After two seasons, the Paul Maurice experiment is over.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, mired in a three season drought without making the playoffs, fired head coach Paul Maurice this morning after two years with the club.  Maurice still had one year remaining on the three year deal he signed after replacing Pat Quinn, who was sacked after the Leafs missed the postseason in 2005-06.  Toronto missed the playoffs on the final day of the season in 2006-07, but were never in competition this season, missing the playoffs by 11 points.

The maddening inconsistency of the team was probably a motivating factor.  The Leafs were one of the streakiest teams in the league last season.  From late November until the end of January the Leafs won six of seven, then lost six of seven, won one, lost five straight, won four of five, then lost the next three.  They were eliminated from postseason contention with a 4-2 loss to the Bruins on March 27th, part of a 1-4-1 tailspin to close the season. 

The combination on John Ferguson Jr. as GM and Maurice as coach was supposed to make the Leafs a contending team for the Stanley Cup again, a place they haven't been since the league was still the Original Six back in 1967.  Instead, Ferguson was fired in January, replaced by former GM Cliff Fletcher on an interim basis.  The team is still looking to find a replacement there as well. 

Maurice posted a 76-66-22 mark in his two seasons in Toronto.  Assistant coach Randy Ladouceur was also fired in the purge by Fletcher.  Maurice previous coached eight seasons with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes franchise, where he spent eight years behind the bench, even leading the team to a pair of division crowns and a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, where they were promptly blitzed by Detroit.  His overall career record behind the bench is 344-357-99-38 in the regular season and 17-18 in the postseason. 

One has to wonder who Toronto will pursue to fill the now vacant position behind the bench.  As far as the GM position goes, names such as Brian Burke, Ken Holland, Dave Nonis, Jim Rutherford, Neil Smith and Colin Campbell have been mentioned.  In the interim, it will be Fletcher and Jeff Jackson that will carry the team through the draft and potentially the start of free agency. 

Where will this whirlwind of change take the Leafs?  One can only speculate, though in light of the dark days that have swirled around the franchise, both in bad personnel decisions, poor on ice performance, and several questionable off ice decisions, a fresh start may be the best thing for a club that has fallen on hard times that bring back to mind the sickening days of Harold Ballard when the Leafs played in the black and blue Norris Division in the early to mid 1980s.