New Leafs assistant reunited with Carlyle–Lynny368
Dave Farrish has worked with Randy Carlyle before, as players with the Sudbury Wolves and as Carlyle’s assistant on the 2007 Stanley Cup champion Ducks.
Starting Tuesday, they’ll share the bench of the Maple Leafs, the team both played defence for separately in the late 1970s and early 1980s. If Carlyle was nostalgic about his two years playing here, Farrish was elated to be back where he spent twice as much time.
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“You would rather be here with a lot of people involved, than somewhere in the middle of (the U.S.) where it’s half-empty,” Farrish said Sunday after officially joining Carlyle on ice.
“The fans are still blue-blooded and it’s great to see. I’ll be looking forward to Tuesday’s first game.”
Farrish quickly immersed himself in his assistant’s job with Toronto’s defence. Carlyle was allowed to bring in one coach for now and picked his old pal, with the Leafs re-assigning Rob Zettler after Ron Wilson’s firing.
“I watched the Montreal game last night and I’ve seen them over the course of the past few years,” said Farrish, who was fired with Carlyle in Anaheim in November. “They’re a good young team, lots of speed. They seem shaky in their confidence sometimes, which can come back and bite you. But that (confidence) is something that doesn’t come overnight.”
Farrish said Carlyle usually gives him one of the special teams to coach. He already knows wingers Joffrey Lupul and Mike Brown from Anaheim and spent many hours breaking down video of captain Dion Phaneuf when he played in Calgary.
“You always have a comfort zone with people and our ties go a long way back,” Carlyle said of Farrish. “He knows the game and watches the game very similar to the way I do. I can bounce things off him. He’s the guy who will tell me I’m pushing the barrier too far.”
GUSTAVSSON REACHES CENTURY MARK
For those who think Jonas Gustavsson won’t last as an NHL goaltender, he now has 100 reasons to believe otherwise.
Saturday night’s 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens made Gustavsson one of 16 goalies to make it to 100 games in the Maple Leafs crease. It’s a small number who belong to the club because Toronto netminders tend towards longevity or brevity in their careers.
Gustavsson has a long way to catch Turk Broda’s 629 appearances and he won’t make the Hall of Fame with a career won-loss mark of 39-41-13. But he’s outplayed James Reimer since the latter’s return from a concussion and made a great first impression on new coach Randy Carlyl, who was behind the bench for his first game on Saturday.
Gustavsson is wrapping up his third and possibly final season with the Leafs as he can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.
“Reaching 100 games is something special,” Gustavsson said Sunday. “It means you’ve played a few (significant) games. Not everyone gets that chance and I’m happy to have got this far. You’ll think about it after the season is over, when you look at how your whole year went. It was more important to get the two points Saturday and then think about the next game.”
This is the first season the Swede has not had an injury.
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