A prominent hockey columnist and I were talking after the Maple Leafs-Penguins game last Saturday – a 4-3 Toronto win – when the topic turned to Ron Wilson, who is currently in the final year of his contract as Leafs coach.

“It’s still a little too early to talk about a new deal for Wilson,” the veteran hockey watcher said, and I agreed. But the more I thought about it, the less I was certain that Wilson hasn’t already shown enough to stick around as Toronto’s bench boss for a few more years.

Now, before you Wilson-haters flip out, avail yourselves of some cold, hard facts. After more than one-eighth of the regular season, the Leafs are first in their division and second in the Eastern Conference. Star winger Phil Kessel is playing like he has a super-hot date after every game and wants it to be over in Toronto’s favour as soon as possible so he can go on it. Captain Dion Phaneuf is playing his best all-around hockey since he was traded to the Blue and White nearly two years ago. And although their goaltending hasn’t been the best in the NHL, between the injured James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson, they’ve gotten enough saves to win seven of their first 11 games.

Granted, this current run isn’t enough to earn Wilson an extension. But consider what Wilson’s team was able to do last season, once Reimer made the starting job his own: After the all-star break, Toronto went 18-9-6 the rest of the season – the fourth best record in the East over that span and ninth best in the league on a standings-points-per-game basis. Further proof can be found in the silver medal Wilson coached the upstart, youth-laden U.S. men’s Olympic team to in 2010.

Funny how all the familiar and flimsy accusations that have dogged Wilson during his four-year Leafs stint – that he can’t work with young kids, that players overall don’t want to play for him – are nowhere to be found these days. Mikhail Grabovski looks like he’d walk through a wall made of razor blades for Wilson. Youngsters Jake Gardiner, Nikolai Kulemin and Carl Gunnarsson also look quite comfortable with Wilson calling the shots.

Could things go badly for him? Sure. But organizational stability is what Toronto needs right now. A new Wilson contract would be a stamp of approval for a coach whose players already have given it to him.