The Toronto Maple Leafs have relieved head coach Sheldon Keefe of his duties this morning after their latest first-round exit in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The team will begin a coaching search immediately and has not named a replacement. Toronto was eliminated by the Boston Bruins on Saturday night in a 2-1 overtime loss after they had finished the regular season 46-26-10.
Keefe coached the Maple Leafs for five seasons and reached incredible levels of regular season success with the team but was never able to get the group over the hump, winning just one playoff round during his term behind the bench. Keefe’s firing comes before his extension from last August has even started. Keefe signed a two-year deal with the Maple Leafs last summer and coached this season under his previous contract. Keefe finished his career with the Maple Leafs as the fifth-winningest coach in team history with a record of 212-97-40 record. Despite their playoff failures, the Maple Leafs are currently tied for the longest active playoff streak in the NHL, and while that is an accomplishment in a vacuum, the Maple Leafs have lost in the first round in seven of the eight playoff appearances.
Keefe first began working with the Maple Leafs in the AHL eight years ago becoming the head coach of the Toronto Marlies. Then under Kyle Dubas, Keefe took over after the firing of Mike Babcock in 2019. Keefe and Dubas were intertwined throughout their respective careers having worked together for the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds. His departure marks a second massive move in consecutive summers for Toronto. The Maple Leafs let Dubas go last May and brought in former Calgary general manager Brad Treliving. Despite the change in management, it was more of the same for Toronto this season, as the core remained largely intact under Treliving and the team bowed out of the playoffs early.
The Maple Leafs announced on Monday that Brendan Shanahan, Treliving and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley will have an end-of-season press conference tomorrow, after originally saying that management would speak today. The delay in the media appearance led to speculation this week as to what management would do with Keefe going forward, with many predicting that the Maple Leafs would move on and find a new bench boss, despite the term left on Keefe’s contract.
They should hire Babcock.
… or Mike Sullivan. He should be available soon.
They are not going to fire Sullivan. He has 3 years left on his contract.
They should sell the team. If the front office and ownership thinks churning coaches every year is the anwser, they are mistaken. Firing a coach is a set back, even if it is necessary.
So I guess it was his fault his G and best player ended up missing valuable time. As long as we know whose fault it is we’re good. Huh?
And not just this year either. Weak goals at big moments from Andersen and Campbell were to blame in previous series. It always seemed like Keefe’s teams consistently had the 2nd best goaltender in the playoffs.
So do they go with the big-name, established, broad shoulders type of head coach? Or will they try the fresh-faced analytics wunderkind type? Or I guess they could opt for the retread approach. So many options, but I hope for Toronto’s sake they get it right.
Love to see Craig Berube back in the Blue and White!
No head coach can fix a team where a bulk of the salary is invested in four players. Leafs got Matthews, Nylander, Tavares and Marner, cool… But they also got no depth. And inconsistent goaltending. The team is basically built to be “just okay”.
@PyramidHeadcrab — Just like Randy likes it. ;) Maybe they kept his nameplate, “just in case”.
It’s become my firm opinion that a key element to success these days is for a team’s stars to take less than market rate, if a team isn’t going to be loaded with a handful of guys making eight figures and twenty making league minimum.
Well not only that, but it’s not like Toronto was forced into this position. They didn’t have to sign Nylander, and could have gotten some substantial draft capital for trading him as an RFA. Strong drafting is a great way to find star talent for bottom dollar! But I suspect largely due to the toxic media and fanbase in Toronto, they consistently make really short-sighted moves because they think it’s what will appease the critics. And frankly, that’s why they’re never a contender.
You touch on an important point that really applies generally to sports. As soon as you suggest players should take less money, you soon have people coming in saying things like “Hey man! If you were offered all that money, you wouldn’t turn it down for less either and you know it!” .. and it’s like, it’s not that simple. It comes down to one question really. Is your goal to make as much money as possible or is your goal to win a championship?
Of course players who make a lot of money will always win championships because someone has to win it every year, but every hundred thousand or million you squeeze out of your team is money that can’t be spent on depth and otherwise building a contending team around you, so you are making a trade-off here that absolutely has an effect on your team’s chances at a Cup.
It’s interesting to me how players instantly drop the idea of being a team player when it comes to contracts. Not ALL players are like this, but the majority will try to squeeze all they can out of it seemingly without any regard for how it affects the organization’s ability to build the rest of the team. I don’t care, I want what I’m worth and not a penny less or I’m outta here. You see just how selfish players really are once their contract year rolls around and who wants to win a championship more than they want a couple extra million.
As for the comments from Pyramid about the Leafs generally, well… you know, if you acknowledge problems exist, then you have to address them and that’s just a lot of hassle. Just change the coach. Shanahan really needs to go too, he’s had plenty of time to do better and has only built a regular season champion team that falls flat in the playoffs every single year. It’s a car with awesome bodywork and extremely powerful engine, but wheels from the junkyard, used transmission out of a minivan and a suspension that makes it handle like a boat at 70 MPH… but that engine and body though!
@sessh — Excellent points. And, back in the ’60s we used to call those cars, “Land Yachts”, for that exact reason.
Makes sense for TOR, but SJ should be hiring Keefe tomorrow, and I am not a SJ fan
Not dumbest thing ever said on here.
What, if anything, makes Keefe a good coach?
Leafs problems were there specials teams. I think Keefe had run his time but make sure assistants go as well. I believe Boucher was in charge of pp and did nothing in the playoffs.
I pity the fool who takes over
@roddy9 — Mr. T, I’m in full agreement!
CYA
SHANNY IS THE MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THIS TEAM.. as a tough hard nose player back in the day he sure grew a pair of instead of nuts.
No individual is the problem on this team. The toxic culture in Toronto created by the media and fans is the problem.
He has the final say so yah he is the one to blame. Made stupid decisions on trades contracts and coaches…he is the one to blame for sure
Hope this is just the beginning of major changes for this team. This team is far from a cup contender. They have some decent young talent to fill out the forward group but they need to completely rebuild the d core and goaltending
Heard Q as a potential coach in Hogtown; this is echoing 20-some years ago when the general feeling was they needed to “ramp it up” & bring in an experienced hockey guy, with the great Pat Quinn filling the job. Frankly I think McLellan got a raw deal in LA but expect him to land in NJ or Seattle. Arniel gets bump in Winnipeg, Sharks hire someone like Jeremy Coliton, leaving Berube & Evason with their pick of places. But don’t discount the rumblings that Brind’Amour will part ways in Carolina (leak that they’ve made progress is just to ease any distraction) could see him jump into the Leafs top spot…
leafs are the epitome of insanity.. doesn’t matter what retread is behind the bench .. same results will happen till someone fixes the bloated top heavy roster
The Senators should have waited and hire Keefe instead of the clown that they hired. The Devils should call Keefe’s agent right away.
Oh god no
“The team will begin a coaching search immediately and has not named a replacement.”
Of course they haven’t announced a replacement. You just typed in the same sentence that they will begin a search immediately.
Burube
Yet another scapegoat for the Shannaplan. When will the finger be pointed at Brendan for his inability to have a pulse on success. Yeesh
Nothing really changes until Shanahan is turfed.
Brind’Amour + expring contract = Toronto bound
Would love that move.
But would Brind’Amour love that move?
One thing to coach in Carolina, it’s another to coach in Toronto.
2 reporters wanting to talk to you every night, compared to 20
Pens bound
Ah, come on throw the Hakstol log upon the fire!!