FanHouse Ron Wilson

In the NHL, coach firings are as common as parking tickets in New York City. Throughout the NHL season I'll be taking a bi-weekly look at five coaches who are the most likely to get fired. Be advised your local coach may be axed at any moment. Consider this fair warning.

Things have changed quite a bit since our last look at coaches with warm cushions. For one, the Lightning are making me look bad at 3-1-3 since the last installment. The Leafs have won a few games and things have gone from bad to an Alexander Daigle brand of awful for the Hurricanes. We'll take a look at all of that and more after the jump.

Doesn't that sound like a juicy headline?

It probably does and has probably left you wondering who it was taking on the Toronto coach. Was it Joe Thornton? Maybe Evgeni Nabokov or Olaf Kolzig? Well, the answer is none of the above. The former player who laid into Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson on TSN's Off the Record this week was Jim Thomson.

If you just said 'who?' you're not alone.

NEW YORK -- After his team's latest loss, a 7-2 embarrassment Monday night to the New York Rangers, Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson answered three softballs from state-owned Leafs TV and then responded to a question about the opponent by lavishing praise on his counterpart, John Tortorella. After all, when your team is out-everythinged and you've been as out-coached as Wilson was Monday, what else could he do?

But the true reveal on Wilson's character came as the rough, tough and massive Toronto print media corps got ready to pepper the coach with questions. (Actually, present were only one writer each from the Star and the Sun). Before the first could get his query out, Wilson -- who has as many Stanley Cup rings as anyone in the press room -- said, "That's it. I'm done."

That's it -- the behind-the-bench leadership of the 0-4-1 Maple Leafs.

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Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. This is the first edition. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me via electronic mail.

Sometimes when naming a child, a parent chooses to give their child a special name. Occasionally, they name their offspring after a parent, a friend or someone else who has been influential in their lives. Other times, well, the child is named after a Canadian junior hockey club in Western Canada. This is one of those times.

Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Brian Lawton could very well be smarter than Toronto head coach Ron Wilson.

After all, Lawton has been able to convince everyone that he and the agent for Mattias Ohlund, J.P. Berry, negotiated a complex player contract and finalized details in less than 20 minutes July 1. Wilson, meanwhile, couldn't resist making comments on the radio about Vancouver's Sedin twins before free agency began. Take a guess which team is potentially in hot water with the NHL.

Thanks to the events of Tuesday night, as the Capitals and Hurricanes advanced in their game 7 victories, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals will be taking part in a playoff series that could very well consume us all. We've seen playoff series' get hyped before, but nothing will come close to the tidal wave of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin coverage that is about take the NHL by storm. Consider yourselves warned.

Before we look ahead to the madness, let's take a few minutes and remember the glory days of one of the best playoff rivalries the 1990's ever produced.

In news that should come as a surprise to no one, Ron Wilson will reportedly be named the coach of the 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey team. The official announcement is set for Monday. "If I am named, it would be a tremendous honor, but as far as I know nothing's going to be determined until Monday," Wilson said. One problem -- he was born in Canada. [ESPN]

On Monday, we showed you the video of Ottawa Senators forward Jason Spezza getting busted with an illegal stick. It's not something that happens all that often, and it was certainly a gutsy call by Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson to ask for the measurement late in a 2-1 hockey game. Actually, it was a brilliant call, even if the Maple Leafs failed to take advantage of the ensuing power play.

The Senators, however, don't feel Spezza's stick broke any rules and would like to have some clarification on what is legal and what is not. Here's some help, guys.

Monday's game between Toronto and Ottawa had no impact on the NHL's playoff race, but it still managed to make some headlines thanks to the stick of Senators forward Jason Spezza.

With Toronto trailing, 2-1, late in the third period, the Maple Leafs felt there was something suspicious about the stick Spezza was using.

Tonight in Minnesota, Toronto Maple Leafs rookie goalie Justin Pogge got his second start in the NHL, and it was certainly a night to forget for the 22-year old as he yielded all six goals in a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Wild. After the game, Toronto head coach Ron Wilson, who upset some locals at the beginning of the season when he said publicly that this Leafs team wouldn't win the Stanley Cup, playfully poked the press gaggle in Toronto again with his postgame comments about how Pogge would handle tonight's loss. Enjoy.