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The overhaul of the country-club ambience that ripened in the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing the past few seasons was completed last night.

New head coach Ron Wilson and general manager Cliff Fletcher assembled the latest group of Leafs hopefuls for a team dinner on the eve of the NHL club's first on-ice training camp session. Wilson's message was clear: There is no room for the languid and leisurely, and even the most experienced players would be heading back to school today.

“When you went to school there were some [mandatory] courses,” Wilson said. “It didn't matter how smart you were and how remedial some of the courses were, you had to pass those courses.

“Part of the thing for me is that remedial hockey is about blocking shots and playing hard in your own end – and that's the message to our team. Nobody will be excluded from that because on the best teams in the league, the best players do that better than anybody,” the coach said.

“I'll hold up Detroit as an example or Dallas, Anaheim and Pittsburgh to an extent, the teams that have done very well the past six years do all the detail things very well and we have to get all of our players doing this.”

The Maple Leafs did not put forth the effort in the “detail” areas of the game in the past three playoff-less seasons, and weren't held accountable by the past regime.

Instead, the fruitless times were lamely blamed on bad luck or the rub of the game. The players won't be allowed to employ excuses under Wilson.

What kind of training camp should the players expect under the new sheriff in town? After all, Wilson is a guy who let it slip yesterday that he records practices.

“That's just in case I want to see what the guys are doing behind my back,” he said. “But I'm not sure I will use [the video].”

Wilson only has two days of practices before the Maple Leafs begin a stretch of nine preseason games in 14 days, so he can't be too hard on his new group of players.

“They don't know if this is going to be a boot camp or Stalag 13,” the coach said. “But we're going to have fun, too. I like to have some fun.”

For example, Wilson recalled meeting Leafs defenceman Pavel Kubina for the first time yesterday.

The veteran blueliner wouldn't waive his no-trade clause last February to move to the San Jose Sharks, Wilson's old team. So Wilson joked with Kubina that he was the reason the coach was fired after the Sharks' exit in the second round of the playoffs last spring.

For his part, Kubina felt Wilson was the reason Fletcher didn't try to trade Kubina during the summer, when there was a window in his contract allowing such a move.

Two of the busier Leafs the past few days were goaltender Vesa Toskala and forward Mark Bell, the two players in the Toronto camp who played under Wilson in San Jose. Both were fielding questions from teammates about what to expect.

“My staple line has been that he is fair,” Bell said. “If you're playing well, you will play. If you're not, you're not. That's all you want from a coach.”

Wilson will stress stingy play in the Leafs' own end, as well as single-player puck pursuit on the fore-check.

His big aim is to cut down on shots on goal. The Leafs surrendered 29.3 shots per game last season, 17th in the league. Wilson would like to see that total dwindle to 27 or 28 a game. The Stanley Cup-champion Detroit Red Wings were tops last season at 23.5.

“This is what I do best, take a team and make it better,” said Wilson, who stayed away from vowing his team would make the playoffs. The Leafs and the Florida Panthers are the only two Eastern Conference teams that haven't made the playoffs since the 2004-05 lockout.

“The only prediction I will make is that we'll be a hard-working team,” Wilson said.

“We have to be very, very patient. The teams that didn't win didn't win right after a makeover. We're prepared for all the bumps and potholes ahead.”