Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson got his contract extension Christmas morning and much of the hockey chatterazzi began hopping around the blogosphere and beating their chests like great apes displaying their displeasure.

That’s wasted energy, as far as I’m concerned. People can focus all they want on Wilson’s less-than-admirable record since he arrived in Toronto, but that is a very narrow, short-term view – and certainly not one shared by Leafs management.

The reality is that when Wilson took the Leafs’ reins in 2008, he was dealing with a roster in transition and one that would experience near-complete turnover. The combined DNA of Scotty Bowman, Pat Burns and MacGyver couldn’t create a coach who could help Toronto escape with a playoff berth in any of the three seasons Wilson has had in Toronto before this current campaign.

Wilson isn’t getting by because of his friendship with general manager Brian Burke. Once Wilson got decent-to-above-average goaltending last year, the Leafs were competitive more often than not. In the eight seasons before he was named Leafs coach, only once did one of his teams finish lower than second in its division. When he had an above-average young American squad at the 2010 Olympics, he nearly guided them to a huge upset win against Canada in the gold-medal game.

More importantly, has Phil Kessel not improved since the much-ballyhooed trade with the Bruins? He has. Does Dion Phaneuf not look like a more competent, capable, first-pair defenceman under his time with Wilson than he did during his last days as a member of the Calgary Flames? He does. Is Toronto’s power play one of the league’s best? It is. All of that has happened under Wilson’s watch. If you’re going to pillory him for the record and the rotten penalty kill, at least be fair enough to him in terms of the positives.

And don’t tell me the team could have waited until the end of the season before giving him a new contract. We all know my fellow members of the media world would have increasingly speculated on Wilson’s future as the season went on. Now the team can focus on its on-ice duties without fear of off-ice distraction.

If Wilson doesn’t deliver in the next year or two, he’ll be gone. But he hasn’t been anywhere close to a failure with the Leafs. Look at the big picture and not myopic media messages, and that’s easy to see.