “I’ve never asked, but we have conversations, so the notion that we don’t talk is false.”

Carlyle referred to himself and his coaching staff as having a responsibility to turn around Clarkson. The $35 million-plus free agent signing from a year ago stumbled out of the block — taking a ten-game suspension from a pre-season fight — and never recovering.

“Clarky has a reset button and we feel it’s a big reset button,” Carlyle said.

“He is not the player we saw last year . . . we saw more of things go wrong than things go right for him, but he didn’t become a bad player over night. He is a Toronto Maple Leaf and we have to provide him with the best opportunity to be the player he can be.”

Carlyle also touched on potential line shake-ups in camp. When asked if he’d touch his top line of Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, and James Van Riemsdyk, Carlyle simply said the team will go with the nine best players who can provide offence.

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Carlyle also dealt with the topic of his own job security, saying “I have an opportunity to change this group, to win respect back for this hockey club.”

In the meantime, GM Dave Nonis said “there are no jobs” open during the camp; instead, it’s up to the players to challenge for those jobs, and that big salaries and incumbency will not solely determine who makes the roster a month from now.

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