Top 5 Worst Coaches in Toronto Maple Leafs Team History

WINNIPEG, CANADA - DECEMBER 31: Toronto Maple Leafs' head coach Ron Wilson watches from the bench in a game against the Winnipeg Jets in NHL action at the MTS Centre on December 31, 2011 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Marianne Helm/Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, CANADA - DECEMBER 31: Toronto Maple Leafs' head coach Ron Wilson watches from the bench in a game against the Winnipeg Jets in NHL action at the MTS Centre on December 31, 2011 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Marianne Helm/Getty Images)
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GLENDALE, AZ – NOVEMBER 04: Head coach Randy Carlyle of the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ – NOVEMBER 04: Head coach Randy Carlyle of the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

#1. Randy Carlyle

Although Carlyle was with the Toronto Maple Leafs for four seasons, he technically only coached one full 82-game season with the team.

With an NHL Lockout shortening one season, and then being hired and fired mid-way through two other seasons, the 2013-14 season was the only year we saw a full sample size of Carlyle and it wasn’t pretty.

If you were to look at the win-loss record for the 13-14 season, you wouldn’t think much of it. It seemed like another season where the Leafs narrowly missed the playoffs, giving fans hope that “there’s always next year.”

However, that’s not what happened.

Sitting in a playoff spot with 14 games left, the Leafs went 2-12 to miss the playoffs. It was one of the most pathetic stretches of hockey the team has ever played and sent the Toronto Maple Leafs into a rebuild.

Carlyle miraculously kept his job after that, albeit for only 40 more games.

During his time behind the bench, the Leafs were in the bottom-five for goals against in three of his four seasons, and getting out-shot every night was his bread-and-butter.

The only thanks Leafs fans have for Carlyle is that his incapability to coach helped Leafs management realize they needed to hit the reset button, which resulted in a rebuild.