Phil Kessel, Ron Wilson Feud: Who's Right, Who's Wrong and How Will It End?
There’s been a lot of speculation regarding Toronto.
Speculation about personnel changes following another disappointing start to the the season. The media speculates that Ron Wilson’s job is on the line. Then the Maple Leafs maintain that they have faith in their coach.
The media likes to stir up trouble, and they’ve done it again in Toronto.
The Drama
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The latest Toronto controversy is about Phil Kessel versus head coach Ron Wilson. Kessel has not been performing up to par with expectations. Wilson has moved lines around in the hopes of increasing scoring.
When asked about his new line, Kessel had this to say: “It’s not happening here, so maybe it’s time for a change. We’ve got to change something. I’m not sure if that’s it, but maybe. I don’t know.”
Taken out of context, that sounds like he’s calling for a trade or change in coaching. But he was simply referring to the line on the ice.
The media asked him if head coach Ron Wilson had talked to him about it. Kessel responded, “We don’t really talk and that’s all I got to say about that.”
On Phil Kessel's Relationship with Head Coach Ron Wilson
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What a loaded comment about his relationship with Ron Wilson.
While claims have been made that it's not a problem for a coach and player to not communicate, it actually is.
There needs to be communication in every relationship. That doesn’t mean they need to sit down and talk every day, but when things aren’t going well, they should sit down and discuss possible solutions.
On Communication
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Kessel ended with, “That’s all I got to say about that.” That clearly signifies that he had more to say on the subject but something was preventing him from elaborating any more.
That could signify frustration with the team, with Wilson or with the recent line changes. It’s not necessarily as bad as everyone has made it out to be, but it certainly shouldn’t be blown off.
If it truly was a reference to Kessel’s unhappiness with Wilson, that’s a problem. Kessel should feel okay enough to address his issues with Wilson directly, without taking it to the media.
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Ron Wilson's Comments
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"Phil doesn't really want to talk much about goal scoring or even work on it that much in practice. It's kind of a 'touch' thing. So he comes and goes into these hot streaks, cold streaks."
That was Ron Wilson talking about Phil Kessel's latest cold streak.
"When he's so focused on scoring goals, he's forgetting the other part of the game. If the puck's not going in, and that's all you're focused (on), a lot of times you'll end up not being in the positions you should be in. And that goes for any player...if you're struggling to score, don't be scored against."
That was Ron Wilson on changing up the lines, trying to drive up Kessel's offense, courtesy of TSN.
Dissecting Ron Wilson's Comments
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The first comment regarding how Phil doesn't want to talk to him, is Wilson letting everyone know that it's a two-way street. The lack of communication is on Phil's shoulders—he doesn't want to talk to Wilson.
The second comment a lot of people have interpreted as slamming Kessel for his defense.
He is criticizing Kessel's defense, but it's warranted. If what Wilson says is true, that Kessel doesn't want to work in practice on his goals, then he needs to be accountable for his actions on the ice that affect other aspects of his game.
True, these are comments that should be made behind closed doors, but if the two aren't talking, then Wilson felt he had no choice but to respond to the media.
Phil Kessel After Toronto Maple Leafs' PR Got Wind of This Drama
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Kessel: “We don’t talk that often. I don’t think anyone talks to their coach that often, right?”
Seems if he had to included the word often a day earlier, he could have prevented this drama.
It also seems that Kessel is uncertain about if his relationship with Ron Wilson is normal or not. Every player has a different relationship with their coach and every coach has a different coaching style. Some coaches talk often, some coaches don’t.
Kessel needs to determine though if they don't speak often because that's Kessel's style. Or if it's Wilson's style. But if Wilson has more open communication with Kessel's teammates, then that's a potential issue that needs to be addressed.
Ron Wilson After Toronto Maple Leafs' PR Got Wind of This Drama
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"We're not singling him out or anything like that. He's not scoring. We're trying to shake things up a little bit, put him with different people who have been successful over the last month.
"(He needs) to just forget about scoring goals and make sure he's helping us get pucks out of our zone and that he's backchecking with the same passion that everybody else is."
That was Ron Wilson, post fallout. That's fairly straight-forward answer. Next time though, perhaps Wilson should say this to Phil before changing up the lines, instead of using it as a response to the media.
Verdict
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Neither is fully right or wrong in this situation. Both need to be accountable for their words and their actions.
This should have been an internal issue. It shouldn't have gone to the media the way it did.
Solution and Future Prevention
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This was an issue magnified by the media coverage. But it is a problem. These comments do sound worse taken out of context, but they could have just as easily not been made.
Perhaps there is an issue with communication in their relationship. They need to be able to discuss issues with each other, not with the media acting as middle man.
At the end of the day, we’ll never truly know Kessel and Wilson’s relationship, because we’re not there. We won’t be privy to intimate details from behind closed doors.
This ends with Brian Burke’s involvement. Burke sat down with Kessel to address the problem, so it’s likely it has been resolved.
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