Randy Carlyle focused in Toronto return

TORONTO -- When Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle walked into Air Canada Centre on Sunday with his team in town to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, his initial reaction was not one of nostalgia or reflection.
Carlyle, 60, coached the Maple Leafs for 188 games during parts of four seasons and guided Toronto to its only playoff appearance since 2004.
"Cold!" Carlyle said of the 23-degree temperature he was greeted with in Toronto.
That can be quickly forgotten, it seems, when Anaheim, California becomes home.

Carlyle will be back behind a bench at Air Canada Centre, albeit the visiting bench, for the first time since December 20th, 2014, when the Maple Leafs lost 7-4 to the Philadelphia Flyers. Although there will undoubtedly be some emotions for the native of Sudbury, Ontario, his focus will remain on preparing the Ducks to rebound from a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
"It'd be crazy to say that it's not special but again it's not about me, it's about our hockey club going out and playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs," Carlyle said. "That's where the game is. The sidebars are all things that people like to talk about, the reality is what happens on the ice and it's our job to prepare our group to play a hockey club that is playing very well right now."
When he was fired by the Maple Leafs on January 6, 2015 after returning home from a seven-game road trip, Toronto was 21-16-3 and held the second wild card spot into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference at the time. Carlyle said he was never told why that was not good enough to keep his job.
"I'd leave those questions to the people that were above me," Carlyle said. "If they don't want to answer them, they never told me any reason."

Though the Maple Leafs were in a playoff spot, it was clear that all was not well in terms of the direction things were heading. Toronto went 2-5-0 on the road trip leading up to Carlyle's firing and lost 5-1 to the Winnipeg Jets in his final game. They gave up 35 goals in nine games. Even still, having guided the team to the playoffs in 2013, no coach has delivered stronger on-ice results in Toronto since Pat Quinn in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
"That's for other people to criticize and they do enough of that here so I don't think it is part of my repertoire to say 'I did this' or 'I did that," Carlyle said. "Bottom line is the record and you move on. It was a time in my life that I enjoyed. People thought that I got worn down. Maybe other people around me got worn down but I didn't get worn down. I still had enthusiasm to come to the rink. I looked at it as a real positive; I got to work for a great organization and great people I worked for and with. People always deem it when things don't go the way you think they should go that it was a bad experience. It wasn't a bad experience at all. There's lots of pressure when you work in this market but that goes with it."
Now back in Anaheim for his second tenure with the Ducks, Carlyle still has four players - Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Andrew Cogliano and Cam Fowler - who were with the team during his first go-around from 2005-12. The coach seemed to get cast as prickly and abrasive at times when he was first in Anaheim but has since adapted his style.

"No," Getzlaf said when asked if Carlyle had unfairly earned that reputation. "But he has changed some of that, his approach to young players and I think his overall approach to the game. He had time to sit and watch the way the League was running these days and the way things were going. Even since I've been in the league, a lot has changed. It's not the same game anymore, the same approach on a daily basis. It's not just a grind, grind, grind anymore; it's about being prepared for the next game."
Coaching in the NHL bears great responsibility no matter which market you are in but each has its different nuances. For Carlyle, there is one difference that stands out.
"There's more scrutiny on what you say and what you do, simple as that," he said. "Jake Gardiner, people said that there was a relationship that was strained. Crazy, it was not strained at all. The issue was just more of a young defenseman cutting his teeth and now you are seeing more of a finished product and that's great for them."