Ron Wilson, Welcome to the Maple Leafs' Soap Opera

Leave it to the Toronto Maple Leafs to mess up something like this.

Despite all of the trouble that the Leafs had gone through to try and talk to various front office candidates, after putting up with the rejections and the different suggestions from anyone within 600 miles of Toronto who had a pulse, and after hearing that they had the right idea in hiring a plethora of front office talent, the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to throw it all out the window.

Instead, they're bringing in a candidate for the head coaching job. Go figure.

You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but I guess you can teach it to poop under a rug and hide it from the public, only to have it uncovered weeks later.

That’s what the Leafs have done here.

Instead of tip-toeing away from the whole Brian Burke situation, they did the next best thing—hire his best friend.

If Ron Wilson indeed becomes the next head coach in Toronto, the Leafs have blown their cover and may as well begin work on the nameplate that will adorn Brian Burke's doggy-door at Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment.

I mean who in the right mind hires an employee before you hire his boss?

With the idea of hiring of Wilson being the next hot-button topic around Toronto, the kibosh has been put on any general manager search that the Leafs may execute.

Besides just overlooking it, if Wilson get's hired, it essentially stops the GM search because anyone who can put two and two together will get five, and see that we're making it as comfortable as possible here in Toronto in an attempt to land Burke the Blowhard.

Wilson and Burke have been friends since college and they've been co-workers.They're even family to an extent(Burke is the godfather to Wilson’s daughter).

If Ronnie boy gets the job, there's no point in chancing that he's not another GM's top choice for coach of this team. He'd probably be Brian Burke's only choice, so why not save the stop-gap GM a year of embarrassment?

All that’s left now is for Burke to “mysteriously” disappear on his vacation to Southern Ontario this year, forcing the Ducks to hire a new GM, as the Leafs introduce ‘Ben Barke’ as theirs.

But let’s just ignore the dysfunction for a second and concentrate on Wilson. If he does take the job, what is he bringing to this team? Can he help them make the playoffs?

His track record would indicate that he can get them to the playoffs. He was able to lead the  Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to their first playoff appearance in 1997. He also took the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup playoffs the following season—his first with the Caps.

Since then, he helped transform the San Jose Sharks from a bottom-dweller in the Pacific Division, to a Western Conference regular season powerhouse.

The main difference between those teams and the Leafs though? Well, aside from the fact that there was a plan in place in those cities, they also had talent.

The Ducks had the old one-two punch of Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, some quality play from Guy Hebert and a hard-working roster.

The Capitals had Peter Bondra, Olaf Kolzig, Adam Oates, Steve Konowalchuk (who was contributing some solid numbers), Phil Housley and a plethora of young talent.

The pieces were even in place when Wilson got to San Jose, as Evgeni Nabokov, Jonathon Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau were already there, and the following season the youngsters on the team began to emerge under Wilson’s eye.

In Toronto, Wilson wouldn't currently have that luxury.

Aside from the expansion Ducks, this Leafs team is in the greatest state of flux Wilson has ever seen. The Sharks had a plan going forward, despite being mired in a terrible season. They ended up trading older players to further build for the future.

The Leafs, however, have no captain, no top prospects, a GM who’s just kind of stuck around and most of the same spare tires they had at the trade deadline.

Anyone who lives outside of the blue and white typhoon that absorbs and conforms anything it touches knows that it'll be a painful few years in Toronto.

Whether they hire the right guy for GM and he starts to rebuild, or they just revert to buying middling solutions, the sun won't come out tomorrow.

Maybe not until 2021. Maybe not ever.

But maybe the Wilson magic could show itself a little bit this season and the Leafs could do something.

Granted the offseason still has a long way to go, it’s never too early for positive thinking, right?

Hopefully someone tells that to Ron Wilson because if you take this job, you ain't in the O.C. anymore.