Under different circumstances, Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke would probably be facing a quandary. With his team off to its worst start in 92 years, it would not be surprising if coach Ron Wilson’s job was in jeopardy.
But Burke is also the general manager of the US Olympic team, and Wilson is that team’s coach. It would be awkward for him to dismiss Wilson from the Leafs but retain him for the Olympic tournament when it begins on Feb. 15.
The question arises just two weeks into the season because Toronto was 0-6-1 and fans and the voracious press that covers the Leafs in hockey-obsessed Toronto have begun asking whether Wilson can survive. Wilson has been prickly in exchanges with the news media after a few of the Leafs’ six losses. Despite an offseason revamp of the roster by Burke and the promise of a turnaround from last season’s 12th-place finish in the NHL. Eastern Conference, the Leafs have fallen flat.
“It’s intense here,” said defenseman Mike Komisarek, one of Burke’s expensive free-agent signings in the offseason. “It can be a real pressure cooker.”
Earlier this month, Burke dismissed the notion that he would consider removing Wilson, calling the idea “absurd.”
“There will be numerous, multiple player changes before the coaching staff would even be looked at, let alone considered,” he said.
With its loss to the red-hot Rangers at Air Canada Center on Saturday, the Maple Leafs equalled their 1991 franchise record for their worst start since the NHL was formed in 1917.
Burke and Wilson said on Friday that putting the Leafs on the right track was their primary concern.
“I’m not even thinking about the Olympics at all,” Wilson said.
Asked the same question, Burke answered via e-mail: “No, this isn’t my first rodeo — I’ve been through slumps before.”
Burke and Wilson seem prepared to weather the criticism together. Burke, a proponent of “truculent” hockey who won a Stanley Cup as Anaheim’s general manager, was hired last year to reverse the fortunes of the sagging franchise, arriving shortly after Wilson, who had been fired by San Jose after the 2007-2008 season. Wilson directed the US team to its last big success — a victory at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
The two are old friends, having played college hockey together at Providence, but they did not work together until they joined the Maple Leafs.
Burke was named the general manager of the US team in June last year. Wilson was named the Olympic coach last April.
It seems certain that they will retain both jobs for the foreseeable future. USA Hockey officials say their positions with the Olympic team are not up for consideration.
“We hired them as GM and coach of USA Hockey,” Dave Ogrean, the executive director of USA Hockey, said in a statement. “The NHL season has no bearing at all on that. They’re in place, our assistants are in place, our equipment guys are in place. They’re all from different NHL teams, and we wish them all well.”
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