TORONTO - Paul Maurice was fired as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday after the team failed to make the NHL playoffs during his two seasons.

The dismissal was the first big move in what is expected to be an active offseason for the team.

"This is a start of a new era for the Maple Leafs," interim general manager Cliff Fletcher said at a news conference at Air Canada Centre. "This is all part and parcel of that."

The Leafs finished 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 36-35-11 record and missed a playoff spot by 11 points.

They are looking for a full-time general manager after firing John Ferguson in January.

In other moves Wednesday, assistant coach Randy Ladouceur was dismissed, and assistant Dallas Eakins was offered a position elsewhere in the organization. Keith Acton will remain an assistant.

Maurice, who had one year left on his contract, was informed of the decision hours before the news conference. In 2003, he was fired as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes.

"You know the way the season ended up and the changes that are going to take place on the team," Maurice told The Canadian Press from his Toronto home. "So I was very aware that it was a possibility."

Fletcher said the ouster will permit the new management team to bring in its own staff.

"A new regime is coming in place, and I think when you bring in a new regime they bring their own people," he said. "It's just common sense."

The quick decision by the Leafs allows Maurice, 41, to look for other NHL jobs.

"I appreciate it happening sooner rather than later," he said.

Maurice said this coaching dismissal was slightly easier to take than the first one.

"You don't take it nearly as personally, I don't think," he said. "It's always a very difficult thing because it's a competition every day and when you lose that competition it's difficult."

Maurice's job was spared in January when the team fired Ferguson and replaced him with Fletcher on an interim basis.

When asked to assess the good and the bad during his two seasons, Maurice wasn't ready to respond.

"I don't know that I'm in the right state of mind to go through them right now," he said. "The fact of the matter is that there are always things -- even in good seasons -- that you would like to have changed. At the same time, you made the decisions with experience, with your entire staff on board, and you live with those results."