Pittsburgh, New York, Fire Coaches Renney And Therien After Losing To Toronto

New York Rangers coach Tom Renney got fired after his team lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. And Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien got fired after his team lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs last week.

If this trend keeps up, no NHL coaches will want their teams to play against the Leafs. If you lose, you get fired, apparently.

How do the Leafs and their fans feel about this? Does this mean the Leafs are so bad that if they beat you, your coach has to go?

The Leafs are a funny team, this year, losing to lots but occasionally coming through for their coach as giant killers. A couple of nights ago, the high-flying Vancouver Canucks beat them only by a shoot out goal by the former captain of the Maple Leafs, Mats Sundin.

The Leafs have beaten the Rangers and the Penguins, recently, but lost to the Sabres and Lightning. Despite their 22-26-12 record so far this season, nobody's suggesting they fire their coach.

For a lot of NHL players and coaches, going to Toronto for a game has long been a highlight of their season, especially if the game is televised on Hockey Night In Canada. The the coach firing trend could change all that.

For hockey-mad Torontonians, who haven't had a Stanley Cup winning team since 1967, the reason for going to a game has been to see the visiting teams and their stars. That was when their coaches wanted to come to town.

Now watching coaches get fired will become part of the fun. After the Leafs win, Torontonians and hockey fans everywhere will be watching the new the next day to see if the opposing coach still has his job.

Craig Hartsburg fired as coach by the Ottawa Senators on February 3, exactly one month after his team lost to—you guessed it—the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tortorella's first game as head coach will be Wednesday night in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Will it be his last?