With the opening of training camp just a day away, Sun columnist Steve Simmons sat down with coach Randy Carlyle for a lengthy interview to address last season, this season, Carlyle’s future, and the controversies that forever surround the Toronto Maple Leafs. Here, in Part 2 of The Carlyle Conversation, he talks about the collapse of last season, his new coaching staff, Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf, and his relationship with Nazem Kadri.

ON THE POST-OLYMPIC COLLAPSE OF THE LEAFS

“I go back to the beginning of the season. We predicted this was going to be an issue, but we were winning anyway. We were winning in spite of not playing a sound game of hockey. We were winning because our goaltending was off the charts, our power play was delivering, and our penalty kill was somewhat respectable.

“After the Olympics, our power play scored a tiny amount of goals, our PK was in a downward spiral and we didn’t play the kind of defensive hockey or offensive hockey that could succeed, we weren’t a puck-possession team, we weren’t a grinding team. It’s not that we didn’t recognize what was happening. We tried to change it.”

ON THE HISTORY OF LEAFS COLLAPSES THE PAST THREE SEASONS

“You start over every year. This is a new group. We can’t change what happened in the past. Nobody can change that. We’ll have five-to-six new faces in our lineup this season. They won’t have any association to what happened last year or any other year. You have to move forward.

“Now, are we (as a team) accepting that those things happened? No, we’re not. It’s our job to create a new group that doesn’t allow that to happen.

“There will be pressure because of it. It’s going to be hanging there. And with any two-game losing streak, the questions will start. We realize that. Is it going to be there all the time? Is it going to be three (losses)? Is it going to be four? And those are the challenges all of us must deal with.”

ON THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING FIRED LAST SEASON

“I knew two days after the season what was happening for me. It wasn’t unequivocal that I would be back as coach. I was led to believe there was going to be some change. I knew at that point I would have the opportunity to talk about having the job again.

The rest of it took time and that was a difficult two weeks (including the firing of long-time assistant and close friend, Dave Farrish). You don’t hire your friends because they’re your friends. You hire your friends because they’re the best people for the job.

“I’m happy with the staff we have now. We didn’t interview a lot of people, I think two other people. Steve Spott wasn’t someone we had on our radar, really, until we talked to him. Then you realize what he is. He’s fun to be around, he’s a hockey mind, he’s well organized and he has an opportunity to make an impact. (Spott will handle forwards and the power play).

“With Peter Horachek, I knew him from coaching against him in the IHL. He was in Orlando, I was in Manitoba. I always liked the way his teams played and I liked the way (Barry) Trotz’s team played in Nashville, the way he handled the defence, his penalty killing. I knew the type of team he wanted. His teams always played hard against us. Those are things that led us to seek him out.”

ON RUMOURS HE COULD HAVE LEFT FOR THE FLORIDA PANTHERS

“I have a contract here. People talk. In this business, there’s always talk. People say this, people say that. There was always this assumption that there was an opportunity (in Florida). Nobody told me I had an opportunity in Florida.”

HOW GOOD ARE THE LEAFS?

This team has proven that it can score goals. We have offence. We have speed. But we score the majority of our goals off the rush. It’s great to be a rush team, but when defensive schemes get put in place to stop you, there has to be other ways to find offence. The team hasn’t been able to grasp that. We have to evolve. We don’t need to always paint pictures. Sometimes, it’s better to put the puck in the other corner rather than take a wrist shot the goalie will stop easily. You do that, you lose the puck. We want the puck more. We need the puck more.

“I believe we have nine forwards who can make a solid contribution on the offensive side. Now, I know it’s September and everybody’s tied for first place, but I think that’s possible, and having (Leo) Komarov and (Daniel) Winnik gives us some players you can move up and down in your lineup, depending on where you need them.

“Everybody in the NHL can’t be a four-line team just because the L.A. Kings have a $5.5-million guy centring their fourth line. That’s a bottle that’s pretty hard to replicate.”

ON PHIL KESSEL AND DION PHANEUF AS HIS BEST PLAYERS

“There’s not a coach on the face of the Earth who doesn’t want good players. But you take the lineup you’re afforded and that’s what you go with. Are there things Phil does that we’d like him to do better? Of course there is. Phil is a tremendously gifted hockey player. He sees things that are going on out there. He has a point of view. He’s further ahead than most players looking at it.

“With Dion, of course there are things he can do better. But they’re our top players at those positions. And they’re special players.

“There’s always arguments that this guy doesn’t back-check hard enough or that guy doesn’t do this or that, but in our situation they provide us with the highest level of offence and the hardest minutes on the ice.

“Dion feels as much pressure as anybody. What happens is, he gets overused and then he gets worn down. And he’ll fight you do the day about the minutes threshold. Statistics, analytics, whatever you call them, will tell you the strength of his game is when he plays 22-24 minutes. That’s his highest quality. But when the coaching staff doesn’t believe you have enough support, what do you do? Do you put on an inferior player and then not put your best player on the ice in those situations?”

ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH NAZEM KADRI

“Kadri has to take a step. He has to become more of a pace player, a north-south player. If Kadri can get through the neutral zone with a little more pace, a little stronger, we know he can make plays. We know he can find people.

“He’s going to get an opportunity, maybe, to kill penalties to expand his game. If he wants more minutes, you have to want to earn that. Nazzie’s a good talker. He’s a guy I’m supposed to not have a good relationship with and I’m supposed to fight with — which isn’t true — and those are things that affect him more than me because anything, if he says something, it has to be guarded.

“I’m not in his face. I’m not after him. I just don’t want him cheating on plays. I want him to be a better player. That’s all. Get on the right side of the puck.”

WHICH PLAYER CAN IMPROVE THE MOST?

“The first guy is Jake Gardiner. He’s a talented young kid. Jake has special abilities. But he’s a young defenceman in the NHL. Is he strong defensively? Not as strong as we’d like him to be. Is he a top-two power-play guy? That, we’ll find out. Does he see the people, the way top power-play guys do? Those are steps for Jake to take.

“I like Morgan Rielly, but he’s only 21. How much do you expose a kid in his second year to everything? I would say not much. If we were to say he’s our No. 1 power-play guy, that’s a lot of pressure you’re putting on a kid. My theory is, don’t put any expectations on him other than what he accomplished last year. He’s going to get an opportunity. If he flourishes with it, more power to him.”

HOW LONG WILL HE CONTINUE COACHING?

“My wife has some suggestions on a regular basis, but I continue to ignore them. I’m going to do this as long as I can make a contribution. I’m not going to do it forever. I know that. There are certain times when you scratch your head and wonder, ‘Why am I doing this?’ But you know, it’s the closest thing to being a player. I’ve coached for a number of years. I’ll know when it’s time to get out, when enough is enough.”

steve.simmons@sunmedia.ca

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