The Toronto Maple Leafs, the NHL's most frustratingly, consistently inconsistent team, announced today via their Twitter account that they have fired head coach Randy Carlyle.
With Carlyle relieved of his duties, assistant coaches Peter Horachek and Steve Spott will take over in the interim.
With the Leafs (21-16-3) mired in a recent slump that saw them emerge victorious only twice in their last nine contests - the most recent an absolutely abysmal 5-1 loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets - general manager Dave Nonis and new Toronto team President Brendan Shanahan made the decision long rumored to be on the docket.
"I want to thank Randy for all of his hard work and dedication," said Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis in a team release, according to Jared Clinton of TheHockeyNews.com. "It's never an easy decision to make when changing your leadership but our team was not trending in the right direction and we felt an immediate change was necessary."
Carlyle leaves the Leafs with only one postseason appearance - a first-round loss to the Boston Bruins in 2012-13 - and a 91-78-18 overall record. He currently has the team holding a tenuous grasp on the final Wild Card playoff spot in the East.
There was a report yesterday from Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star that the severe regression of the team's puck possession statistics this season could again raise the specter of Carlyle possibly being let go.
In a quote in the piece, Carlyle, potentially already feeling the heat from his bosses, was more than willing to spread the blame around to other facets of the operation for the team's failings this year.
"You don't always have the luxury to say that you'd like this player or that player or this type of player. That's not the way it works," Carlyle said. "How it works is you have an organization that provides you with players, and our job, as we've said all along, is just to coach 'em up."
Carlyle's ability to "coach 'em up" was, apparently, not good enough, and he now finds himself on the unemployment line, and the Leafs again find themselves searching for a new coach.