Well, and it starts

A "new era" with the hiring of Ron Wilson as head coach of the Maple Leafs. But what does this mean for our poor, oft misunderstood club?

Hopefully not a winning record, please God. We need to stockpile decent prospects (Tlusty doesn't really count) and we're not quite there yet. I'm not advocating that we hire a bad coach by any means, as keeping Maurice or hiring some idiot like Barry Melrose would probably do more harm than good to young guys that we'll be looking to grow into real players in time. All I'm asking is that Wilson have the presence of mind to get our young guys playing time, regardless of the mistakes that they make as a part of growing into their roles.

He doesn't seem to think that the Leafs have a shot at the real season for another couple years, unlike a lot of retarded fans out there. I quote:

"If we can be knocking on the door in two years, that will be a tremendous accomplishment," he said. "And then we just have to knock the door down."

This is not a guarantee that we'll achieve playoff success in two years, it's a statement that if we are in two years it will be a freakin' miracle and we should all be proud of ourselves.

Why is this a good thing? Well, for one this is not a coach looking to win to save his job. We all saw what happened with Maurice, refusing to play Raycroft, refusing to play Pogge when he was up, putting Williams and Tlusty on the 3rd and 4th lines. That's not how you deal with a team whose playoff hopes are slim for now and into the future.

I'm still skeptical about this hiring, getting a coach before a GM, Wilson being kind of an asshole, etc. But it seems like a step in the proper direction for a team, and it seems like Wilson was briefed by MLSE in a realistic fashion. They didn't want him to make any promises or short term goals, he went up and he stated the reality that the franchise is in, and so for now we should feel a little bit of satisfaction.