It took until Thursday morning, but the Maple Leafs did decide to move on from head coach Sheldon Keefe after losing in the first round for the fourth time in his five-year tenure. His sparkling regular-season record over that time still immediately catapults him to being one of the top candidates on the open market, though.
To that end, the Devils are one of the teams expected to interview Keefe for their vacancy, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports. They’ve also been linked to former Blues bench boss Craig Berube – widely viewed as the most desirable candidate on the market – and ex-Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft.
New Jersey also has some documented interest in Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan should he hit the open market, but it seems more likely he’ll remain in Pittsburgh. The Devils are one of six teams with an active vacancy after firing Lindy Ruff in March and opting not to promote interim head coach Travis Green, who has since signed a four-year deal to become the next head coach of the Senators.
Keefe’s 212-97-40 record over 349 games with the Leafs is good for a .665 points percentage, the highest all-time among head coaches with at least 300 games of service. While there are others out there with far worse postseason winning percentages/records than his 16-21 mark, the failure to win more than one series despite consistently boasting an above-average team did him in. As did an all-too-familiar lack of scoring – the Leafs’ offense, led by some of the premier scoring and playmaking talents in the world in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, went 14 games without scoring more than three goals.
In New Jersey, he would take over a team with a very similar level of uncertainty between the pipes – at least for now. Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll were both high-ceiling yet inconsistent options last year, although, as a whole, they were preferable to the rotating cast of Devils netminders that conceded 19 goals above average. They’re expected to be on the hunt for a top-tier name on the trade market, though, and are likely to see a name like Jacob Markström, Linus Ullmark or Juuse Saros as their opening-night starter.
He’d also be assuming a defense core that, with a healthy Dougie Hamilton, is one of the most tantalizing yet well-rounded groups in the league. Hamilton, along with rising sophomores Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, gives Keefe the option to ice a premier puck-moving threat on all three pairings, balanced with a defensively responsible other half in Kevin Bahl, John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
He qualifies as a retread now!
Sheldon: “I need to decompress and spend some much-needed time with my family.”
(A few moments later)
Sheldon: “OK, I’m back! Who needs a good coach in this league?”
What, if anything, makes Keefe a good coach? I see he has a good record and I know he had a very good roster, but what, if anything, makes him a good coach?
I’m joining up in this. Hard to evaluate his choices this cup since Woll was supposedly injured. Would he have played him if not? Should he have kept Domi where he slotted Matthews back in? What happened with Nick Robertson? How much participation did he have in the (lack of) deadline moves? Then there’s the Ryan Reeves question.. seems like Keefe recognized he wasn’t helping out there. I guess I’m just saying it’s hard to know if he’s any good or not aside from his regular season record. My brain tells me that if he can’t figure out the post season, then he isn’t as good as the numbers suggest. That’s my armchair take fwiw. I guess we’ll see when he starts coaching the Devils, who though not as stacked with star power as the leafs seem to be a better team overall.
I’ll be honest… probably none of us can answer that for any coach on more than just the surface level. Their hockey knowledge is likely more voluminous than we can understand.
I remember there was a pretty stark turnaround when Keefe took over for Babcock in the way the Leafs finally played as a 5-man unit. Clearly he was able to extract as much as he possibly could out of a team in the regular season given his Win % was best all-time.
Perhaps the questions need to be asked about what went wrong in the playoffs. But I think many have said, rightly, over the years that the Leafs roster was simply not built for playoff hockey.
He’s a smart coach who is good at delegating tasks and letting those folks do their jobs. I’m sure he’ll take the lessons he learned in Toronto and it wouldn’t surprise me if he went on a deep playoff run in Jersey if they can figure out the goaltending.
IS he or is he not a good coach.
Yes.
> his Win % was best all-time.
Yes
> smart coach who is good at delegating tasks and letting those folks do their jobs.
The ALL TIME GREATEST support of why Joel Quenneville’s “decision” to sweep the Brad Aldrich assault “under the table” is meritless. The GM and team president are 100% responsible for employee hiring and firing decision. Said so yourself right there.
“Multiple people in the meeting claimed that the matter discussed did not involve sexual assault”
Yes
>Leafs roster was simply not built for playoff hockey.
Coaches coach and Human Resource people hire and fire employees. Quenneville had no influence over the HR and Legal Counsel’s decision.
BUT – I’ve been censored on this site for disagreeing, so adios sycophants …
The guy I want is Sheldon Keefe.